Proposed Edmond bond issues could put school safe rooms on the ballot

Photo by Abby Bellow

The Edmond School Board proposed two separate bond issues in a four-year plan that would result in the construction of safe rooms in every school in the district, if Edmond voter agree.

Schools that were built after 1990 already have safe rooms, but the schools built before that time do not. Installing safe rooms in the older schools would cost more than $14 million.

Robyn Miller, Chair of the Department of Education at Oklahoma Christian University, said the safe rooms are created to hold a large number of students.

“What they’re trying to do is create larger space that would be weather resistant,” Miller said. “It used to be just ‘enter hallways.”

Miller said the idea of storm shelters in the Edmond area was brought up at this time because of the Oklahoma governor elections.

“This is all political now because our governor is being challenged by a democrat, Joe Dorman,” Miller said. “His whole campaign is storm shelters.”

The 2013 tornado that hit south Oklahoma City and Moore and destroyed two elementary schools is one of the reasons the district wants more safe rooms.

“I think the big concern/emphasis happening right now is the result of the national conflict of tornadoes,” Miller said. “Most people in meteorology would say [the tornado in Moore] was a pretty rare tornado in its significance. Being an F5, I guess it was. … Obviously that launched this whole agenda for individuals or businesses or church affiliated businesses to say, ‘We need to do something to help there.’”

Since Oklahoma Christian is a private university the campus will not have a safe room unless funded through other means.

“We could not expect it to come out of state government or any kind of franchise tax,” Miller said.

Senior Katy Stefanoff said certain schools have ways of keeping children safe.

“I know they have designated classrooms in a lot of the Edmond schools now, especially the newer ones,” Stefanoff said. “They are doing this thing recently that are called pods for each grade. They have a summer area and then they have the classrooms, so they have one designated room within the pod that is tornado-safe or weather-safe, so that way all of the kids can go into one classroom.”

Stefanoff said safe rooms should not be optional.

“I think if you’re going to be putting your kids in a school in a tornado alley then you should be proactive in your safety measures,” Stefanoff said. “Parents are going to want to put their kids in schools that are doing that, that are thinking about their kids.”

Stefanoff said Oklahoma Christian should look into more options for safety regarding the weather.

“I definitely think that we should look at more options for where to go during tornadoes,” Stefanoff said. “I know the PEC is pretty far from the apartments, but that’s where they want us to go. They say that the dorms are pretty sturdy but they’re pretty old.”

The Edmond School Board will decide in December on if the proposed bond issues will reach the Feb. 10, 2015 ballot.