STP returns with a vengence
June 1, 2010
239 T’bonne school jobs to be cut
June 3, 2010After wavering debate about who should build a new middle school in the small community of Grand Caillou, officials from the Terrebonne Parish School Board appointed The Merlin Group for the job last Tuesday.
Board members were deadlocked earlier this month and could not decide who should lead the project. The responsibility of choosing an architect was ultimately handed to Superintendent Philip Martin by means of a motion proposed by L.P. Bordelon, which left the decision solely up to him.
GSE Associates, Cheramie and Bruce Architects and The Merlin Group were being considered for the project.
Rickie Pitre, who opposed the recommendation last Tuesday, opted to award the project to GSE Associates earlier this month, telling others he was unimpressed with The Merlin Group’s work. He moved to table the matter at last week’s meeting, but was outvoted 7-2. Clark Bonvillain, who supported Pitre on several attempts to make amendments to the board’s new budget, also moved to table the measure.
The new building, which Martin said was going to be a middle school, will be constructed on land donated by the Walter Land Company in February. About $10 million in interest-free federal funds – money Pitre claimed could be used for a new vocational school – will help push the project forward.
In February, residents of Grand Caillou lauded officials after they accepted a recommendation to begin planning the new school. For years, students from the community have been forced to deal with flooding. In 2008, Hurricane Ike forced students from the elementary school to be “shoehorned” into other facilities, Martin explained about three months ago.
The rededication of a portion of the parish’s sales tax, something that was approved by voters, could also help construct the school.
A portion of the school that now stands in Grand Caillou is likely to be torn down once construction begins. Martin said it could be replaced with green space or a park, something “…the entire community, and certainly the children, could benefit from.”
