West ponders schools' future

[TexasTowelie]

West High School is shown with chain link fencing around the entire perimeter of the complex, Friday, May 31, 2013, in West, Texas. After a deadly plant explosion damaged many of their schools, the town is now tens of millions of dollars short of rebuilding them. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

After a massive fertilizer plant explosion devastated the rural town of West in April, local teachers and administrators did what they could to help the community cope with a disaster that killed 15 people and wrecked hundreds of structures, including three of West's four schools. They borrowed classrooms in a nearby town so that children could return to class, and salvaged the school year so that the 113 high school seniors could graduate on time.

But now West's schools are confronting another challenge as they plan to begin the new term next month in clusters of portable buildings that some are already calling "Portable City."

It's not clear how temporary the prefab village will actually be. Federal officials have rejected $40 million in disaster aid for the schools and insurance companies have offered just $20 million of the estimated $59 million value of the schools' insurance policy.

Leaders of the town of 2,800 worry about the impact of the schools' uncertainty on hundreds of residents who are deciding where to rebuild their lives— in West or possibly elsewhere.

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/ap/financial-services/devastated-texas-town-ponders-schools-future/nYrcx/ .