Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
A little more than two months after the county received a $280,000 grant to retrofit the Howard Academy library for emergency sheltering, the Jefferson County School Board recently signed the agreement.
The 37-page agreement package that the Jefferson County School Board approved on Monday evening, Jan. 10, was between it and the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM). The contract allows for the reimbursement of monies that the district expends to repair and retrofit the building to serve as a hurricane shelter for up to 300 evacuees. When not in use as an emergency shelter, the building will serve as a community center.
Per the agreement, the work will entail strengthening all windows, doors, louvers and other openings so they are able to withstand set standards for wind impacts. The same protection must be applied to vents, louvers, exhaust fans and the like. The contract also calls for the installation of the appropriate wiring, pad and tie-downs to serve an emergency generator.
The signed agreement is chockfull of the traditional terms and conditions of such documents, including requirements, expectations and potential penalties for failure to comply. It also subjects all entities, including private ones that provide services to government entities such as the school district, to abide by the Sunshine Law and its open records requirements, among other things.
The retrofit project represents a collaborative effort among the First Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Association, Jefferson County School Board, and Emergency Management with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The association, which leases the historic Howard Academy property on Second Street from the school district for a dollar annually, has long-term plans for reviving the entire site as an educational hub and resource center. The retrofitting and renovating of the library fits well into the group’s long-term plans.
Dr. Alisha Bradley-Nelson, who is the Women Auxiliary president of the association, has called the planned improvements to the library a significant starting point for the eventual restoration of the entire historical campus, as the project not only maintains the physical structure, but it also preserves the legacy and commitment of the leadership to a community cornerstone.
The association, according to an earlier News report, envisions the campus one day becoming a one-stop shop for meeting the community’s multigenerational needs. The group reportedly is working to establish partnerships with organizations that have expertise in educating and providing resources in computer and financial literacy and music and the arts, among other areas.
Dating from 1957 and constructed in various phases until its completion in 1970, Howard Academy, later commonly known as Howard Middle School, initially served as the elementary, middle and high school for the African-American community in Jefferson County. Its establishment – complete with a library, gymnasium and modern classrooms – effectively resulted in the eventual closure of many of the two and three-room rural schoolhouses in remote areas of the county.
In the 1970-71 academic year, when the school district implemented desegregation, the campus became a middle school, appropriately named Howard Middle School. The school served in that capacity until 2004, when it was vacated after the new high school was built on David Road.