Bradley Central High School broke ground Tuesday on a new addition that will spend most of its life as a science wing and, when severe weather rolls through, transform into a community safe room. The dual-purpose facility is being funded through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, bringing a long-discussed safety upgrade to the Cleveland campus one step closer to reality.
According to Local 3 News, the facility will function as a science wing during regular school hours and convert into a community safe room during severe weather. Once construction wraps up, the safe room will be made available to the public in coordination with the Bradley County Office of Emergency Management, the station reports. County leaders have not given an estimated completion date for the project, according to the same report.
How The Funding Came Together
The groundbreaking follows a vendor decision made by school officials last month. The Bradley County Board of Education approved SIC Project Management on Sept. 16 to administer the FEMA hazard-mitigation grant that will pay for the dual-purpose safe room and science-wing addition, per Citizen Portal. The board selected SIC Project Management after receiving four bids, the outlet notes, and staff said the vendor's fees will be paid through the FEMA grant itself rather than out of local school funds.
Tennessee’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which is administered at the state level, is available to communities that meet sub-applicant and project eligibility requirements, with federal funding becoming available following a major federal disaster declaration, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. Similar HMGP-funded projects have popped up elsewhere in recent years: FEMA awarded more than $2.6 million to the Potosi School District this year for a safe room intended to provide life-safety protection for up to 584 people, and the agency separately awarded $5,287,595 through the same program for a multipurpose safe room at Springs Valley Community Schools Corporation in Indiana, according to FEMA.gov press releases.
Part Of A Broader Campus Push
Tuesday's groundbreaking isn't the first facilities milestone for Bradley Central High School in recent memory. The campus previously held ribbon-cutting ceremonies for a secure vestibule and a field house, according to WDEF, reflecting a string of recent upgrades at the school.
Bradley County already has a network of public storm shelters in place while the new safe room gets built. All four of the county's existing storm-ready rooms were reported open and operational ahead of past inclement weather, WDEF reported separately, with the public list including three Bradley Fire Rescue stations and Walker Valley High School. Those existing shelters offer temporary refuge on a first-come basis, per the same report, a model that could offer a preview of how the Bradley Central addition eventually operates once finished.
