HHS is only school prepared if struck by tornado
The massive tornado that destroyed Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla. recently, killing seven students and injuring many more, has raised the question of how safe would Hartselle and Morgan County students be if their schools were struck by tornadic winds in excess of 200 miles per hour.
“Heaven forbid that ever happening,” said Hartselle Schools Superintendent Dr. Mike Reed. “Only one of our schools—the new high school—is built to withstand the force of an EF5 tornado. All other schools were built before the state mandated safe rooms in all new school construction projects two or three years ago.”
Morgan County Schools Superintendent Bill Hopkins Jr. echoed Reed’s comment.
“All of our schools were built before the safe room mandate,” he pointed out “and we’d be in the same position as the people in Oklahoma if a tornado of that force struck one of our school buildings while it was being occupied.”
We always look first to the safety of our students and strive to use good judgment when evaluating and exercising our emergency evacuation plans and making decisions about late starts and early releases of our students,” Hopkins pointed out. “A safe room is being incorporated into the plans for the new Priceville High School and hopefully resources will be made available to provide safe rooms at the other schools in the future.”
When the Plaza Towers School was built a half century ago, it probably gave the impression that it was sturdy enough to stand up under any kind of storm.
The same thing could be said about Crestline Elementary School, which was built in the 1950s. However, Plaza Towers failed to do that in the face of an EF5 twister.
Most of its cinder block walls and steel reinforced roof collapsed, leaving many students and teachers trapped under the debris. Sadly, seven lives were lost. Fortunately, most of them were alive when they were pulled out of the rubble by rescue workers.
Reed said student safety is at the heart of emergency evacuation plans at all Hartselle schools.
“We conduct drills on a regular basis so that students know where to go and what to do in the event of a tornado,” he said. “In cases where the call is made to start classes late or end the school day early, the likelihood of severe weather is too great to risk putting the lives of our students in danger. We guard against our buses being on the roads under extreme weather conditions.”
Hopkins said decisions about school closings, including late starts and early closings, is a team effort.
“When bad weather is in the forecast we communicate regularly with the Emergency Management Agency, Morgan County Commission and Sheriff’s Office, in addition to monitoring local weather forecasts,” Hopkins pointed out. “Any decision about closing schools for the day has to be made by 5:30 a.m. That’s when our buses begin their routes, and some of our drivers fare on the road for more than an hour and a half.
“What scares me the most is a tornado warning that comes at 6:30 when our buses are out on the road picking up students,” Hopkins pointed out. “If such a warning occurs at 2:55 p.m. we’re going to keep the kids in the hallways until the storm has passes and we get an all-clear signal.”
“Every school has its own evacuation plan,” he added, “and drills are conducted monthly, reported and evaluated to ensure that they are carried out properly.”
