Saturday, September 17, 2005

Mary-Jo's 1st day & Katrina students

Mary-Jo's first days of school (kindergarten) was August 30 and Sept 1. Then she started full-time after Labor Day on Sept 6. However, she missed the first day of FT school because the parish buses for Rapides, Natchitoches and Grant parishes were commandeered by Governor Blanco to transport the people who went to the Superdome & Convention Center of New Orleans as a Place of Last Resort to find safety from Hurricane Katrina. Parents in Rapides parish were required to provide transportaion to and from school Tuesday through Thursday, Sept 6-8, while the buses were sanitized and disinfected. NO ONE complained, though, we were HAPPY to do it. What is a little inconvenience compared to what the men, women and especially the children in Southeast Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama had to endure and are still enduring. The 4 Red Cross Shelters alone in our parish has housed over 6,000 people. That does not include those who are being housed in churches or with strangers, family or friends.

Our schools have enrolled over 1700 Katrina evacuee students as of Sept 14. I happened to pick up my children from school yesterday and noticed that there are 2 makeshift classes that have been set up in the hall just in their small school. I am so proud of our parish school district for making changes to quickly accomadate these children so that their lives will have a some semblence of normalcy.

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