School Board accepts $10.7M settlement for ESJE
Published 12:11 am Saturday, January 30, 2016
- The campus and buildings of East St. John Elementary sit empty today following an August fire (photo inset) that heavily damaged the school’s main building.
RESERVE — St. John the Baptist Parish School Board members accepted a $10.7 million insurance settlement Thursday evening to fund the renovation and rebuilding of East St. John Elementary School.
The school has been closed since Aug. 14, when a major fire impacted areas of the main building and cafeteria, with smoke and water damage throughout the entire school.
Students of East St. John Elementary have been attending classes on the Leon Godchaux Junior High campus in Reserve since the fire.
Students of Lake Pontchartrain Elementary School are attending classes in buildings on the East St. John Elementary campus while Lake Pontchartrain Elementary is rebuilt at its U.S. 51 location in LaPlace. Those buildings were not damaged during the Aug. 14 fire.
During Thursday’s School Board meeting, Executive Director of Finance Felix Boughton described the settlement as “complicated” because the District’s policy included “five different parts.”
“For the most part, we’re going to get $10.7 million to repair the building,” he said. “That is what everybody is worried about. We get another $4 or $5 million for expenses that we incurred for the temporary campus, the contents. We had to pay this mediation firm to go actually mediate the building, so we’re getting settled on that too.”
Cindy Janecke, project manager with All South Consulting Engineers, recommended the School Board set aside $8.7 million as a possible amount to cover rebuilding the section of the school on a reduced footprint where the fire was most significant and renovating those areas that suffered minimal damage.
Designers would also develop an alternative to the project that would include the construction of a gymnasium.
School Board members will vote on any completed design before it is put out for public bid.
A representative of Yeates and Yeates Architects said the company hopes to have a completed design by June 30. Architects, however, will be updating members of the School Board’s Land and Facilities Committee as work on the design proceeds.
Following the meeting, Superintendent Kevin George said the District’s East St. John Elementary construction timeline calls for students to return to the school site in January of 2018.
