Selma City Schools receives tornado recovery aid

From the West Alabama Newsroom–

Selma City Schools receives $1.75 million dollars in state funding to help with tornado recovery efforts.

The January 12th tornado caused extensive damage — to about a third of the buildings in the city. And some of the buildings damaged were school buildings.

“That tornado caused millions of dollars in damages, uprooted lives, changed lives for many years to come,” said Superintendent Dr. Zickeyous Byrd.

Byrd says for the past 5 months — the district has been working to repair damage the tornado caused.

“There’s a process to starting over. It takes time, it takes patience, it takes resilience. But most importantly, it takes money,” said Byrd.

About $1.7 million dollars more money — than the district’s insurance policies cover.

“We were just trying the stretch our available funds as far as we possibly could,” said Byrd.

“We had a lot of roof damage, we had mold damage, we had damage to our floors, we had damage to our HVAC system, damage to windows. And this is going to allow us to be able to go in and be able to make more repairs. And of course, and fill in that gap.”

The money provided — came out of the Education Trust Fund.

State Representative Prince Chestnut — spear-headed the effort — to find and obtain funding from the state — to help the school district’s recovery effort.

“It’s all about the children,” he said.

“Everything that we do must be about making sure the next generation has a chance. We have to look out for the children. And we have to give them the tools that they need to be successful.”

Chestnut represents House District 67 — which includes all of Dallas County — and a portion of Perry County.