COVINGTON, Tenn. — Workers are racing against the clock to complete two temporary school buildings for Crestview Elementary and Crestview Middle in Covington.

In April, workers started clearing land at Cobb-Parr Memorial Park for the temporary schools after a tornado all but leveled both brick structures.

“This is the first time we’ve ever built “temp” schools, but we do a lot of restoration work. It being a quick pace, a quick turn-a-round is not new to us,” said Tyler Pattat, president and owner of Servicemaster by Cornerstone.

Pattat is in charge of keeping tabs on some 250 workers focused on turning these schools over to Tipton County by August 7 and getting it done in record time.

“Our contract started on July 10 and so we went from rock to concrete to building the structure internally and so we’ll make sure everybody gets back in school on time,” Pattat said. “There’s going to be 13,000 students and staff that will be housed in both of these buildings that were displaced from the tornado.”

The buildings are about 21,000 square feet each with PVC membrane roofs that are snow-rated and exterior and interior walls insulated for sound and weather, all with a multi-million dollar price tag.

“To get concrete, temporary structures, all the HVAC rented for a two-year span. Additionally, creating a safe environment for kids to have bathrooms and food services and the build-out of the schools…somewhere between eight and ten million dollars,” Pattat said.

According to Tipton County Schools, the cost of the project is being submitted to FEMA for reimbursement.

Hannah Counce said excitement over the two schools has boosted back-to-school shopping at Bayou Belle’s Boutique on the square.

“The kids are excited that there going to have somewhere to go see their friends again. Everyone’s very happy about it,” Counce said.

We asked about the status of the two schools destroyed in the tornado and Tipton County Schools said, “Once the interim structures are completed and school is in session, we will direct our focus to the next phase to rebuild the damaged schools.”