Big Spring schools close

BIG SPRING Following a massive explosion this morning at Alon USA, all nine Big Spring ISD campuses shut down.

About 9:40 a.m., administrators made the call to have parents pick up their children from the schools.

Assistant superintendent Carie Dunnam said two of the district’s elementary campuses — Moss and Washington — were evacuated within 15 minutes of the 8:20 a.m. explosion. The rest of the schools were shut down about an hour later.

Moss and Washington elementaries are within about 10 miles of the refinery in Big Spring, Dunnam said.

Big Spring ISD has nine campuses: five elementaries, one junior high, one high school and an alternative education center.

Parents were asked to pick up their children from the schools, she said, noting administrators were working early today on getting every student home safely.

“We can’t run buses because so many of our routes are closed,” she said.

Students evacuated from Moss and Washington were taken by school buses to Goliad Intermediate, because it’s a more centralized campus, Dunnam said.

The district of 3,839 students closed the campuses for the remainder of the day.

Dunnam said it’s planned for campuses to open back up at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

She said the decision to have class Tuesday would depend on how significant the refinery damage and if any other major events occur.

The important thing, she said, was to keep calm and make sure students got home.

“I don’t think panicking at this point is going to help any of us,” Dunnam said.

The Howard College campus in Big Spring also closed today, and students were asked to remain at home, according to the college’s website.

Cindy Smith, Howard College information director, said the local gas company began inspecting student dorms along with the Big Spring campus this morning.

Upon inspection completion, Smith said students would be expected to return to their dorms.

The campus, which is about three miles from the refinery, was evacuated within 15 minutes of the explosion and students, faculty and staff relocated to the Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf at 3200 Avenue C.

Smith said the entire Howard College campus felt the explosion as it happened.

“We had stuff coming off the walls, ceilings,” she said. “It was a significant impact on the campus. We definitely knew something had happened — no question.”

It’s planned for classes to resume this morning, she said.

Howard College’s Big Spring campus has about 1,350 students enrolled while the Institute has about 105 students enrolled.

About 10 miles east of Big Spring, the Coahoma Independent School District’s three campuses remained open this morning.

Coahoma ISD Superintendent Jerry Johnson said administrators made a decision to keep campuses open instead of trying to bus students along streets in Coahoma, where parts of I-20 have been blocked because of the explosion.

The district has about 780 students.

“We’re still trying to have school,” Johnson said.