[StBernard] New academy to be centerpiece of St. Bernard schools' rebuilding

[Westley Annis]

New academy to be centerpiece of St. Bernard schools' rebuilding
by Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune 
Saturday August 08, 2009, 9:17 PM
Doris Voitier was a woman on a mission as she stalked the hallways of the
new school in Chalmette last week. 

Floors needed finishing, windows needed cleaning, furniture had to be
assembled and moved -- unfinished tasks all duly noted by Voitier, the
superintendent of St. Bernard Parish public schools. 



"How's it coming?" she repeatedly asked workers scurrying around the school,
hustling to get it ready for an onslaught of students. "We going to be ready
by next week?" 

"No," of course, would not have been an acceptable answer. 

Satisfied, Voitier turned to the group she was touring through the new Ninth
Grade Academy at Chalmette High School and announced in no uncertain terms,
"We WILL be ready for students" when school opens Wednesday. 

As the school district marks the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,
Voitier and others expect the Ninth Grade Academy to become the centerpiece
of its reconstruction efforts. 

The parish's public schools open Wednesday. 

Lynn Oaks, a private school in Braithwaite, opened Thursday; Our Lady of
Prompt Succor, a Catholic school in Chalmette, opens Monday. 

The $50 million Ninth Grade Academy, linked to Chalmette High's main campus
by a stylish brick and glass skyway across East Judge Perez Drive, will
house more than 300 students in 27 classrooms spread across three floors.
The site also will have a huge gymnasium and field house, a cultural arts
center with music rooms and a dance studio, an indoor pool, a 400-seat
auditorium and theater, and two libraries, one of which will be the main
branch of the parish's library system. 

Although the school will be ready for students Wednesday, the gym, field
house and pool are expected to be ready in the coming weeks. The cultural
arts center, auditorium and libraries are under construction and will be
finished sometime next year. 

"This can be a centerpiece not only for the school district, but for the
entire community," Voitier said. "We want this to become a real focal point
for the entire community. This is something that can unite the community." 

The academy, built on the site of the old Lacoste Elementary, cements the
district's post-hurricane commitment to having a single high school serve
the needs of the entire parish. Before Katrina, the district had three
public high schools: Chalmette, St. Bernard and Andrew Jackson. 

Voitier and Charlotte Mayne, a Chalmette High assistant principal who will
be the site administrator of the academy, said the "school within a school"
concept will help ninth-graders adjust to high school. Voitier said research
shows that students who make it through ninth grade drop out of high school
in much lower numbers. 

The school, being built by Landis Construction Corp., and skyway, being
built by Gibbs Construction Co., will be financed through a combination of
insurance proceeds, FEMA money, grants and donations. 

"There's such strength in the people here," Voitier said of the parish. "The
community's going to be so pleased with this." 

But as well as offering the latest in education trends, the sparkling new
building continues the breakneck pace of the district's reconstruction after
its near demise at the hands of Katrina's catastrophic flooding. 

The district wrapped up last school year with an enrollment of 4,816
students, about 55 percent of the district's pre-Katrina enrollment of 8,800
students. Voitier expects a slight increase this school year, but she added
that it appears the number of students is stabilizing. 

Pre-hurricane, the district operated 15 schools. It now has nine and
anticipates opening two more in August 2010: Arabi Elementary and Chalmette
Elementary. 

"We've come a long, long way," Voitier said, recalling the hectic days right
after the hurricane when the very thought of having nine schools up and
running in four years might have provoked laughter. "We have a lot to
celebrate."