Restoration underway at schools

October 9, 2005

October 7, 2005

Reported by Pam Dixon

Restoration work is well underway in Calcasieu Parish schools. About

half of Calcasieu's 58 schools received some damage. Ten to 20

schools still have no electricity. " Until we have electricity

everywhere, we know we're not starting school. Once we get the

electricity up we have to get a reading on air quality, " said

Schools Superintendent Jude Theriot.

At Lake Boston, the roof is being repaired, molded tiles are

coming out, and moisture from a leaky building is being removed from

the cafeteria to prevent the spread of mold. In order to get the

moisture out of these schools restoration crews use a process that's

similar to the process your clothes dryer uses at home. They pump in

hot air, air that's about 115 to 125 degrees. They send that into

the school. They suck that back out. They send in some more air, and

they complete that cycle over and over.

Mold is being removed from about 25 schools after water got in. " Any

school that had water damage is going to take some work to reopen,

then we have to have all our cafeterias certified safe. We had to

throw away or give away close to $300,000 worth of food, so we have

nothing in the ice box right now, " said Theriot.

Not only will the school system need to restock the freezers, it

will have to make sure there is enough gas around to fuel its 300

school buses. A huge to do list before schools reopen. " A lot of

schools have to be certified safe and we don't want to make a

mistake and put children back in schools that could cause problems, "

said Theriot.

Theriot says he plans to make an announcement Friday, October 14th

about when he expects schools to reopen. Theriot says the time

missed will likely be made up by adding 30-40 minutes to the school

day for the rest of the school year. He says the school year will

end on time and graduations will be held as scheduled.

Recommended Posts