DECATUR -- It was two and a half years in the making, but the Decatur School District finally acquired the last puzzle piece needed to begin construction of a new safe room/physical activity room.
The new 5,200-square-foot facility will be located on the west side of Northside Elementary and has the maximum capacity of 780 people and four wheelchairs. When completed, the safe room/physical activity room will serve as a designated community storm shelter for Decatur and the surrounding area.
The project was placed on hold over the last 18 months while waiting for grant approval by the Academic Facilities Partnership Project, a division of the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation.
This grant was applied for by Decatur based on the need for a physical activity space at Northside Elementary. At present the school has no such area. The Partnership Project helps districts in Arkansas get grants to construct these types of facilities.
Decatur first applied for the safe room/physical activity room with the state in late 2011. While this was in the works, the district applied for a $748,897 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and received notification of approval of the safe room portion of the project by FEMA in early 2013.
The project was then placed on hold because the application and approval periods for both FEMA and Partnership Projects were on two completely different time lines.
Larry Ben, Decatur school superintendent, received notification April 4 that the Partnership Project approved the district's grant request which totaled $267,377.
The total cost of the project will be $1,016,274 when completed.
"We were able to get both of those funding sources and essentially have the facility paid for without the use of any local dollars," Ben stated. "We are not taking any money out for the bare shell itself."
The grants will pay for the construction of the bare shell itself. It would be up to the Decatur School District to pay for any additional features to the facility.
"If we want to add some features, such as a generator, or basketball goals or any like equipment, or flooring, that would be on the district," Ben said. "This would be the first time that any Decatur elementary school building had such a facility."
The safe room will provide added protection to Northside Elementary students during tornado season. Since the May 20, 2013, Moore (Okla.) tornado which killed seven children at Plaza Towers Elementary, federal and state agencies stepped up to fund construction of shelters like the Decatur facility in hopes of preventing any future storm-related deaths during school hours.
"We're excited about it," Ben said. "It is for the school while in session, but if it is in the evening or weekend if there is a severe weather or tornado event, it can be open and anybody could come in and be safe."
The safe room/physical activity room is expected to be completed in 2015.
General News on 04/09/2014