LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / June 14, 2000

LULING – Norco Elementary School is back to where it was before the Feb. 27tornado, after roof repairs were accepted recently by the St. Charles SchoolBoard.

Cost of the repair work came to $184,279, paid from the board’s insurance settlement and done by Crown Roofing Co.

During that storm almost 16 months ago, the “baby tornado” drifted into Norco from the vicinity of the Bonnet Carre Spillway (ducking radar as it did so) and skimmed the school before causing damage to 29 residences between Fourth and Fifth streets.

It vanished before it got past Good Hope Street, just before the Motiva fence line.

One change order was necessary prior to closing out the project, said Larry Sesser, executive director of physical plant services. That change order wasfor seaming the roof panels, making them interlocking for greater strength.

Also, the change order was to accommodate for two additional days, one for the spring fun festival, when the contractor was asked not to work that day, and the other was a rain day.

Both the change order and accepting the completed roof were approved unanimously by the school board.

In other matters, the board approved extending the fiscal agent agreement with the Louisiana Department of Education for the Region I Service Center.

Created by the state Legislature in 1988, the state’s eight service centers provide a variety of education programs for their region’s school. This localregion includes southeast Louisiana, and St. Charles Parish has served asfiscal agent since 1990.

Also, the Region I Teacher Learning Technology Council has applied for four technology grants, each of which will have a separate fiscal agent. St.Charles has been asked to serve as fiscal agent for the local grant of $225,000.

In addition, superintendent Dr. Rodney Lafon reported that 93 percent ofstudents who need to re-take LEAP has been enrolled in those summer classes, which began Monday.

Finally, the new ROTC buildings at Hahnville and Destrehan high schools are complete and the board approved new furniture for those buildings. Inaddition, furniture for the Allemands Elementary addition was approved.

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