A group of parents from Clarkdale Attendance Center attended the Lauderdale County school board’s monthly meeting on Thursday to voice their frustrations over the lack of progress repairing one of the elementary buildings heavily damaged by a tornado in April 2022.

“I am here speaking on behalf of Clarkdale parents,” said Health Robertson, during the five-minute public comments portion of the board meeting. “There’s a lot that’s going on, or, I guess, has not been going on in the last 18 months.”

“Just to see the lack of visual progression … has been very discouraging,” Robertson said. “With a void of information, because the public, we really haven’t known what’s been going on behind the scenes. It leaves us to believe, ‘Do we even matter? Does the Clarkdale school even matter? Do the kids matter?’ and when we are not seeing anything … the answer we tell ourselves is ‘I don’t guess we do.’”

In spring 2022, the Clarkdale campus was heavily damaged by two separate tornadoes. The first one caused extensive damage to the school’s softball field, followed by a second tornado a few weeks later that swept through campus causing roof damage to at least eight or nine buildings, water damage to buildings and more damage to the athletic facilities.

Robertson’s son’s classroom was housed in Building 300, the most heavily damaged of the school buildings. He said parents thought the building would be repaired over summer, but students returned and were housed in the less damaged north end of the building as “rain continued to pour into those classrooms” at the south end. Parents and teachers became concerned over the potential for mold growing inside the damp building, and requested an air quality test, which the building passed, he said.

“We trust you guys, as a board, to do what is best and what is safe for our children. In the midst of a crisis, we understand that not all of the best decisions are made because you have got to make decisions quick,” Robertson said. “But since that time … I had high hopes we would get something done.”

At first, much of the delay came from surveying the damage with the insurance company to determine whether the building itself could be salvaged. After inspections, it was determined the building didn’t need to be demolished, but the entire roof structure needed to be removed and rebuilt. Ceilings needed to be ripped out and replaced, and the old flooring needed to be replaced. The interior also needed repainting, and the heating, cooling and ventilation systems worked on.

As the delay to repair the buildings lengthened, the district brought in modular classrooms, or trailers, which the students and teachers moved into at the first of this year.

“I will say I was disappointed because they were in rough shape, still in rough shape,” Robertson said. “The trailers were less than ideal, but it was better than being in a potentially contaminated building.”

Unfortunately, he said, the intercom system to the modular buildings has not worked very well, and plumbing is an issue with elementary students often having to go to the high school to use the same restrooms as older students.

Work to repair the roofs on some of the buildings began back in the spring, and, after a delay in bidding the project, renovations to the softball field began in August. But progress to Building 300 has moved at a much slower pace. The district still does not have a settlement with the insurance company as final repairs and plans to the building are being designed and bid.

At the February school board meeting, district administrators said that Building 300 would not be ready in time for the start of the 2023-2024 school year.

“It just doesn’t look like anything is happening, and now 18 months later, we are just now getting plans. It leads me to believe that we didn’t push hard enough,” Robertson said. “We can point fingers, was it the insurance company, was it an architect, was it a consultant? I just don’t feel like you have done everything possible, and maybe that is because it didn’t affect your children, but it did affect my child and a lot of people in the back.

“We believe that more could have been done, and we are disappointed, and I felt it was important for y’all to know that we are very dissatisfied with the effort to this point,” he said. “Our children deserve better. Our teachers deserve better. Our community deserves better.”

School board president Kelvin Jackson thanked Robertson for showing up to voice his opinion because, “parental involvement is what makes our schools better.”

Jackson said, “I don’t believe in excuses, and this board doesn’t believe in excuses. We’ve got to do better.”

Before the public comments portion of the meeting, project architect Arjen Lagendijk gave an update on Building 300. He said they expect to have the cost estimates for the project next week, then have it advertised and bids accepted by Oct. 31. He told the board it should take at least eight months or longer to complete the project once it is given to a contractor.

Then, he said, Clarkdale officials and district officials will have to meet with the contractor to decide the best way to complete the project while school is in session. The contractor will need space in the parking lot near the building to lay down supplies and work. Also, work on the north end of the building cannot be completed with children in the vicinity so that will have to be scheduled.

“It’s going to be inconvenience,” Lagendijk said of when construction actually begins.

He suggested the district start working out how construction will be handled and how to work around the school day while maintaining a safe environment for students and staff.

The school board voted to approve a recommendation to move forward with finalizing the design and getting cost estimates on the project.

“We want this to move forward as quick and as thorough as we can,” said Superintendent Dr. John-Mark Cain.

Band Programs

Also at the meeting, Southeast High Band Director William Barnes and Clarkdale High Band Director Mason Williams came before the school board to thank them for a new infusion of funding that all four county school band programs have received from the district.

The money is being used to purchase new instruments and uniforms, as well as make some improvements in the band halls. Southeast and Clarkdale are the first to get new uniforms.

“We just wanted to come before you and give our personal thanks,” Barnes said. “When we got in here, a lot of things were old, outdated, not usable. It needed a freshening up of everything, and these funds are really being utilized wisely.”

Barnes said parents and school officials will be able to see the benefits of the funding not only at football games but also at band competitions.

“The kids are excited, and our parents are excited,” he said. “ They are bringing some youthful vigor inside of the program, some interest that probably has not been there, and it is good for the community and the kids.”