When city school officials decided to build a new high school off U.S. 31 in Athens, they knew they wanted a safe room in the plans for emergencies like tornadoes.

The idea was to let students use the safe room, or shelter, during school hours, if an emergency arose, and to let Athens residents use the shelter after school hours. 

When the school opened in January, the shelter was ready, too. Located just below the freshman academy, the shelter can hold 2,200 people and is rated to withstand winds of up to 256 miles per hour, or an EF5 tornado.

Right now, the shelter is only open to the public during tornado warnings, not tornado watches, a situation that is not ideal. While officials believe the problem is solvable, they haven’t solved it yet.

Athens City Schools Superintendent Trey Holladay said Tuesday the city of Athens has not yet worked out a game plan for opening the shelter during tornado watches and for providing some level of security during those times.

He said when a tornado warning is issued, he will come to the high school and make sure the shelter is open to the public. However, he cannot provide that service whenever there is a tornado watch. Alabama will enter its second tornado season of the year in November, which means tornado watch advisories could become more common.

When school officials offered the use of the shelter to the public after school hours, it was the school system’s mission to share resources with the city, Holladay said. He said the school system has no problem sharing the shelter, but the city needs to advise the school on how they want to handle tornado watches.

Daphne Ellison, emergency management officer for Limestone County Emergency Management Agency, said Tuesday having the shelter open to the public only during tornado warnings is not safe.

“We open all of our shelters during tornado watches,” she said of the many EMA-registered shelters in the county. “If you get to a shelter during a warning, you may get caught in the storm. It is too late.”

She said the school system opened the shelter during severe weather one time, and the public didn’t follow the rules.

“They opened it when we were under severe storms, and people brought their animals,” Ellison said. “They let their dogs poop in the shelter, and they didn’t clean up the poop.”

Bringing pets to a public storm shelter is prohibited. The only pets allowed in public storm shelters are service dogs, such as those assigned to the blind or to individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ellison said the poop incident probably made the school system reluctant to share the shelter during tornado watches unless someone is assigned to open the shelter and act as a monitor while people are there.

She suggested a school resource officer or county deputy could be assigned, but the shelter is located within the city limits of Athens, which is the jurisdiction of Athens Police Department, not the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office.

Athens Police Chief Floyd Johnson said Tuesday if a watch is declared during school hours, his officers will already be at Athens High.

“If a watch is issued after school hours and we’re requested to respond, we will surely try to have an officer there. However, with our staffing issues, we will do the best we can do.”

Johnson has said he needs at least four officers in the immediate future and more in the coming years.

Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks said Tuesday he was unaware the shelter was not being opened during tornado watches. He said the city does not have a rotation set up to cover opening and monitoring the AHS shelter after school hours but could work all of that out.

Ellison said the EMA may present the issue to the Athens school board at an upcoming meeting.

Because the high school shelter is not open during tornado watches, Ellison said it is not registered with the EMA nor does the EMA advertise it as a public tornado shelter as it does with other shelters throughout the county.

“Unless they give us the go-ahead that they are going to be open during watches, then we can’t,” Ellison said.