Thibodaux man accused of killing infant daughter
September 28, 2021
H. L. Bourgeois High to remain closed Wednesday
September 28, 2021
In a Facebook post that’s been shared hundreds of times, pictures, claimed to be taken Tuesday at Houma Junior High School (HJH), show the school in a state that’s raising concerns among local parents.
“If the pictures are indeed from today, the school is rushing to reopen without taking appropriate measures, and I am concerned for my child’s health and safety,” said Michelle Ortego, whose son was enrolled at HJH before the storm. “I will not send him back until the school is up to par.”
However, Terrebonne Parish School District Superintendent Philip Martin says each school set to reopen tomorrow, including HJH, has been thoroughly tested for environmental quality, and no school will open unless it is safe.
“We will not open any school that hasn’t been tested and approved,” said Martin, who added that he just returned from visiting Houma Junior High. “There will certainly be some cosmetic issues at every school — that doesn’t automatically equate to environmentally hazardous. So, if you go into a school and you see some stained ceiling tiles…it’s not environmentally hazardous because the school has passed extensive testing.”
Martin said the first phase schools went through consisted of remediation, mitigation and cleanup. A second, unrelated company conducted quality tests in the next phase, he said, and an independent environmental consultant reviewed those results in the last phase. All parties involved were licensed, Martin said.
“If [a school] opens, it’s been through that process and been cleared,” he said. “There’s no way any school system would say, ‘Let’s just stick the kids and the teachers back in there and just keep our fingers crossed.’ Nobody would do that.”
The Times cannot confirm when or where the pictures were taken and has reached out to the original poster for comment.
More to follow.
