By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Progress marches, or in this case, hammers on as workers get Lake Pontchartrain Elementary’s new modular campus ready for a Jan. 7 opening.

On Tuesday, approximately 800 teachers and pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students will regain a sense of community as they are all reunited at one central campus location.

After Hurricane Isaac flooded Lake Pontchartrain Elementary on U.S. Highway 51 in LaPlace, students and teachers were dispersed to six different sites. The number of sites was reduced to three in August 2013.

There is no timeline set for the reopening of LPE’s main campus, but Superintendent of Schools Kevin George got the recovery process on track in mid December with the selection of firms to handle both the management and architectural details of the project. The St. John Parish School Board approved George’s recommendation of Yeates and Yeates of New Orleans to handle the architectural workload and All South Consulting Engineers of Metairie to oversee disaster management. George said that recovery work will continue to be his main priority until all work is complete.

The LPE temporary site is located at the rear of the East St. John Elementary’s campus adjacent to Joe Keller Memorial Stadium. The campus consists of 15 new modular buildings containing more than 30 classrooms, offices and restrooms, new covered walkways, a new 40-car parking lot and a new playground.

On Jan. 6 there will be a professional development day for all St. John the Baptist Parish Public School District employees.

All parish schools will be closed on Jan. 6 and will re-open on Jan. 7.