BATON ROUGE (WBRZ) - The East Baton Rouge Parish School System is working to get as many schools as possible back to some sort of normal following the August flood.
At a school board meeting Thursday evening, members were scheduled to be briefed on the first stages of six projects. The hope, according to school district officials, is to have students at Glen Oaks High, Glen Oaks Park Elementary, Greenbrier Elementary, Park Forest Middle and Park Forest Elementary by the fall. The cost for this phase of work at just those locations and the Professional Development Center total almost $19 million. Work will renovate flooded schools and at Glen Oaks, only pay for transitional repairs to the most useable buildings since the school sustained substantial damage.
Previously, WBRZ.com reported as many as eleven facilities were damaged in the flood. Some are destroyed beyond repair. The most damaged buildings will be dealt with later. The focus right now, a district spokesperson said, is to complete repairs that allow for students to return to campuses at the fastest rate.
When it's all said and done, the district estimates flood repairs to cost $65 million. Flood insurance will cover $10 million and FEMA will reimburse the parish 90% of what is spent after insurance.