School infrastructure upgrades on the North Shore make the grade

Many children in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes will have new classrooms and high speed Internet waiting for them when school resumes this fall, thanks in part to funds generated by recent bond measures. This summer, both districts are spending millions of dollars to renovate existing schools and build new ones to ease crowding from steadily increasing enrollment.

Mark Kowle, assistant superintendent of finance and support services for the Tangipahoa school district, said the parish added 188 new students last year, bringing the total to just under 19,000. "We aren’t growing quite as quickly as St. Tammany parish," he said, "but it’s only a matter of time before more families move into the area."

To keep up with demand, Tangipahoa is currently constructing a new middle school and adding 27 new classrooms to existing schools in the district. Sumner middle school, a new $3.4 million facility for sixth, seventh and eight graders, is projected to open by 2006. Once completed, Sumner will house the sixth grade classes that used to be held at Chesborough Elementary and Spring Creek Elementary in Kentwood.

As part of a major campus renovation, 15 new classrooms and new administrative offices are under construction at Independence Middle School. They will be ready in time for the fall term. Renovation of another two classroom wings will begin after school is in session. The project carries a price tag of approximately $3 million and is funded by a 2004 bond measure.

Modular classrooms at Ponchatoula High School are being replaced with traditional classrooms, a project that will be completed by the fall term at a cost of $2.5 million.

Administrators in neighboring St. Tammany Parish are putting the finishing touches on L.P. Monteleone Junior High School in Mandeville. The $8.6 million facility is named after the late superintendent Leonard Paul Monteleone, who died in 2003. The school will accommodate 700 seventh and eight graders when it opens at the start of the 2005 school year. "The children and teachers are very excited," said Trey Folse, deputy superintendent of the St. Tammany parish school district. "It’s located in a growth area, and since it’s named for our late superintendent, it has a special meaning for everyone."

Meanwhile, Abita Springs Middle School is wrapping up a $1.8 million, six classroom addition this summer. The final phases of construction are underway on new four new modular classrooms at Tchefuncte Middle School and six new modular classrooms at Pontchartrain Elementary as well. All were funded by a 2001 bond measure. The modular units cost approximately $450,000 for foundation and electrical work and $900,000 for the classrooms. The cost, according to Folse, is similar to the price of traditional construction , but modular units take less time to set up. "St. Tammany parish has added an average of 700 new students every year for the past five years," said Folse. "That’s the equivalent of adding an entire school every year. We are trying to keep up."

Both North Shore districts have a number of smaller maintenance and upgrade projects underway this summer as well. Using a combination of bond funds and money from the district’s general maintenance budget, Tangipahoa constructed a new, $500,000 practice gym at Hammond High School and a 500-seat auditorium at Amite High School. "We are also taking bids for a new fieldhouse at Amite High School," said district director of maintenance and construction James Clark.

Clark said Kentwood High, O.W. Dillon Elementary, Champ Cooper Elementary and Loranger Middle School are getting new roofs at a cost of $200,000, and $400,000 worth of air conditioning repairs and technology infrastructure upgrades such as new cables and computer servers are being installed in schools throughout the parish. "Tangipahoa is well ahead of many districts when it comes to computer infrastructure," Kowle said. "We are just upgrading."

Every summer, "we [the district] replace 17 gym floors," Clark said. "With new construction on top of our usual work load, we have a lot on our plates."

St. Tammany parish is spending the summer ensuring it has the resources and infrastructure to handle future needs. They are in the process of acquiring 60 acres of land off of Highway 1088 for a new high school and 10 acres near Highway 11 in Slidell for a $4.8 million early childhood education center. The parish is also upgrading high speed internet, lighting and electrical wiring at older schools. "Many of the older facilities only had one or two outlets in each classroom, which won’t accommodate all of today’s computers and printers," Folse said. "We’re upgrading so all of the old schools will have the same resources as new construction."

But despite the extensive expansion projects, Folse said its the smaller projects that are generating the most appreciation from the community. "We are repaving the lots around Boyet Junior High," Folse said. "It’s a small, $140,000 project but I have received an awful lot of thank yous and phone calls."