Schools receive settlement for tornado damage

High Point Enterprise (NC)

June 01-- Jun. 1--GREENSBORO -- Guilford County Schools has received a $10.1 million insurance settlement for tornado damage to three schools, but school officials say it's just a drop in the bucket for what will be needed to build new facilities.

Erwin Montessori, Hampton and Peeler Open elementary schools have been closed since an April 2018 tornado damaged their buildings.

Scott McCully, chief operations officer for Guilford County Schools, said a lion's share of the insurance settlement, about $6 million, will be used to design a new Peeler-Hampton Elementary School at the current Peeler site.

"That doesn't come close to covering the construction costs of a school," he said. "It will certainly provide us with the money to get started on the project very soon as opposed to waiting on a bond issue."

The renaming of Peeler is an effort to honor Hampton Elementary School after the Guilford County Board of Education voted earlier this month to close it permanently.

McCully said a decision about what to do with Erwin, including whether to reopen it at all, has not been made.

That is expected to come up in the coming months as school officials work on a master plan before presenting a bond proposal to the county.

If the commissioners approve of the plan, the bond would be placed on the November 2020 ballot.

In addition to making provisions for the tornado-damaged schools, the bond would address facilities issues revealed as part of a recent facilities study conducted by MGT Consulting Group for the Guilford County Board of Education and the Board of County Commissioners.

The study recommended about $1.5 billion in facilities improvements for the district, including $800 million in deferred maintenance needs.

Neither of the three schools affected by the tornado scored well in the study.

Hampton received an overall score of 52 percent and the lowest possible rating of unsatisfactory, while Erwin and Peeler received scores of 63 and 60, respectively, and ratings of poor. The study recommended repurposing or closing Hampton.

McCully said that as part of developing the master plan, school officials will consider repurposing or closing some schools and reconsider current attendance boundaries.

McCully said the district is happy with the settlement it received from The Travelers Indemnity Corporation for the insurance damage.

After a fire destroyed Eastern Guilford High School in 2006, the district was criticized for its low level of insurance coverage. School officials learned their lesson, McCully said.

"As a result of the lack of coverage for that particular event, we have changed our insurance coverage to hopefully mitigate any losses," he said.

Still, McCully said more funding, probably from a bond, will be necessary to help build the new school and address other crumbling infrastructure in the district.

"We are going to need additional dollars from other funding sources to build a replacement school for Peeler. The settlement certainly doesn't build back any one school or all of them, and that wasn't the intent."

[email protected] -- 336-888-3617 -- @hollyrwest

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