Just before we recess i would like to Say Something back i want to remind my colleagues i would like to stay something for the record. I want to remind my colleagues. Within 14 days. Following the last day of the hearing. They must address the subject matter of the hearing and only a member are divided. Documents are limited to 50 pages each. That will be incorporated into the record. You must provide to the community clerk within the prior timeframe. Recognized the years from now no longer work. The Ranking Member is here joining us. I would now begin by addressing our witnesses for the second pile. The commissioner of education is a former Elementary School principal. I used to visit his school. I was appointed associate education commissioner in 2012. Before becoming the commissioner of education in 2018. It is a native inquiry. Since 2012. She is the first woman to be elected president of 1826. For 23 years. She is an advocate for community engagement. She has a degree in Elementary Education from the university of the Virgin Islands and a master of arts degree in School Psychology from the university of connecticut. He was a educator for 45 years. He began his career as elementary and middle School Teacher in 1970. After serving as a teacher and educator, he joined the Florida Department of education. He served in several positions before being appointed to the commissioner of education. They reached an alltime high. In 2007 he retired as commissioner of education and join the National Math and science initiative. There he directed the programs. Dramatically expands to the enrollment. I am just saying this here. Finally he was elected from other countries. He has over 40 years of service in the field of education. He began his career as a history teacher. This position he gained experience in suburban and urban settings. Has led Educational Services for students from the garden through hospital. Again i would like to give instruction to the witness. I will give the abbreviated version to the witness as a reminder. Your [null] to limit her oral presentation to a five minute summary. Knowingly or willingly falsifying any statement of material fact presented to congress or otherwise considered a cover up. Before you begin your testimony, please remember to press the button on the microphone in front of you so that it will turn on and the members can hear you. The light will turn green. Reform as the light will turn yellow. When the light turns red, we ask that you please wrap up. When entering a question, please remember to turn the microphone on. I will first recognize the commissioner. Thank you for the opportunity to share our experiences on the commonwealth. As we Work Together after recovering from the devastation. The 20 mile once i. It used to be in the last three years we were hit by the super typhoon. The federal government should act slow and reverse the human impact on our environment. It requires change in how we build our school. We must be built sustainably and in a responsible manner so we do not have to continue to start a new each time. On the 20 public schools. Over half were damaged by the typhoon. Such major repairs. Replacement of doors and windows. Loss of computers. Textbooks. And tables. Conducting houses in 40 2 10. It is completely destroyed. They are a temporary solution. They can tell to be blown away by the next typhoon. We need a reinforced concrete school that can withstand the super typhoon. In excess of 200 miles per hour. The estimated cost is about 40 million. Another academy process temporarily in a tin building. Seven months after the storm, we still have five schools operated. The main Students Attend School for the first half of the day and the other sub students may use the same building for the second half of the day. This is especially difficult. We need to figure out for the other half of the day. It also means double driving for our School Bus Drivers which will result in more downtime for repairs and students driving late to school and late to return to their homes. They spent 1. 8 million on clearing debris from acting schools and eight centers. And caring for families using schools as shelters before and during and after the topping. We submit about 24 million to be received from fema. To the previous condition. That means tin roof building. Super typhoon conditions. Today we have received reimbursement from fema. 750,000. We have estimated about 60 million in repairs to be made and are still awaiting final approval from fema. We have our estimates. These repairs cannot be made until fema approves the worksheet. Terrorism is the commonwealths main industry. Our efforts were close to commercial traffic for over a month. 40 percent since the beginning of this calendar according to the visitors authority. Attracts hotel occupancy. This drop has a big impact on the amount of Funds Available to support education. As a result of decreased local revenues, we are not taking about 15 percent budget cut. This on top of the fact that they do not have the funds necessary to make structural repairs. When a Disaster Relief fund from fema and the Community Development block grant. So we can explore repairs. Beginning this june through august with the reopening. We need a Faster Response from our federal partners. Were able to secure a grant for 1. 1 million. A month after the storm, the project pays for grief counselors for our students and teachers who have suffered for losses. Overtime for our bus drivers were working double sessions. Rental space for our school. Has been a big and timely help. Several months have come and gone and we are still waiting for our estimates. There deafly will be the full testimony entered into the record. I now recognize ms. Thomas for five minutes. Good morning. Im the president of the federation of teachers. I represent teachers for our support staff. Three junior high schools. On september 19, 2017, camarillo ravished the island of st. Croix causing significant damage to the infrastructure. Many citizens suffered Severe Damage to their homes and other personal properties. The Virgin Islands. Is still in a state of disrepair. It was entirely condemned by fema. It is letter for complete rebuild. It is scheduled as well. Many schools will be housing temporary facilities. They have gotten some Modular Structures for condensed spaces. On the football field on the high school which is negatively impacted the schools recreation and athletic program. A modular facility were recently constructed at the junior high school. Unfortunately, they had to be abruptly closed in april. Of 2019. It is now housed within the site. Consequently, two schools are now occupying this complete modular side. This goal is obviously overcrowded. They have programs due to lack of sufficient classroom space. The western wing of the Elementary School was totally destroyed. Modular structures have been erected to replace the demolished classroom. The condemned structure of the westernmost wing on the site remains untouched and is surrounded by a chainlink fencing. Recently, a wall at the Elementary School that housed the classrooms clocks. Causing full editions to reassign students the classrooms that were out of commission. To date, nothing has been repaired. Seemingly no plans to do so exist. Both of our island high schools and the educational complex are in desperate need of repair. The 2 schools are currently preparing for a accreditation visit from the middle States Commission on higher education. Department repairs are not executed, there were only two hospitals on the island of st. Croix that will likely lose accreditation. The air conditioning units in our Technical Education center has been down for quite some time. The rebuilding leaks. It has mold. We are concerned that students and School Employees continue to get sick. We are essentially at a standstill regarding any permanent repairs by fema. Repeating Damage Assessment of our schools and activity center. Facilities have been executed by many government officials and agencies. Yet no concrete plan has been employed. Differently fixed our american ravished schools. More than 20 months after the hurricane, many of our cases continue to suffer from respiratory illness. Additionally, there is no Drinking Water in any of our public schools. The Public Water System dispenses a discolored water daily. To date, our members and students continued to experience a slew of medical symptoms including posttraumatic stress disorder. This was discovered during a recent visit by volunteer nurses. Came to the Virgin Islands to perform hearing and vision screening. They do not have desk and chairs for childrens or teachers or book cubicles or storage closet. At this phase, the personality board of education has not released that summer Maintenance Plan to start our school. The question we need answered. Where is the burden of Violence Department of education. Where is the u. S. Department of education on its oversight. No definitive plan to complete permanent replays have been unveiled to the union or community. Thank you. Testimony will be submitted into the record. I now recognize him for five minutes. Thank you chairman. Thank you members of the committee for the invitation to share with you floridas approach to Disaster Relief. I will focus my remarks primarily on the time in which i was commissioner from 2004 three 2007. Experiencing 4 hurricanes. Hurricane charlie. Hurricane francis. Hurricane ivan. To give you a sense. We had 13 School Districts that lost more than 10 days of school. Over a period of 48 days. Florida has Emergency Management system as well as Recovery Efforts in the department of education. Is a partner in that effort. We believe that reopening schools quickly is critical not only for the impact of Student Learning but just as important if not more the impact on children safety. More injuries and deaths occur after hurricane or during the again. We are critical for the schools that we are not playing among degree and dangerous situations. Also, our relief efforts. Many states. That must have the leadership of the state governor. They have the ability to mobilize the National Guard. Such as fema. Agriculture. Military as well as local and state. As well as thousands of volunteers come to help clean up schools. A quick and comprehensive opening of schools after a disaster. It requires activities that are linear but rather the set of activities for reopening schools that are all happening at the same level. Some of the things we learned. School personnel were not able to utilize outside assistance the day after the hurricane struck. You have shop. You have a time to assess the damages. So they know what type of help they need as well as taking care of the school personnel. Many of the personal and family issues. We learned it is important to have a single point of contact for the department of education. School district that is affected. That keeps the messages very clear. So we can act on them expeditiously. Another thing we learn. Getting help from outside. Particularly for nontraditional areas such as the National Guard or the private industry. Calling in to support what we were doing. To explain district leadership how they could in fact help the Recovery Efforts. We also learned that virtually everyone was willing to help if contacted by the governor. On behalf of the governor. I gave you list in our written testimony. Florida is a great state. We use a lot of what we call a lot of classrooms to accommodate the growth the School Building cannot keep up with. When hurricane charley and the other three hurricanes hit, we needed to mobilize to use relocatable classrooms. We contacted the five major manufacturers. We also know the road back order. We called the Superintendent Association and requested they redirect some of their relocatable classrooms to the affected areas. They happily complied with that request. There were a number of issues that needed to be waived. Regulations. To the governors authority. Thank you very much for your testimony. I now recognize doctor harrington for five minutes. As a superintendent of schools. It is an honor to share with you the lessons learned. The fire devastated my community in 2017. Similar disasters such as the recent catastrophic fire. I command you for convenient his hearing educators and Emergency Response agencies can be better prepared to support schools and children when the next disaster strikes. In sonoma county, my office is privileged to serve 40 School Districts to provide care and education to more than 71,000 students. Some are small and rural serving as few as 10 students while others are large and carbon. One country is associated with high wealth. Mother 45 percent of our students are socioeconomically at a disadvantage. In 2017 our Community Experience the times fire. It was the most catastrophic wildfire in california history. 36 as a superintendent. Responded to numerous floods and earthquakes. I have never seen a Natural Disaster take such a toll. As to the times fire. The wildfire swept from the dry hills. Leaving a six lane freeway. Forcing the closure and evacuation. And destroyed numerous school sites and the homes of nearly 1500 students and 250 School Employees. Wildfires in california resulted in 1 billion of property damage. More than 40 deaths. Since then, similar wildfires have burned in wildfire communities causing more devastation than ours. I like to show you a few lessons. However lead the federal government can help schools reopen. They have a full copy of my report. Reopening schools. Schools are essential to restoring normalcy within the community. There were unprecedented issues to deal with. Such as ensuring the safety of the building. The state convened a special task force to address unanswered questions. It is needed to be provided the epa on how toxic ash should be dealt with in the situation. School facilities. Find the ultimate can be a challenge. Especially when 90 percent the community is destroyed such as in paradise california. It can provide portable classrooms for the department of defense. It would greatly resolve this problem and schools reopen sooner. Grants such as restart are valued and appreciated. There needs to be greater flexibility regarding how they can be spent and over what time period. They have consequences that unfold for years. To address community needs. Longer than the current time constraints. The likelihood of a similar disaster very hard. Report predicted that if it leads to climate change, the average area in california will increase by 77 percent by the end of this entry. They have applied for a grant after finding schools are often omitted from county and city plans. We recently learned that schools may be eligible for additional funding to have these plans in place. Mental health support. They are longlasting. Schools are still dealing with the large number of traumatized students that. Showing this is a serious negative impact on students. Testing waivers were not granted to our school. We applied to the federal government. We did not receive any waivers. This is true in the times fire. It was granted by the state of california. This means the schools will have negative scores posted on their accountability report card. We will not question witnesses under the fiveminute role. My apologies. We would have your slideshow. We were not able to do that. You have five minutes. It is really very enlightening. Thank you to all the witnesses for being here. My first question was going to be what are the direct impacts you have observed on the student experience. I think doctor harrington a detailed your testimony in some the things you have seen. I will pass on that. I do think you because sometimes we think of these big picture things understandably. It is about building facilities. More portly than anything in talking about the impacts. I am curious, this may be more for you doctor harrington. How is the disasters that you faced change your approach to preparedness. To students filled a sensor preparedness. Are then not likely in the moment. We have applied for a preparation grant that i told you about earlier. It was not known to us at the time. I think the department of Education Needs to make a proactive approach to that. So districts can prepare for those grants. Our application is pending for this year. Because cities and counties apply for but they often forget to leave the School System into the planning. Another one of your questions. It deals with the impact on students. The fire which occurred this year. You have the justice to the aerial view. On the smoke from the times fire. They landed for some reason in sonoma county. We have 250 miles away from butte county. The residual impact was there. Came in october when our fire occurred. Children once again started to panic. Planning for these types of things, we are doing longterm psychological training for teachers on how to deal with trauma in the classroom. Anticipation for further events. It was a proactive event that we trained every year now. I am interested. Clearly the importance of making schools more safer. My previous experience. Chair of the state. This was a big issue for hurricanes and other disasters. How to improve School Buildings. So that are more accurate. Massive impact on the health and safety. Will it mean for your School Districts and i am happy to hear answers from your observations to receive report. California has the field act. We are very prepared for . We do with them all the time. I will tell you from my perspective, is for preparation of a facility. I do not think it is as needed. I think they seem to have more of a need for the federal government because of the commonwealth standing. He may wish to speak to that. We have observation about that . Our Natural Disaster . One of the things i mentioned. We are prone to even more typhoons. We need to harden our reps. Make it really sustainable to with strand stronger winds and. The buildings that were damaged. They really have 10 reps. Also some of them that were wooden. Those are all the ones that were severely damaged. Potentially to be able to deal with some of those issues prior to additional episodes. It would be welcomed on your part . Im also thinking of the fema requirement. Beyond the plywood, that is considered temporary repair. We want to do permanent repair. That kind of eliminates our chances of applying for hazard mitigation. Maybe a little more flexibility. I yelled back my time. On all recognize the distinguished Ranking Member for his five minutes of question. You have shared in your testimony that you were commissioner during a particularly difficult hurricane in florida. You mentioned in your testimony that it was safe to say in 2004. Hearing more about these give the subcommittee a better understanding of the magnitude of the challenge state and local officials face. Can you tell us what the extent of the damage to the schools resulting from those hurricanes in more details and also, i want to give credit to the state of florida for your excellent response i have heard