Safe room nears completion

Construction is nearly complete on the Marmaduke School District's new safe room. The school began preparations for the new facility immediately after an April 2006 tornado rocked the small community. The district applied for financial assistance on the project through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Three and a half years later, the project is about to be finished.

The shelter will feature six-foot thick concrete walls and ceilings, supported by steel reinforcements. As such, the safe room will be able to withstand almost anything that comes its way.

The safe room is located directly behind the round building, which houses the junior high classrooms and the cafeteria. This location is central to the rest of the campus, allowing for quick access by all grades. School officials believe it will take around five to 10 minutes for all students to reach and enter the safe room.

The safe room will hold approximately 900 people. It will serve not only the school, but also can be used as a community shelter during times when the school is closed.

"In my opinion, it was one of the most important projects we had going when I took the job," superintendent Tim Gardner said.

It's been a long road to completing the project. In the early planning stages, the total cost of the project was estimated at $733,000. At that price, FEMA agreed to fund 80 percent of the cost, while the state took care of 10 percent and the school covered the other 10 percent.

Once underway, however, the cost of the project increased to around $955,000. The amounts paid by FEMA and the state were locked in at their original levels, so the school was required to make up the estimated $220,000 difference.

Still, the facility was something Gardner and the school board wanted to have in place to help ensure the safety of students.

"We knew it was something we wanted to do and were not about to start the whole process over again if we didn't have to," Gardner said.

Gardner estimated the facility is currently 95 percent complete. He said it could be completed as early as the end of the week.

The next step will be implementing the facility into the district's emergency plans.

"As soon as we get it signed off on, we'll start having evacuation drills," Gardner said. "We hope to start having those drills after Thanksgiving if everything goes to plan."