Floods, fire and tornadoes are things St. John the Baptist Parish, and our school district, know all too well.

That’s why when news of the devastating floods began to spread, our school district immediately began to look for a way to repay all the kindness shown to us in the past.

Superintendent Kevin George decided a good way to do that would be to help out St. Helena Parish School District. His reasoning for adopting them as our “sister parish” was twofold.

One, Superintendent Kelli Joseph is a lifelong St. John the Baptist Parish resident and former employee of the school system and, two, while the Baton Rouge area has a wealth of industry, colleges and other groups to call upon, he wanted to make sure the more rural St. Helena didn’t get overlooked.

According to Mrs. Joseph, the greatest need for her school system is school uniforms for students who lost everything when their homes flooded. As of Monday, we had collected about $700 for St. Helena to purchase those uniforms and other supplies through donations from our employees and others. Thank you to everyone who responded so generously.

While our drive wrapped up earlier this week, you can still help school districts get their students back in the classroom. The Louisiana School Boards Association has set up a fund to help school districts impacted by the flooding.

While federal assistance may come — eventually — we know all too well that school districts already on a tight budget will have to dip into their own funds to pay for clean-up, transportation, temporary campuses and other expenses.

If you want to help the LSBA get students back in the classroom you can go online at lsba.com to contribute. Other groups collecting specifically for schools include the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana, the Louisiana Association of Educators, the Foundation for East Baton Rouge School System, the Livingston Parish Public Schools Assess the Need Campaign, the Ascension Parish Schools Flood Recovery Fund, DonorsChoose, Team Comeback Kids and numerous others.

With all the uncertainty of this historic event, last week was a crazy week, even here in St. John where everyone waited nervously to see if the flooding would reach this parish. Thankfully, the parish was spared, but the uncertainty and the need to let residents prepare led the school district to cancel school twice.

That’s not something that is done lightly, especially as we head into peak hurricane season.

Please know that as soon as the parish Emergency Operations Center is activated and the parish begins its twice daily meetings with emergency officials and weather experts, both here and across the state, we are also there to get the latest information available.

That information is then relayed to other school district leaders who together make the difficult decision about whether to cancel classes. A big concern, as it was last week when the extent of potential flooding on roads was unknown, is always whether our busses can safely travel the roads with our students.

If that is ever in doubt the St. John the Baptist Parish Public School District chooses to err on the side of caution. We will never risk the safety of one child for one day of school.

Jennifer Boquet is the communications specialist for St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools. Email her at jboquet@stjohn.k12.la.us.