"Overwhelming cooperation!" (L-R) Colonel Stanley Smith LA-RFO; Steve Adukaitis, Special Assistant to the Federal Coordinating Officer, FEMA; Carol Roberts, Director of Secondary Education, Plaquemines Parish School Board; and James Hoyle, Plaquemines Parish School District Superintendent cut the ribbon. LA-RFO Photo. Back to Features

Team effort results in new classrooms for Belle Chase
By Lois Jackson, USDA public affairs specialist

A ribbon cutting ceremony Monday, March 27, 2006 at the Belle Chasse Primary School in Belle Chasse, La. celebrated students getting new classrooms.  Representatives from all agencies involved - local, state and federal - were among the 120 people who attended.  This project was truly a partnership of the agencies.

During the destructive storm of Katrina, many school buildings in the lower portion of Plaquemines Parish were severely damaged and uninhabitable.  The students from the affected area of the parish needed a place to attend classes and were accepted at schools in Belle Chasse.  A

According to Belle Chasse primary and middle schools principals, Belle Chasse needed to accommodate about 1000 students.  They did this with the help of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) public assistance program, resulting in the installation of 12 temporary classrooms. 

The project started under the direction of the Corps’ Louisiana Recovery Field Office Critical Public Facilities Project Manager Mark Moody.  He got the ball rolling for the citizens of Belle Chasse and they were ever so grateful.  When Moody finished his tour of duty, he was replaced with Len Havel.

Havel was astonished at the active participation of the teachers, administrators and school principals.  Immediate responses from Plaquemines Parish School District representatives seven days a week were instrumental in expediting completion of the project.

The classrooms consist of 18 modules that are connected to make nine separate buildings.  The nine structures will house 12 classrooms with computer stations, music rooms and multi-purpose classrooms.

Havel said, “The cooperation and coordination of all parties involved was overwhelming.  Their dedication in the project made it one of the most rewarding experiences. 

This project is an example of FEMA, the school district, contractors, the classroom manufacturer and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers working together for the greater good of the Plaquemines Parish School District and children.”