Hidden competency in Katrina's wake

[Botnst]

I spend a lot of time *****ing about politicians. here's a good one.

Bot



Testimony of Doris Voitier

Committee on Education and the Workforce

Hearing on “Gulf Coast Recovery:
Facing Challenges and Coming Back Stronger in Education”

April 26, 2006

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am both honored and humbled for the invitation to share our story with you this morning. I sincerely believe that ours is one worth telling and one that will bring you to a better understanding of the struggles we face each day in rebuilding our school system from its devastation at the hands of Hurricane Katrina.

I would begin by asking that you not paint the St. Bernard Parish Public Schools with the same broad brush with which many public school systems are painted today. Ours was a public school system that worked. Prior to Katrina, our students scored at or above national averages on standardized tests; we enjoyed a district-wide discipline and student dress standard that made our schools safe and effective arenas for learning; ours was the first school system in the state of Louisiana to see each and every one of its schools accredited by the independent Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS); and, ours was a system that was known for its financial stability and fiscal integrity. We had, for the past 15+ years, received annual audits that were without exception, with no questioned costs, not having received, during that time, even one adjusting entry or a management letter with recommendations for improvement over internal controls. And I must say that because of the efforts of the members of the St. Bernard Parish School Board and its administrative staff and through the support of the residents of St. Bernard Parish, we were a financially healthy district and able to survive the challenges of the past nearly eight months.

Katrina devastated our school and our community. In fact, St. Bernard Parish was the only parish totally destroyed by the storm. All others had pockets of normalcy; ours had none. Every school, every home, every church, every business in our community suffered massive damage at Katrina’s hands, and the storm turned a very close-knit, hard-working, middle class community of 68,000 literally upside down.

Prior to Katrina, our school district offered 15 school sites to 8,800 students in our parish. We were one of the very few in the state to offer our residents a universal four-year-old program and an additional 3-year-old component of a very popular and successful Head Start program.

But on August 29th, the footprint of our district would change for quite some time to come and, perhaps, forever. Our school buildings were severely damaged – many beyond repair – and our 1200 employees were suddenly without jobs and the vast majority of them were homeless. The devastation in terms of buildings and emotional toll on very good, decent people is beyond descriptors. And I would like to applaud our congressman, Charlie Melancon, for his ongoing support, and Congressmen Miller, Scott, Tierney, Payne, and Congresswoman McCollum for spending time in our school district and learning first-hand of our trials and struggles. I think that they would agree that our devastation is beyond words.

Nonetheless, ours is a district that has always been and remains focused and has always operated and continues to operate with an eye toward a better tomorrow. By September 1st, just four days after Katrina made landfall, we were opening temporary offices in Baton Rouge through the assistance of Louisiana State Schools Superintendent Cecil Picard. We were determined to stage a comeback despite our total destruction.

Within one week, we were operating with a borrowed computer system on loan from our vendor, preparing to issue a payroll, contacting employees through borrowed Internet space, and providing student records to parents. Admittedly, we were in a state of professional and personal shock, but our focus was clear – the reopening of the St. Bernard Parish Public Schools.

By mid-October it became obvious that first responders, refinery workers, and essential parish employees were returning their families to live with them as they began the work of dealing with the crisis in our community. Our promise was to be open and operational when the children returned. In September, we had begun discussions with the FEMA Educational Strike Force (the first of its kind in any disaster and the promised answer to a quick rebound) about the cleaning and recovery of our buildings and about the need for temporary housing for our school’s essential staff. But as our discussions progressed, it became more than clear that we were on our own. Portable buildings for schools were, through the Army Corps of Engineers, a possibility in March, which was an unacceptable date in our minds. Cleaning the muck, debris, and marsh remnants from our buildings was a task that would be ours. We were told that the National Guard would not do that type of work and the Army Corps of Engineers could not respond positively to our request for help. But we needed to open school – and the sooner the better.707&page=1