The Cullman County School Board held a brief special session on Thursday to speed up the process to repair property damaged in Monday’s storm. Pictured is Superintendent Shane Barnette surveying the damage to Welti Elementary on Tuesday morning. / W.C. Mann
CULLMAN – In a special called meeting on Thursday afternoon, the Cullman County Board of Education (CCBOE) declared the need for repairs to Welti Elementary School and the county bus shop (including vehicles) to be an emergency situation by unanimous vote of all members present. The declaration will allow repairs to begin right away.
According to Superintendent Shane Barnette, “We had Welti that we had multiple buildings there, and the siding, and the windows, and the awnings. It’s going to be several hundred thousand dollars there, and then the bus shop. We’re expecting it, when it all comes back, to be over a million dollars.”
In addition to facilities damage at Welti and the bus shop, 13 buses were damaged, three driver’s education vehicles were totaled, and one mechanical utility truck will likely be declared totaled as well.
Fairview Middle School was part of the original damage declaration on Tuesday, but was not included in Thursday’s business since the damage was not severe.
“They had some water damage in there,” said Barnette, “but I think it was something we were going to be able to fix there, and it wasn’t something that was near as serious.”
The CCBOE’s next regular meeting will be Thursday, April 19, 2018 at 6 p.m. in the Good Hope High School lunchroom, with work session at 5:30. The public is invited to attend.
Here's Barnette speaking Tuesday morning at Welti:
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