Dulac residents plead to rebuild school damaged by Hurricane Ida. Board delays decision.

Officials are expected to decide later this month whether to demolish storm-damaged Grand Caillou Elementary and move its students to a school in Houma.

The Terrebonne Parish School Board's delayed action on the plan Tuesday night following impassioned pleas from 10 of the more than 100 Dulac-area residents attended the meeting in hopes of keeping the school in their community.

"We are still out there rebuilding what we have lost. All we ask is for you to help us rebuild our school for our kids. Help us show our kids that y'all are not giving up on us. Don't give up on us help us rebuild to where we were," Dulac resident Brynn Sapia told the board. "All I'm asking you is to show us that we're not forgotten about because we're bayou people. We're from the bayou, we're looked down upon because we're from the bayou."

Schools Superintendent Bubba Orgeron said the Federal Emergency Management Agency will not pay to rebuild Grand Caillou Elementary at its current location because Hurricane Ida practically destroyed the building and it's in a flood-prone area.

Orgeron said FEMA would agree to use federal hurricane-recovery money to expand Elysian Fields Middle School in Houma, about 6 1/2 miles or a 15-minute drive north, and send Grand Caillou Elementary's roughly 390 students there. Orgeron recommended that plan to the board.

Board members voted to delay action on that plan until a meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 18 at its offices, 201 Stadium Drive in Houma. Here's how board members voted on the delay:

For: Michael Lagarde, Gregory Harding, Debi Benoit, Roger Dehart, Maybelle Trahan and Dane Voisin.

Against: Matthew Ford and Clyde Hamner.

Absent: Stacy Solet.

Grand Caillou Elementary students have shared Elysian Fields Middle since January. Before that, Grand Caillou's pre-K and kindergarten students went to Honduras Elementary in Houma, and first- through fourth-graders went to Dularge Elementary.

Some residents mentioned comments from a previous meeting that Elysian Fields is only short distance from Grand Caillou. But they said moving the students to Houma will leave Grand Caillou and Dulac without any public schools located in the communities.

"It's in town. You pass Woodlawn Ranch Road, you're in another world," Abraham Parfait said of the proposed move to Houma. "We just need a school, we don't need a fancy school."

Grand Caillou Elementary's current building for years served as the community's middle school. In 2014, the board closed the former elementary school, several miles down Grand Caillou Road, and moved students to the current one. Middle school students were moved into a new building along Grand Caillou Road near Woodlawn Ranch Road in Houma.

Officials said that move was prompted by repeated storms and flooding that damaged the old elementary school, which took on as much as 5 feet of water during 2008’s Hurricane Ike. It also flooded for Hurricane Juan in 1985, Andrew in 1992 and Lili in 2002. Rita and Ike alone caused about $4 million in damage.

Orgeron said the latest change is not intended to be a permanent solution but a temporary one until officials can come up with a plan to build a new Grand Caillou Elementary. He said there is no timeline for such a plan.

The board has to pay for Hurricane Ida repairs then seek reimbursement from FEMA. Already, the board has borrowed $200 million for repairs to schools throughout the parish. Orgeron said cost estimates for repairing Grand Caillou Elementary and updating Elysian Fields Middle would not be available until after FEMA approves the plan.

Earlier:How repairs are progressing on Terrebonne and Lafourche schools damaged by Hurricane Ida

'There’s a lot of hope'One year after Hurricane Ida, Terrebonne and Lafourche residents still work on recovery

Benoit asked Orgeron if the board voted to demolish the school, and nothing else, could the district be reimbursed for that?

"Not without a plan," Orgeron said. "They don't give you money to decide after the fact."

Ford said the cost to rebuild on the same site would also require elevating the land and building to help reduce the flood risk. That would create more drainage concerns for surrounding residents, further increasing costs.

Ford said he supported moving foward with the move to Elysian Fields with the understanding it is not to be the permanent home for Grand Caillou students.

"With the plan that in the future we will build another school," Ford said.

"That's not going to happen," residents in the audience said.

Related:Hurricane Ida victims living in FEMA trailers may have to pay rent or move out in March

More:How is school going after Hurricane Ida? We asked these local students to explain

Lagarde said he agreed with the speakers, that once the money is spent, and the students move to Elysian Fields, it's likely to remain permanent.

"I do think if we take your money, you'll never get your school back," Lagarde said to a round of applause. "I'm on your team with this one."

The board also took action Tuesday night on several other building issues related to Hurricane Ida. Members voted to:

• Demolish and replace Upper Little Caillou Elementary on its current location.

• Select an architect to plan possible construction of a middle school adjacent to South Terrebonne High in Bourg. Officials have discussed merging Lacache and Montegut Middle schools there.

• Create a temporary campus for Lacache Middle students at South Terrebonne High.

• Perform work to prevent damaged caused by Ida from worsening at Ellender High in Houma.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Plan delayed to raze storm-damaged school and move students to Houma