When the EF-0 that hit Vina in December 2016 zipped through the community, it left primarily minor damage in its wake. But the damage to Vina High School was impactful – and it’s a situation school officials are still facing.

Destruction at the baseball field, Superintendent Greg Hamilton revealed, has been repaired. “Both the dugouts were damaged, one severely, and they had to be built back to code,” Hamilton said. “Two sections of the fence (were damaged), it tore up the windscreen, and the backstop netting had to have two new poles. All of that has been replaced.”

But the big projects that remain are re-roofing the old gym and repairing – or replacing – the band/science building. The next steps on the band/science building remain a point of contention between the Franklin County Board of Education, with its representatives, and the state’s Division of Risk Management.

“We’re in a dispute … Our side says it needs to come down. Their side says it can be repaired,” Hamilton said. “That’s where we are.”

The decades-old building has been out-of-use the entire second semester, with band and science students displaced to wherever they could find room in the main building.

Hamilton said the FCBOE has been working with McKee and Associates Architecture out of Montgomery and Lambert Durham Architecture out of Florence to lay out a plan to move forward – a plan which explains the extent of the damage done and why the building should be demolished.

“We have a detailed report telling what’s wrong with the building,” Hamilton said. “It has many stress fractures that I can notice … You’ve got two walls peeling like bananas on the outside. That’s just not safe.”

Hamilton said he is not convinced the building can be repaired and made safe. He will look for a guarantee from the state on that matter before agreeing to move forward with a repair plan.

A mobile classroom is on its way, in the interim. The mobile unit will house the band, about two dozen students.

“It will give them somewhere to work and a place to have for this summer – a place to put their instruments. It will be a temporary relief,” Hamilton said. “You need a place to have your band and music away from your core classes.”

Science courses are being housed in various places, Hamilton said, with lab work being impractical if not impossible.

Another meeting between Franklin representatives and Risk Management has been set for April 26. “Hopefully,” Hamilton said, “we can come to an understanding.”