Following fire, Lake Pontchartrain students return to class Thursday
Published 7:58 pm Monday, August 17, 2015
RESERVE — Lake Pontchartrain Elementary School students will return to class Thursday in the portable classrooms they have been using on the East St. John Elementary School campus.
A fire that erupted Friday has shuttered classes since that day for both schools.
Teachers will report back to the school Wednesday. The two schools have shared a campus since Hurricane Isaac flooded Lake Pontchartrain’s building and a temporary school was set up adjacent to East St. John Elementary School.
Lake Pontchartrain Elementary School’s facilities were not impacted by the fire on Friday.
A parent and community meeting for information relating to East St. John Elementary School will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the LaPlace Elementary School cafeteria. Information including the relocation plan, transition timeframe and relief efforts will be discussed.
East St. John Elementary School students are tentatively set to return to class on the Leon Godchaux campus in Reserve on Aug. 31. However, school officials are working as quickly as possible to prepare that campus for students and hope to have students back in school prior to that date.
In the interim, the school district has partnered with New Wine Christian Fellowship and Marathon Petroleum Corporation to provide a camp for East St. John Elementary School students.
Parents can register their children for the camp from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at New Wine Christian Fellowship, 1929 W. Airline Hwy. in LaPlace. Parents can also register their children during Tuesday’s community meeting.
The camp will begin Thursday and will take place from 7 a.m. to 2:40 p.m. Monday through Friday, with bus transportation provided by the school district. Before and after care is also available beginning at 6 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m. for parents providing their own transportation.
St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools Superintendent Kevin George expressed his gratitude for the overwhelming amount of support that has come from the community since the fire.
“The amount of support we are receiving is unbelievable. My phone has not stopped ringing since Friday with people offering to help,” George said. “I would like to thank each and every person who has reached out to us and offered their services. I have no doubt, with this many people working together, that we will still make this a successful school year for our students from East St. John Elementary.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.