New roofs, stadium lights OK’d for T’bonne schools

Officials from the Terrebonne Parish School Board will be moving forward with more than $1 million in roofing projects. Board members also approved a stadium-lights initiative that could cost nearly half that amount at a routine meeting last week.

Laperouse Metal Works was awarded a $675,000 bid to re-roof Caldwell Middle School.

Coteau-Bayou Blue Elementary School was also on the docket for a new roof and will receive $644,000 in funds. Sieverding Construction will take the lead on the project, which officials said is necessary because of prolonged exposure to weather and old age.

“These are hurricane damaged roofs that have had temporary repairs. We finally got all the insurance and [FEMA funding] and all those steps resolved,” explained Terrebonne Parish Superintendent Philip Martin. The two projects stand at the end of the line, as several other roofing projects have already taken place at schools throughout the parish.

“There were others damaged, but these are the last two,” he explained.

An additional $20,500 could also be used to replace aging canopies at the school, a move that could lift the price tag to $664,500.

Both projects will use a combination of funding sources from insurance claims, FEMA and pre-allocated buildings money. “It’s not any one or all of them,” noted Martin.

Construction should begin shortly after the last day of school, which falls around May 21.

And after more than a month, headway was made on a lighting project that has been a headache for officials at South Terrebonne High School.

GSE Associates, a local engineering firm, was given the green light to proceed with plans and specifications on erecting a series of stadium lights at the school, as the previous lights had to be taken down in March. After one of them collapsed unexpectedly, officials were forced to dismantle the rest in order to avoid possible injuries.

Years of less-than-perfect weather were blamed for the incident, but until that day, no similar mishaps had occurred.

Multiple sports teams at the school have since been forced to play during daylight hours or at third-party venues. And although plans are beginning to take shape, it’s still unclear whether South Terrebonne’s football team will be able to charge the field in August.

“We’ll do the best we can to meet deadlines. But it’s going to be very, very tight,” explained GSE manager Arthur DeFraites.

The worst-case scenario would be “…the lights won’t be finished for the first event,” said Martin.

Preliminary outlines highlight a budget of $500,000 for the project, but that amount could increase after bids go out, something that’s still in the works.

Across the board, officials are also keeping a close eye on their money, as budget woes continue to take their toll.

At a board meeting earlier this month, officials opted to allow Martin to use a policy, known as a reduction in force (RIF), that could layoff numerous employees throughout Terrebonne’s school system.

Decreased revenues from sales taxes and added expenditures created gaps in funding that now require drastic money-saving measures, officials have claimed. The solution, despite the demise of some, is layoffs, according to school officials.