When it comes to protecting K-12 schools and students from earthquakes, tornados, or flooding, many school districts continue to resist mandating the inclusion of safe rooms or storm shelters in new and existing buildings. But that may be changing.
An Illinois law that took effect January 1 requires all new schools to have storm shelters. Illinois joined Alabama as the only states that mandate storm shelters or safe houses in new schools.
Oklahoma, ground zero for deadly tornados, has rejected such mandates for budgetary and political reasons. Governor Mary Fallin has backed a proposal to allow local governments to raise their debt limits if they want to use bonds to fund shelters. (Oklahoma City already requires shelters.) An advocacy group called Take Shelter has been trying to get a petition on the statewide ballot to raise $500 million through franchise taxes to put safe rooms in every school in the state.
Money is main reason why safe houses and storm shelters at schools aren’t more widely accepted. A 2013 article published in the Wall Street Journal estimated that it would cost $1 billion to install safe rooms in the 1,100 Oklahoma public schools that didn’t have them at the time.
Protecting buildings from catastrophic events can quickly erode a district’s general revenue funds. Krisztina Tokes and Mark Hovatter of the Los Angeles United School District have estimated that 21% of the $4.3 billion they said was needed annually for school construction would be allocated for earthquake upgrades.
Most AEC professionals would agree that preventive expenditures are a lot cheaper than rebuilding after a natural disaster hits: just ask anyone in the New York metropolitan area who suffered through Hurricane Sandy, which caused an estimated $50 billion in property damage in late 2012. With so much talk about the possible relationship between climate change and more catastrophic weather events, some ISDs are reconsidering the wisdom of waiting and seeing.
Construction of a safe room at a Wichita, Kan., school. Photo: FEMA
Last November, voters in Carl Junction, Mo., approved a $16.5 million bond issue that will help pay for three storm shelters in the school district.
By the end of its current construction bond financing in 2016, Wichita Public Schools will have safe rooms that can withstand an EF-5 tornado in every attendance center it operates, even though safe rooms aren’t mandatory in Kansas. Julie Hedrick, the district’s Facilities Division Director, says that a safe room can add up to $50/sf to the cost of new construction.
As for existing schools, Hedrick says it’s usually not cost effective to add a safe room as part of a renovation. But she says that, high school wrestling rooms—which usually don’t have windows and pad their walls and floors—have been upgraded to safe rooms relatively inexpensively.
Related Stories
K-12 Schools | Oct 31, 2017
Exploring empathy in architecture: Put yourself in your student’s shoes
People are enigmatic and inherently complex, which can make it difficult to design for a larger population.
K-12 Schools | Oct 28, 2017
A new elementary school in Cambridge, Mass., aims at being a pilot for that city’s NZE commitment
The building’s programming will provide more access to the community at large.
Higher Education | Oct 26, 2017
Where campus meets corporate design
A building is much more than its appearance; it’s how the user will behave inside of it that determines its adaptability.
Giants 400 | Oct 9, 2017
Job-ready learning: The newest K-12 schools nudge students toward careers
Some long-term K-12 trends—like beefing up safety and security, and designing for more natural light and outdoor learning space—are still in vogue.
Giants 400 | Oct 9, 2017
Top 80 K-12 construction firms
Gilbane Building Co., Balfour Beatty US, and Skanska USA top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest K-12 sector contractors and construction management firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2017
Top 40 K-12 engineering firms
AECOM, IMEG/KJWW/TTG, and STV top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest K-12 sector engineering and EA firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2017
Top 90 K-12 architecture firms
Stantec, DLR Group, and PBK top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest K-12 sector architecture and AE firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Education Facilities | Oct 3, 2017
The growing demand for early childhood education
When the design of early learning centers is grounded in the science of developmental psychology and education, these educational environments can address multiple domains of development that positively stimulate young children's physical and cognitive growth.
K-12 Schools | Oct 2, 2017
A Houston office park gets a new life as a private day school
Shepley Bulfinch designed the 75,000-sf campus.
K-12 Schools | Sep 20, 2017
Activating innovation: Trends in K-12 education
School structures offer a unique opportunity as they can often double as community centers and serve as shelters in the event of an emergency or natural disaster.