By DAVID VITRANO

News Editor

LAPLACE—A school system struggling to get back to normal after Hurricane Gustav faced another setback in the form of Hurricane Ike, which forced the closure of St. John Parish’s public schools just two days after their reopening.

Although all schools in the parish were open again on Monday, two schools, West St. John Elementary School and West St. John High School, suffered water damage as a result of the storm, according to St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools Executive Director of Personnel and Legal Services Ann Laborde.

The elementary school now is experiencing leaks, which have forced the closure of its cafeteria, although it is expected to reopen today.

Additionally, during the cleanup efforts at the schools, the electricity went out for two hours, but it was restored in plenty of time for classes on Monday.

On the other hand, Lake Ponchartrain Elementary, which experienced some of the heaviest damage in the parish, is on its way to recovery. The repairs to its cafeteria are complete, and the students were able to eat in it on Monday. As of Monday, the library had not yet reopened.

St. John’s neighbors managed to escape Ike relatively unscathed.

In St. James Parish, all schools reopened on Monday after the Ike-forced closure on Friday. Four schools remain without Internet, but all have power.

Romeville Elementary, which was heavily damaged in Hurricane Gustav, is managing to return to normal after a rough couple of weeks. The wing that housed the kindergarten through second graders is now closed, but administrators managed to find classroom space for the displaced students. According to Public Relations Coordinator Marlon Reed, Romeville Elementary has a rather spacious campus but houses one of the smallest student populations in the parish.

St. Charles Parish got off even easier, having no new problems arise in their schools as a result of Hurricane Ike.