Harlan Kirgan
Any hope that repair work at Eunice Elementary would be completed by the start of school in August has been dashed by the weather.
Claudia Blanchard, school system director of operations, said, “This project was originally started almost a year ago — a 220 day project, which is a long time. We probably had a hundred or more days of weather issues. And, there was also when we had the fire back the second day of school this past school year that delayed the process as well.”
Blanchard updated the St. Landry Parish School Board’s Buildings, Lands and Sites Committee on the construction status at a meeting Tuesday in Opelousas.
The original project was to replace three roofs at Eunice Elementary and one at Eunice Junior High School. The School Board approved the roof replacement contract in August 2018.
On the second day of school in August 2018, a classroom building was damaged by fire, which delayed the roofing project as school officials waited for a determination as to whether the building was a total loss or to be repaired.
The decision was made to repair the building through insurance proceeds.
In a budget report on Monday, the fire costs were $503,586 and the flood costs were $37,602 as of May 19.
Three portable classroom buildings were brought to the campus.
The next delay occurred when the administration building flooded in December.
Another portable building and restroom facility were placed at the campus following the flooding incident.
“With all that said, everything is delayed,” Blanchard said Tuesday.
“We are working toward Building Two, which is the building where we had the fire. I would say it is probably about 80 percent there,” she said of the roof.
“The administration building and Building One, which is the other large classroom building, we are finally at a point where they’ve been able to measure to get all of the trusses,” she said.
Flat roofs at the buildings are to be replaced by seamless metal pitched roofs,she said.
“We are going to be into the new school year before we get back into our buildings,” she said.
“We are still, honestly, months away from completing the project,” she said.
Weather damage in other parts of the country also contributes to the delay by stressing the resources of manufacturers, she said.
The scope of the project in terms of money also has grown in its cost. The roofing project was first at $1,099,000. The fire and flood damaged are pushing the total cost to about $1.5 million.
By September the roof work may be at an advanced stage, Blanchard said.
“But anything can happen,” Blanchard said
“I’m not trying to rush anybody because I need it to be done right,” she said.
Blanchard said the fire-damaged classroom building and flood-damaged administration building will be “like new” once repairs are completed.