By Nina Brooks
SOUTH ST. PETERSBURG—The presence of Hurricane Irma was the cause of stress and panic leading up to its arrival, and the reason for frustration and relief after it left. For the schools stepping in as shelters, this was no different.
After tracking Hurricane Irma through various spaghetti models and varying paths, some schools in St. Petersburg had to prepare to not only close their doors to students during the storm’s arrival but to open them to evacuees as well.
Principal Nicole Wilson of Thurgood Marshall Fundamental and Principal Reuben Hepburn of Gibbs High School knew once Pinellas County Schools closed for students, their next step was to take the appropriate steps to anticipate becoming a shelter.
“I was still in ‘principal mode,’” said Principal Hepburn. “Here we are concerned about student achievement and moving student achievement forward so that our students can get the best possible education from Gibbs High School, and now we have to shift our thinking.”
Principal Hepburn and his administrator tracked the storm. Once the schools closed and the storm still projected to hit Florida, his conference room became “command central” for Gibbs High School’s transition into a shelter.
The whiteboard became an organized chart, Hepburn’s name at the top as EOC commander. People were assigned to their titles and roles.
“We’re going to be a shelter. Our community is going to be looking to us for refuge, a safe haven, to escape this devastating storm,” said Principle Hepburn.
As the storm grew closer and Principal Wilson monitored the storm and followed the district’s instructions on what steps to take to shift from school to shelter, she was hit with a twist.
“It was Friday that I got word that my school was not going to be a shelter because it was in a flood zone. I was being moved to Campbell Park Elementary to be Incident Commander at Campbell Park,” said Wilson. “I got that information Friday evening around 6:30 and that was kind of scary because I don’t know the school.”
Within an hour that evening, Principal Wilson met with Principal Young-Parker, of Campbell Park, to walk the campus for Wilson to come up with the best plan for her and her team on very short notice.
Less than 12 hours later, Campbell Park would open their doors at 6 a.m. to welcome those seeking refuge.
Principal Hepburn and his team opened doors Friday; same time but a day early.
Both principals and their teams organized and managed the crowds in their own ways while still achieving and possessing the same goal to get everyone in as quickly and safely as possible.
At Gibbs, “We had to create a system, almost at like a theme park, where they could form lines,” said Hepburn.
These lines then lead people to registration signs to inform them on which items the shelter allowed and where to go for registration.
The gymnasium and their media center were the two main areas where people would reside because they were convenient entry points.
Hepburn saw these two buildings’ accessibility important to keeping their system intact. Vehicles were able to drive up, load and unload passengers. Hepburn also made sure they had a ramp for those in wheelchairs.
People were also given wristbands in correlation with which tier they were assigned to. The gymnasium was Tier One and the media center were Tier Two.
To add to the impromptu stress at Campbell Park, Principal Wilson was assisted by Campbell Park’s assistant principal with maps of the school to figure out with which rooms would be best for people to stay in since their principal, Young-Parker, has only been at the school since August.
In addition, Principal Wilson points out how delegating roles to her team in a school she was not familiar with was slightly daunting.
“The team that I had that was going to work under me were not my staff employees here on campus,” says Principal Wilson.
Her team was made up of principals and assistant principals from various schools. The only person she worked with on a daily basis was her assistant principal at Thurgood Marshall Elementary.
“I had to assign tasks and responsibilities, like registration, safety, supervision, security,” said Wilson. “Those are things I just had to assign to people without even really knowing them.”
Once they were registered, people were then organized into different sections: single males, single females without children, families, elderly and special needs.
The staff at both locations had their own sections as well.
Since Principal Wilson had to relocate, she and her cafeteria manager had to bring their food and supplies from Thurgood Marshall over to Campbell Park to feed the guests.
Some of the meals had to be served cold at Campbell Park because about an hour into the storm, they lost power. The backup generators they had only kept the lights on.
“For the most part, we tried to give them a heated meal when we could,” says Principal Wilson.
Campbell Park housed about 730 people and Gibbs housed about 1,300, both hitting capacity.
For security, the St. Petersburg Police Department was a presence on both campuses. EMS was also on the scene if anyone needed medical attention. Within the first hour of the storm, Campbell Park Elementary lost power. Gibbs, however, never lost their power.
Despite the panic and stress, both principals see a glimmer of a hope to the experience.
Both responded positively to the overall experience. They didn’t mention having any issues they could not handle.
Principal Hepburn read thankful emails from those who stayed with him in their time of fear and panic, complimenting Hepburn and his steam on their hospitality.
They also gave their teams high praise.
“I worked with a dynamic team. …Phenomenal assistant principals and principals that just stepped up,” said Principal Wilson.
“When you have a collaborative effort of minds that think alike and we’re all trying to achieve the same goal, you get the best result,” said Hepburn.