FEMA grant to help build safe room in new elementary school
Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008
Eudora Schools has received a grant in the amount of $566,677 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to complete construction of a tornado safe room in the new elementary school currently being built in northeast Eudora. The project also will be funded by Kansas Emergency Management and by the school district.
When the safe room is completed, it will be the only such shelter in a school in Douglas County or all of northeast Kansas.
“In emergency management, it is important that our department help communities prepare for disasters, as well as help with recovery, said Teri Smith, director of Douglas County Emergency Management. “With the completion of this safe room, lives will be saved and the impact of tornadoes will be lessened in Eudora.”
She added that the community will benefit from partnerships on the local, state and federal levels. “The fact that the shelter will be built with funding from the federal government, the state government and the local school district,” Smith said, “just illustrates the importance of tornado safety.”
Don Grosdidier, Eudora superintendent of schools, emphasized the importance of interagency collaborations and partnerships in the success of the proposal.
“Thanks to the great collaboration between Douglas County Emergency Management, the city of Eudora and the school district,” he said, “we will soon be able to say that we have top-rated facilities to protect students’ health and safety in case of a natural disaster.”
Completion of the project will require slightly increased expenditures by the district in order to meet the required local match, which will amount to approximately ten percent of the project’s costs. But Grosdidier is confident it was the right decision to ensure the safety of the approximately 800 students and staff who will be in the new building on any given day.
“A shelter like this is an outstanding opportunity for our students and the community of Eudora,” he said. “Safety is our first priority every day, and the decision to spend a little more now to protect our students later is the right decision.”
Read a fact sheet about the safe room and grant award.
