Ida causes widespread damage to schools

By CHRISTINE BORDELON
Clarion Herald

Of the 11 Catholic schools in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, no school was left unscathed by Hurricane Ida’s wind and rain, said Catholic schools superintendent Suzanne Troxclair.

“All of the schools received some damage – from minor cosmetic to extensive,” she said. Estimated monetary damage cannot yet be made since the school system is still working with insurance adjusters and contractors.

As of Oct. 7, all 11 schools, enrolling approximately 5,000 students, had reopened either on their original campus or a nearby campus. Three are not on their original campus and cannot return until enough repairs are completed and the campuses are deemed safe for students, Troxclair said.

St. Gregory Elementary in Houma had extensive wind and water damage and had to relocate to St. Ann Parish’s Community Center in Bourg. The same with Holy Savior Elementary in Lockport, which is now on St. Hilary’s campus in Mathews.

Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma is sharing the campus of E.D. White Catholic High School in Thibodaux but will return to a portion of its campus in the next few weeks as it works through mitigation and rebuilding, Troxclair said. 

Ida worse than Betsy
“Hearing from the older priests and older people in our diocese, they said nothing compared to this storm – from the incredible devastation to the mass destruction that happened,” Troxclair said. The eyewall of the category 4 storm sat over Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes Aug. 29 with winds up to 147 mph and pummeled the area for hours with torrential rain.

The damage to homes and businesses and the resulting loss of power, water and communications made it impossible for the schools to return to any education for up to five weeks. Troxclair said two schools missed 27 days of classroom instruction. 

Since each school devises its own school calendar of instructional days, Troxclair said schools are working to make up the time in a way that suits them best.

“Every school calendar will be different, depending on how much time they were out,” she said. “They are combining and utilizing different days, shortening holidays and adding minutes to instructional days.”

How you can help
Troxclair can’t stress enough that help is still needed in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. Many families within the diocese’s Catholic school system remain impacted by the storm. For example, a large portion of Holy Rosary students are still without electricity at home.
“Their families and teachers are dealing with the devastation and destruction of their own,” she said.

To help individual schools and families, people can contact the Office of Catholic Schools directly at (985) 850-3114 or go to the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux’s website at https://htdiocese.org.

The Office of Catholic Schools is partnering damaged local schools with schools throughout the country that have offered assistance. These generous school partners can work directly with a local school to find out exactly what is needed. Troxclair also mentioned that as the Houma-Thibodaux diocese receives gifts, they are distributed to the schools that can use them most. “You can choose a parish or school or make a one-time donation or make a recurring donation,” she said. “If it’s in-kind donations, they can contact our office. Our schools have put together a needs list, and people are working with us to get their needs met.”

Troxclair said the school system and the diocese can’t express how much gratitude they feel for the love and generosity they have received since the storm hit.

“We want to thank people for the prayers and support they have already afforded to our school family in the diocese and ask them to continue to keep all of our school families in prayer as we move to recovery,” Troxclair said.

(Christine Bordelon is the associate editor of the Clarion Herald, the Official Newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.)