3,000 South Lafourche students are headed back to class Monday for the first time since Hurricane Ida devastated the area 50 days ago.
Lafourche school officials told WWL this is a triumphant moment for the hard-hit region. South Lafourche High Principal Gaye Cheramie said Friday the school was abuzz with teachers excitedly prepping the few available classrooms for instruction. She said it was like Santa’s workshop the night before Christmas.
“South Lafourche High School, I have always said, is the heartbeat of the South Lafourche community, and just like our community is fighting back our school is fighting back to come back to where we were,” said Cheramie.
Cheramie said the school took extensive damage from Hurricane Ida, but they managed to repair enough of it to resume instruction.
“We only have about a fourth of our facility that we are going to be using,” said Cheramie. “So we are the only school in Lafourche Parish that is going to be on an A-B date.”
Lafourche Superintendent Jarod Martin said that kind of damage wasn’t out of the norm in the Bayou.
“To a lesser extent that repeated itself for all of the campuses in the South Lafourche area,” said Martin who added that despite that damage, and the difficulty it brings, getting students back in class is vital. “The closer we can get to providing the kind of school experience our kids want and need, the better off our community will be.”
Lafourche School Board President Tina Babin said school staff reached out to the family of every single student in South Lafourche before classes resumed to gauge their needs. She said for many, housing is still a serious struggle.
“We have some families that I heard of that are living in very temporary housing,” said Babin. “Like tent conditions and things along those lines.”
Babin said they’re working to connect those families with state resources to make the return to school easier. Principal Cheramie said because internet services are still down in the region, with no ETA on a return, students are being issued air cards.
