Clarendon school kids are practicing taking cover in an improved shelter this week as severe weather season approaches.
The school district has spent several thousand dollars to install a concrete floor and new lights to the area known by many school alumni as the “bomb shelter.”
“We feel very fortunate to have this kind of shelter available,” Clarendon ISD Superintendent Monty Hysinger said.
The dirt floor of the fortified area under the school cafeteria and library has been paved with 5,400 square feet of concrete at a cost of more than $34,000. Old bare-bulb lights of been replaced with florescent lighting, and new battery operated emergency lights have been installed and come on automatically during a power failure.
School officials also installed a main shut-off on the natural gas line coming into the building; and during an actual emergency, designated personnel will close that valve for added safety.
Designated areas for each grade have been marked in the shelter, and the school is developing protocols for keeping kids accounted for and for keeping parents informed.
The area in question had been used as a tornado shelter in the past, but school officials stopped using it because of dust from the dirt floor. But last summer, a National Weather Service representative toured the school and said the heavy concrete construction under the library and cafeteria would be the safest place to take shelter.
The improved storm shelter will house all students from Pre-K through eighth grade, Hysinger said. High school students would still take shelter in the basement of the high school building.
Practice runs for elementary and junior high students have been done this week.
“Our goal is to get everyone to shelter in four minutes,” Hysinger said.
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