Tuscaloosa BOE member sees need for partnership with City

Read Article on Kiowa County Signal
Unlike Greensburg, Tuscaloosa didn’t lose all its school building in its recent tornado experience, simply because it had over a dozen campuses rather than two buildings. It did, however, suffer the loss of two campuses, and those in perhaps the poorest part of a town with a relatively high poverty rate.

Kelly Horwitz, the District Four (there are seven) representative of the Tuscaloosa School Board was the lone representative of the city’s public education system at the two-day Tuscaloosa Recovery Summit, and as such, had a great deal of interest in how Greensburg’s district was able to have a $52 million campus ready for use just three years after losing its facility in May of 2007.

She later told The Signal she learned a great deal from USD 422 Superintendent Darin Headrick, particularly in terms of how he and his board prioritized its rebuilding plans and went about finding the dollars needed from a variety of sources.

Noting that roughly 10 percent of Tuscaloosa was impacted by the April 27 storm, Horwitz said the University Place campus of pre-K through grade eight was severely damaged while the pre-K through grade 5 Alberta Elementary campus “was leveled.” University Place serves Horwitz’s district.

“About two-thirds of our students in Tuscaloosa get free or reduced lunches and the ratio is at least that high if not higher in the neighborhoods where the two schools were hit,” Horwitz said.

Speaking with former County Commissioner Gene West just before departing the hospital for Kiowa County Schools, Horwitz was uncertain of how hard she and her board should pursue intervention from her state’s congressional delegation.

“Pat Roberts, Sam Brownback and Jerry Moran, our senators and Congressman did a lot to help us get help early on,” West told Horwitz. “Go to your representatives early and often.”

“Tuscaloosa is Shelby’s (Richard, GOP senior U.S. Senator) hometown,” Horwitz reflected.

“There you go,” West said. “He has a big incentive to do a lot for you.”

Asked how close a relationship the school district and City of Tuscaloosa had enjoyed before the tornado, Horwitz said, “We really haven’t worked that closely together before, but I think that’s going to need to change. I’d think it’s clear to us (her and the two Tuscaloosa City Councilmen that likewise made the trip to Greensburg) from what we’re seeing here that we both can benefit from working together.”