GRETNA, La. (AP) - The Jefferson Parish school system is getting ready to spend $7.3 million to paint, scrape, seal and repair years of deferred maintenance at a dozen of its high schools over the next two years.
Gymnasium floors will be sanded down and resealed, and auditoriums will be refurbished.
For the 2,000 students at John Ehret High School in Marrero, the project means they will be able to use the campus’ covered walkways without wearing their raincoats.
“When it rains, you’d just as soon stand out in it,” Charlie Ochello, one of the system’s project managers, said Friday afternoon as he pointed out some of the countless holes in the walkways’ rusted steel canopy. “We’re trying to keep the rain off the kids.”
The New Orleans Advocate reports (https://bit.ly/1hrXdGC ) the Jefferson Parish School Board’s Facilities Committee is recommending the board approve the work, $3.9 million of which is slated to be done this coming school year and $3.4 million in the 2015-16 school year.
Superintendent James Meza said he expects the board to approve the work when it meets Wednesday because every member but one was at last week’s committee meeting and no one voiced any objections to how the funds are to be allocated.
“Our schools were deteriorating very rapidly and we were very concerned about that,” he said. “We certainly didn’t want (the buildings) to be a risk for students.”
Every high school but one is getting some level of attention. Meza said the projects were chosen according to the severity of the problem and which work would prevent future costs from escalating, among other criteria.
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Information from: The New Orleans Advocate, https://www.neworleansadvocate.com
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