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Terrebonne Parish School District (TPSD) is working hard to get schools back on track after Hurricane Ida and the district has recently been seeing Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants to aid with reimbursements.
Since the storm, the district has had to borrow money to make repairs and replace many aspects of school facilities across the parish. The FEMA money that is beginning to roll in acts as a reimbursement, “Right after the storm we had to borrow a substantial amount of money,” explained Terrebonne Parish Superintendent of Schools Bubba Orgeron, “Everything we get from here on out will be to reimburse what we borrowed so that we’re not depleting our general fund with this recovery.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, recently announced $1,002,009 to the Terrebonne Parish School Board for emergency protective measures related to Hurricane Ida. Superintendent Orgeron also said that thanks to Congressman Garret Graves, the district will be obligated amount of reimbursement money for $5,678,971, “Shortly after that news, he sent me more information regarding FEMA obligating another $18.8 million,” he explained. The monies are being used for remediation costs from anything ranging from temporary roofing and drying out the schools, to debris cleanups and air quality testing. The parish has been working with a FEMA consultant that submits orders, helps out with totals, and mediates with the agency, “We’re starting to see some obligated money, which is a BIG relief for us,” he said.
The $1 million, $ 5.6 million, and $18.8 million grants are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reimbursement money. These are reimbursing orders submitted before the major repairs; it’s just for litigation costs. While the district does have insurance to fall back on, they simply don’t have full coverage due to the astronomical rates. The superintendent stated they get questioned frequently about not having full coverage, but they simply cannot afford the high cost of premiums, and it would be millions annually to have full coverage. They do have twice the amount of coverage to qualify for the FEMA reimbursement they are starting to see come in, “The board was diligent in having an adequate amount of coverage,” he said.
Orgeron said that in the end, they are expecting around $200 million worth of repair costs, but the outlook is not grim. Orgeron said they are working well with FEMA and, like most things, it is a process. The first eighth of the money took a while and so will the remaining grants. “We’re appreciative of it all, we’re very grateful,” he said.
He said the school board members were relieved, “It’s a relief…so it is coming in. You hear stories about the delays and a lot of the procedural levels you have to go through to get to this point, but that’s why we have FEMA consultants that are working for us and are well-versed in the procedural part of getting reimbursed on these big job,” he explained.
The portables at schools such as South Terrebonne High School are not currently funded, however, Orgeron said they are confident that they will be funded and reimbursed. The next thing they are going to do at South Terrebonne is getting the gyms read, “It’s not about basketball,” he shared, “ it’s about all of the school functions and it’s a gathering place from ring night, to dances, and all of that can be onsite once we can get things repaired soon.”
Orgeron shared that they are starting to receive bids for several roof replacements, particularly Houma Jr. High School. He said that the school sustained water intrusion through the roof which caused the removal of floor and ceiling tiles, “The roofing bid was awarded last night to a contractor, so very shortly they’re going to start the repair on Houma Jr. High,” he said. Once the roof is complete, they will be able to get the remaining repairs done such as the floors and ceiling. Evergreen Jr. High School will also begin to start seeing roof work. He also shared that Southdown and Grand Caillou Middle will start with repairs as well, “It’s a lot of superficial damages, but it needs to be fixed because it will eventually cause other issues. All of that has been awarded to a contractor,” he said.
The superintendent then went on to explain that the process takes longer than one might think. The first step is to get architects to gather information or data regarding cost values. Then eventually, they get the jobs ready for bid, which takes 30 days to go to bid. After the bids are awarded, permitting and staging of equipment is expected to take 30-45 days before the work begins.
Unlike residential, the schools must have certain architectural requirements to not only be safer but also to follow guidelines set by FEMA, “You can’t just slap on a roof,” he explained, “There are multiple layers and load limits; all of that has to be designed and engineered, that takes a long time.”
If the district doesn’t go through the proper process, TPSD wouldn’t be eligible for reimbursement. “We just have to make sure we go through the proper measures before they’ll reimburse us. We have to go through the proper steps,” the superintendent said, “That’s key, we can’t skip steps.”
