There was good news Tuesday on the first of two safe rooms that officials hope can be built in Baldwin City.

Douglas County Emergency Management announced the Baldwin school district has been awarded a grant for 75 percent of the $603,992 it will cost to build the 680-person safe room at the new Baldwin Elementary School Primary Center.

“We’re very pleased, and we think it will be a great deal for the community,” said Superintendent Paul Dorathy. “It’ll be good for the students and staff there. If a tornado ever happens — and we hope it doesn’t — we will have a building that withstands 250 mph winds.”

The school district will kick in $150,998.

Dorathy said he hoped to hear soon about a grant for a new Performing Arts Center that will be built between Baldwin High School and Baldwin Junior High School. That whole structure would be built to FEMA specifications for withstanding tornadoes. It would house 1,500 to 1,800 people, with a price tag well over $1 million for the beefed-up outer structure.

“Because it is a bigger grant, we were told it wouldn’t be a state grant decision,” he said. “It is at a higher level. I’m not sure if it’s in Washington or not. I think we’re going to know on it in the next two or three weeks.”

Eudora’s new elementary school received a $566,677 FEMA grant in 2008 for a safe room — the first in Douglas County.