PCHS construction still up in air

Even though the new disaster declarations following Hurricane Irene could mean delays for Phil Campbell High School in receiving funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Franklin County Schools Superintendent Gary Williams is confident they will still be able to find the money to rebuild a better, safer school – it will just take some time.

Williams and the Franklin County Board of Education have been in negotiations with the school system’s insurance company for months now in an effort to reach an agreement on a figure the company is willing to pay for the damages caused by the 200 mph winds that ripped through the small town on April 27.

“We met with our insurance adjuster last Friday and got some numbers but we still haven’t settled on them,” Williams said. “The depreciation on the main building, which is the biggest building, is what’s hurting us as far as the insurance goes. They’ve estimated it’s depreciation at 40 percent, so we can’t get replacement costs for it.”

While that’s not necessarily the words Williams and the school board wanted to hear, they were able to get some good news this past week from FEMA officials who have declared the main building, gym, south classroom and band room as 50 percent or more damaged, which means the school will receive 75 percent funding from FEMA on those buildings where the insurance leaves off on the estimated cost to rebuild.

“As of right now, the insurance company thinks we can still salvage the library and the home ec and ag building,” Williams said, “but we still want to level those buildings along with the rest of them provided we have the funds, and I think we will.”

Williams said they have funding commitments from FEMA and from the state, even though they can’t be sure just how much the state will pay at this time.

“We’ve heard from our legislators that we will have their support and we have commitments from FEMA, so that’s the reason I have confidence we will be able to build a brand new school,” he said. “It’s just going to take some time.”

FEMA officials told Williams this week that when the funding the agency has left to distribute gets down to $1 billion, they start suspending payments until more funds are allocated.

“I was told they will suspend sending payments for the school until Congress meets again, and votes to replenish FEMA’s funds,” he said. “I don’t know that this will delay us any because we still have a ways to go before we would be needing the money anyway.”

Williams said they are still looking at an 18 to 24 month time frame for getting the students and teachers at Phil Campbell High School out of the portable classrooms and into a new building.

“You never know what’s going to come up along the way, but we’re hoping it will be the same amount of time as we originally thought,” he said. “Our goal is just to have the safest and best school possible for our students, even if it takes us a while to get there.”