Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Emmet building new storm shelter

The Emmet School District will soon have four new classrooms and the community will have a shelter for emergency situations.

The building project was among the top items of business for the Emmet School Board during the board's regular meeting on March 4.

Arkadelphia Architect Jerry Simmons attended the meeting with plans for the building and told the board the bid opening has been set for March 21 at 2 p.m. at the school. Dr. Gene Ross, Emmet Superintendent, told the board it could award the bid at the time of the bid opening rather than wait for the next school board meeting, if enough board members could attend.

Ross said such action would give the district about a two-week head start on construction.

Simmons said there are four construction companies already expressing interest in offering a bid

on the project. He said he plans to contact two more companies to see if they want to submit a bid, and the project is being advertised, which could bring in a couple more bids.

The project is being funded by money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the building will be constructed with the goal of making it a safe shelter in the event of an emergency, such as a tornado.

If that were to happen, the building would be opened to the public for use as a storm shelter.

Some of the discussion at the board meeting centered around how the rooms would be arranged to best be used in an emergency. Ross said there will likely be tables and chairs, rather than rows of desks which would be in the way if the community turned out to use the building.

Simmons said there is storage space built into the plans which could be used for students's books and other supplies.

The building will be slightly higher than the existing school buildings, Simmons said. But he said the roof line will match, making the buildings blend together.

The project calls for some specific building criteria to meet FEMA guidelines for a storm shelter. There will be a wall in front of the front doors of the building to protect it from flying debris. Simmons said there will be a small window in one of the doors, but it will be made of reinforced bullet-proof glass.

The majority of the building will be concrete, reinforced with steel and all metal connections will be welded together.

The project should be completed before the beginning of the next school year.

In other business, the board also renewed teachers's contracts for the 2002-2003 school year. Board members unanimously approved the action after an hour-long executive session.

The only discussion pertaining to the contracts was a requirement that one teacher become certified.

Ross told the board the district needs to update the bus fleet. The board approved the purchase of a new bus and instructed Ross to talk to the current bus drivers to determine the style and any additional features the bus should have.

Emmet Elementary Principal Floyd Pollock told the board Emmet recently hosted the Nevada County Spelling Bee. The overall first place winner was Miyako Franklin of Prescott, who also won first place in the eighth grade division. Second place overall was fifth grader Jonathan Freeman of Emmet; third place was seventh grader Kayla Freeman of Emmet; fourth place was sixth grader Hanna Vermillion of Emmet and fifth place was fourth grader Justin Hickey of Emmet.

Parent teacher conferences for the district will be March 21 from 2-9 p.m. at the school.

School will dismiss at 1 p.m. that day, according to Pollock.

Shade Gilbert, high school principal, told the board high school teachers have requested permission for three field trips. One is for members of the FFA, a new organization in the district. Gilbert said the Emmet students are not eligible to participate in the FFA contests, but this will be an opportunity for them to observe the events and be more prepared for next year.

Other requests were for the Future Business Leaders of America club to attend the state convention, and the home economics class has requested permission for a trip to Texarkana.

Pollock said the elementary school also had a request for a field trip. The kindergarten class will attend a live show of Peter Pan. The board approved all trips.