‘Hoppy ANT-iversary’ Audubon Insectarium
June 9, 2009
Stephen "Joe" Andras
June 11, 2009
Weeks after the school shooting at Larose-Cut Off Middle School, the Lafourche Parish School District has hired a contractor to install more cameras to alleviate blind spots at the middle school.
“There were some important areas at the school that needed to be covered,” Superintendent Jo Ann Matthews said. “This is for the safety of the students and the faculty.”
The Lafourche Parish School Board hired La Tech Security Solutions at last week’s meeting to install additional surveillance cameras at a cost of $26,860. Matthews said the money will be paid out of the school system’s safety fund.
Lafourche Parish has always had a crisis plan. Shortly after the incident, the school system met with its crisis management team that includes national crisis consultant Steven Hanes and state Attorney General’s Office safety consultant Sandra Ezell.
“We had begun the process of reviewing all our schools in the system looking for blind spots,” Matthews said. “It was our intention to install additional cameras at the schools that needed them.
“If you have a plan, then you can start at whatever point needs addressing,” Matthews added.
To help cut costs, Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre and Matthews co-wrote an application for a crisis management grant for the funds to add the new cameras.
The grant was not available for the 2008-09 school year. However, it was awarded for the 2009-10 school year. Larose-Cut Off Middle School will be the first school to have the additional cameras installed. Matthews said several others will follow.
Also at the meeting, the school board endorsed Senate Bill 90 and House Bill 689, which call for the creation of a statewide educational facilities authority and fund program.
“Like many other districts in the state, our buildings are old, and that is very hard to deal with,” Matthews said. “The state has been talking about this for a long time. The school system supports the idea that the state is going to set aside some money for buildings.
“We would really like to see the program come to fruition because renovations and building schools are expensive,” she added.
Sen. Cheryl Gray-Evans and Rep. Karen Carter-Peterson introduced both bills in last year’s legislative session.
SB90 establishes the Louisiana Statewide Educational Facilities Authority for the purpose of administering funding for local school districts to use for construction and repairs of facilities.
HB689 introduces a fund in the state treasury known as the Statewide Educational Facilities Fund that will be used to provide funding for school construction and repairs throughout Louisiana.
Despite tremendous support from the Legislature in the last session, Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed the bill.
Sen. Gray-Evans and Rep. Carter-Peterson reintroduced the bills in the current legislative session. Both bills have passed through their respective committees, the Senate Education Committee and the House Appropriations Committee.
Even without the funds, Lafourche Parish has renovated nearly every school in the parish over the past 10 years.
The latest work that has been done in the parish is expanding the high schools and South Thibodaux and Thibodaux elementary schools. Bayou Blue Middle School is the only new facility built in the parish.
“In one way or another every school has been touched through electrical upgrades, changes in the roof or internal structural changes,” Matthews said. “We are very thankful to the voters in Lafourche Parish for allowing us to renovate the schools and always going out for bond issuances.”
Security measures were increased at the Larose-Cut Off Middle School when students returned a day after the May 18 shooting. The school was locked down to three points of entry, all of which had metal detectors. Each child was checked for weapons and contraband as they entered the school that morning.
