Grand Caillou school still closed for storm repairs

With yesterday’s reopening of Montegut Middle School, all Terrebonne Parish students have reported back to school, according to superintendent Ed Richard Jr.

Grand Caillou Elementary is the only school that remains closed due to damage caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike. All others schools opened last week.

Students of Grand Caillou Elementary, which took on over five feet of water two weekends ago and was also flooded during Hurricane Rita, were placed at Acadian Elementary in Houma.

“They (Acadian) are able to give us 12 classrooms, a whole wing,” Richard said. “We need 24 classrooms, so we’re going to combine two classrooms into one as we did during Rita, and that worked out pretty good.”

At last Tuesday’s school board meeting, Richard and board members praised administration staff, teachers and parents who worked diligently to get schools back online.

“Pointe-Aux-Chenes (Elemen-tary) has been cleaned because of people in the community who went out as soon as they could with their own pressure washers and cleaned out the school themselves,” said Hayes Badeaux, school board president. “They want the school opened as soon as possible, and I have to commend them for that.”

The officials also noted they were able to stay operational throughout the two-week chaos because of a decision made after Hurricane Rita to purchase a generator for the school board building.

“That was one of the smartest things we have ever done as a board,” Richard said.

Board member Roger Dale Dehart, whose district covers five of the seven schools that were still closed at the time of the meeting, hopes Richard and the board seriously consider relocating Grand Caillou Elementary to higher ground.

“Every year we have a flood, we spend $750,000 to over $1 million,” he said. “The lost time and hardship it puts everybody in, there has to be a better plan instead of keep cleaning that school. We have property by SAIA, above the (Grand Caillou) middle school. I hope the board sees it in its wisdom to put that on a faster track than it’s on right now.”

The property near SAIA is 15 acres of land donated to the school board by Tampa-based homebuilders Jim Walter Homes Inc. Richard, who “can’t tell you how many times that school has been flooded” said it was an alternative worth checking into.

Even though schools have been opened, they are still being examined for environmental hazards. For example, Richard said different sections of Coteau Bayou Blue Elementary and Caldwell Middle cannot be accessed because they are being checked for molding.

Richard and his staff will have to decide how students will make up all the days missed due to hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek informed Richard that the only way that can be waived is with an act of the state Legislature and a signature by the governor. Richard is not confident that will happen.

“We can use the two days from the fall break, the election day, and we have two days built in before the Christmas holidays,” he said. “We probably have to go into the Thanksgiving holidays to use another day and then use minutes during the school day within the 7:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. time frame.”

Because high schools and junior high schools are on the 4×4 schedule, those students have to make up the time before the semester closes in December. Elementary and middle schools have the whole school year to make up that missed time.

Richard said expanding the school day is not feasible because it would throw off the entire bus schedule.

“A school system that has a three-tier bus system, the starting and ending times are dependant on the buses,” he said. “You can’t end any later than 2:15 p.m. because then you affect the other two tiers you have to go pick up.”

While other board members were anxious to get all students back as soon as possible, Rickie Pitre warned that younger students should not be rushed back into once-flooded schools.

He noted that high schools did not suffer as much damage in the storms as other schools and younger kids may not be ready to handle coming back so soon.

“I hope that we look at the fact that these elementary students, these very young students, who have been flooded out have been impacted the most,” he said. “They could be traumatized. They’re going to remember that for the rest of their lives. Putting them back in a Grand Caillou or even a Dularge school that’s been flooded as opposed to a high school student working on the Carnegie unit (4×4), that’s a little different. I’d like to ask that we not stick to this hard and fast idea that every student is going to have to make up these days.”