Voters who live in the Purcell School District have a chance to potentially save lives with a yes vote Tuesday for a $19.465 million school bond issue.

Included in the bond will be a new Ag Barn, a new parking lot at the junior and senior high schools, renovation to the elementary gymnasium and a competitive gym at the junior high.

But most importantly passage of the bond by a 60 percent or more margin will be to provide storm shelters at the elementary school and at the intermediate school.

Thanks to a FEMA grant the new gym at the junior high will serve as a community safe room in case of a tornado.

That is something that has been sorely needed in Purcell for quite some time.

In days gone by community members would go to the basement of the First Baptist Church, the basement at Trinity United Methodist Church or to what is now the school administration building to ride out storms when the sirens go off.

Turns out none of those three places meet the FEMA standards for sheltering from a tornado.

Hence they have all been shuttered to the public when Mother Nature conjures up a twister.

So currently there is no community shelter.

Hence a vote for the school bond issue is really more than getting a gym for the junior high.

It’s about providing a safe place for the public to go if a storm heads for town.

The safe rooms at the elementary and intermediate school will double as classrooms as well, giving the growing district more space to teach its students.

You can help not only the school but the community as a whole.

Vote yes August 27.