Wylie ISD Making Repairs After Damaging Hail
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WYLIE (CBSDFW.COM) - Powerful hail on Monday evening forced all 19 schools in the Wylie Independent School District to close on Tuesday. Every campus received some sort of damage, and district officials soon realized that classes would not be able to go on as scheduled.
Crews started working early Tuesday morning to survey the damage and clean up the schools. There is a lot of broken glass on the campus grounds, making it unsafe for students to walk around.
Some campuses were damaged worse than others, like Hartman Elementary School. Not only did the hail punch out windows all around the building, but there are concerns about the school's roof as well.
Birmingham Elementary School and Akin Elementary School were also struck hard during the storm. Akin Elementary School alone lost 50 windows to baseball-sized hailstones.
Wylie ISD superintendent David Vinson explained that one of the biggest challenges will be the HVAC systems which were hit by hail. Some of the schools will not be able to reopen if those systems are not working. "This event was crazy," Vinson said on Tuesday. "We had $20 million worth of damage in the last event. We replaced 36 HVAC units at once campus. They might be destroyed again. Now, we're deciding what we're going to do about all that."
Many school district employees have put aside their own needs at home in order to get the school buildings ready. The district is aiming to have schools open for classes again on Wednesday morning, but Vinson added that it was still too early to make a final call.
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