Cut Off school construction hits parish drainage snag

Lingering issues over improper drainage at Cut Off Elementary School could possibly delay the school’s upcoming $2.2 million renovation and construction project.

The Lafourche Parish School Board started developing a plan to improve parish schools in 1995. However, the work was extensive. Officials soon had to split the improvements into three phases because many of the buildings, like Cut Off, are at least 50 years old.

The second phase of the construction plan was completed in 2007. The improvements to Cut Off are part of the final phase, said Evan Plaisance, the school system’s construction manager.

Cut Off Elementary is located in southern Lafourche, and serves pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade. Last year, school enrollment was 526 students. This year, officials predict the number will increase to a little over 600 students.

To accommodate the increase, the school board is looking to add two eight-classroom modular buildings to replace 13 temporary classrooms at a cost of $1.7 million. Two courtyards will also be downsized to extend several classrooms at a cost of $500,000.

Worn playground equipment will be replaced for $81,000, and the parking area will be paved for $292,000.

“A lot of the schools in Thibodaux and down the bayou are getting major upgrades to improve the all-around learning environment for the students,” said Superintendent Jo Ann Matthews.

Cut Off’s renovations will be funded from the $50 million that was generated from the 17-mill property tax parish voters approved in 2003.

“Funds are not our problem,” Matthews explained. “We cannot move on the construction projects Cut Off because we are having problems with drainage.”

On July 8, Matthews urged the Lafourche Parish Council to assess the school’s drainage issue.

“When it rains in Cut Off, the drainage ditches overflow and the streets are flooded. Parents, bus drivers and faculty find it very difficult to see where the roads end or begin when picking up or dropping their kids off at school, and that’s not safe,” she said. “Our maintenance department has to sandbag the school to keep the water from entering the facility and damaging the floors and infrastructure in the old building.”

The school system does not want to spend millions on new additions only to have to replace the concrete slabs for the modular classrooms and the parking lot in a few years, according to Plaisance.

“If the school board, continues to move on the projects without replacing the drainage, then it stands the possibility of having damaged concrete slabs in the next few years where the rainwater has soaked through, causing it to buckle,” he said.

The main problem the school board is facing right now, in Matthews’ opinion, is the concrete parking area in the front of the school. To build it, the school system would have to install sub-surface drainage.

“Our civil engineers cannot tell which way to put the pipes underneath the ground because of the way the parish has the drains set up” she said. “Moving on the project without the drainage being fixed could cause more problems than we can handle.”

The school board is responsible for maintaining school buildings, while the Lafourche Parish Government is responsible for maintaining the drainage, she contends.

“As superintendent of schools my duties are to educate students, hire qualified faculty and maintain school facilities, not deal with drainage issues,” Matthews said. “Drainage is a parish government problem. If there was a way for us to fix it without coming to the parish, then we would.”

No solution was offered at the parish council meeting. However, Councilmen Rodney Doucet and Daniel Lorraine said they would author a resolution to repair the drainage at the school.

Matthews said she has not received any word from the parish public works department on the matter.

Repeated calls to the Lafourche Parish Public Works Department remained unreturned as of press time.