The Andalusia City Council on Tuesday toured the new junior high school facility, which is set to open in January.

The new school, built adjacent to Andalusia High School, will house seventh and eighth grade students. It features “hard rooms,” or storm shelters large enough to house all of the junior high and senior high students in the event of a tornado.

Superintendent Ted Watson said the safe rooms allow five square feet for each occupant, and 10 square feet for those in wheelchairs.

“We are working with EMA to plan how we’ll manage these,” he said. “This is a unique, special selling point in the school.”

The school system received a FEMA grant to help in the construction, and the construction is designed to sustain winds of 200 mph.

The school has 14 classrooms, two labs and a media center. The media center connects with a computer lab.

Much of the furniture will be moved from the current middle school, Watson said. However, the media center and computer lab are begin outfitted with new furniture, and math teachers are getting desks designed for more collaborative wofk.