Posted 12:49 am Thursday, February 07, 2008
Lindale ISD Cancels Thursday, Friday Classes
By BETTY WATERS
Staff Writer
LINDALE - After a hail storm destroyed roofs on two schools, forcing closure of Lindale Independent School District, school and community leaders rushed Wednesday to formulate and implement an emergency plan.
Staff Writer
LINDALE - After a hail storm destroyed roofs on two schools, forcing closure of Lindale Independent School District, school and community leaders rushed Wednesday to formulate and implement an emergency plan.
"We'll be back in business in school on Monday morning educating our kids," school board President Col. James K. "Red" Brown announced at the conclusion of an emergency called meeting of district trustees amid the damage at Velma Penny Elementary School.
Lindale city government leaders, police, community leaders and others participated in the meeting in the school library, where hail had knocked large, gaping holes in the ceiling. Insulation hung from the ceiling, debris cluttered the floor and plastic was draped over equipment and furnishings.
Penny and Moss schools suffered the brunt of damage from the storm in the Lindale area, according to Charles West, city building official. Some houses and vehicles also received damage, he added.
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Lindale ISD Superintendent Stan Surratt said, "School will start back Monday for the entire district. We'll be ready by Monday."
The only schools damaged were Penny and E.J. Moss Intermediate School, but those schools house approximately 1,000 students, or about a third of the district's enrollment. Considering many of the students have siblings on other campuses, about 50-60 percent of the district was affected so the entire district was shut down Wednesday following Tuesday's hail storm.
Restoration company Cotton Companies of Houston was hired and began working Wednesday and will work around the clock. The school board also awarded a contract for temporary, patch roofs for both schools to keep water out and avoid more flooding and also for installation of new, permanent roofs for both Penny and Moss schools.
Students throughout the district will return to classes on Monday. The intermediate school will be ready for occupancy Monday, but students who normally attend Penny Elementary will be relocated temporarily in churches that offered their facilities to house them until that school can be repaired.
The superintendent called a meeting only for parents of Penny Elementary students at 6 p.m. Friday in Moss School's auditorium. Surratt intends to inform parents then about details of how Penny Elementary will operate temporarily.
The third grade will be housed in First Methodist Church and the fourth grade will be housed in First Baptist Church. District administrators looked at several options and decided utilizing the two churches is the best plan.
Surratt hopes to present floor plans of the churches during the meeting showing where classrooms will be located and names of teachers assigned to each room. He will also talk about transportation, how the serving of school breakfast and lunch will be handled, physical education activities and other school operations.
Child safety will be the No. 1 consideration of the district in implementing the emergency plan for housing Penny students in their new temporary quarters, the board president said.
Leaders of both churches contacted the district offering their facilities. "We visited with them and decided to put one grade at each church," Surratt said. The district needs 14 classrooms per grade. Both churches can accommodate the classroom needs and also have gymnasiums, music and dining areas. Computer access will be available.
The district will prepare food for breakfast and lunch at other schools and bring it to students housed in the churches.
"We think it will work out great; we are fortunate they will allow us to do that (occupy their premises)," Surratt said. "We were willing to pay rent, but they are not willing to accept it."
Surratt said the district will pay electricity, cleaning and other costs and also repaint the used facilities when students move back to school. "We want to leave it nice," he said.
An office will be set up at each location.
One or two volunteers will be assigned to each teacher at Penny to help with packing and moving their classrooms materials to the appropriate church. The Smith County sheriff's office pledged to provide 10 trustees in the morning and 10 in the afternoon to assist.
One or two volunteers will be assigned to each teacher at Penny to help with packing and moving their classrooms materials to the appropriate church. The Smith County sheriff's office pledged to provide 10 trustees in the morning and 10 in the afternoon to assist.
Police Chief Daniel Somes presented plans for handling school traffic at both churches.
At First Methodist, traffic will be blocked off Texas Highway 16 (Hubbard Street) and Boyd Street. Parents will come in off South Street, turn and head northbound on Boyd over to the new family life center and pull up in front to load or pick up students. They will exit onto College Street. But parents can park in a parking lot and walk their children over to the church.
"Nobody will be allowed to enter off College Street," Somes said.
At First Baptist, traffic will be blocked in the morning and afternoon off Texas 16 and Commerce Street. People will be able to access a big parking lot off Texas 16 or of South Street and walk their students to the building.
The regular traffic flow will be coming off South Street, turning northbound on Commerce, left on Van Street, pulling in front of the family life center and dropping off or picking up students.
Parents will then have a choice of going to U.S. 69 and making a right turn only or coming back and taking an alley over to South Street, or going back to Commerce Street and exiting onto South Street.
"The traffic flow is going to be stressful for everybody; we encourage all parents to park in the big lot at First Baptist and walk their kids over," Somes said.
The constable's office has committed two constable deputies at each campus to assist with traffic flow and Lindale officers will also be on hand.
District administrators anticipate the emergency plan for housing Penny students will be in effect about two months. "The best case scenario is four to five weeks; the worst case scenario is eight to 10 weeks," Surratt said.
Meanwhile, roof repairs will proceed. Approximately 88 percent of the Penny roof was destroyed and 100 percent of the Moss roof.
Due to the single membrane roof on each school and the age of the roofs, the hail shattered the membrane and created large holes, according to the district's roof consultant, Doug Shearer of Armko Industries Inc. of Flower Mound.
Immediate temporary repairs to avoid more damage from rain or other inclement weather until permanent repairs can be made are estimated to cost $64,000 at Penny and $40,000 at Moss, Shearer said.
The board awarded a contract to Curtis McKiney Roofing of Longview for roofing repairs. The board chose to upgrade the roofs to a white thermoplastic membrane roof system at a cost of about $810,000 for Penny and $808,000 for Moss, Shearer calculated.
The district's insurance will reimburse the district for the cost of installing the same type, single membrane roof it had. Trustees unanimously decided to install a superior, multi-membrane roof.
"We will get a much better roof and pay the difference," Surratt said.
The superintendent estimated the insurance will pay approximately $1.2 million on the two permanent roofs and the district will pay $300,000 to $400,000 out of its fund balance.
