In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Rita, many of us found ourselves out of place and most definitely uncomfortable. Well that is certainly an understatement for the staff and students of Grand Caillou Elementary. The entire school had anywhere from four inches to over five feet of murky water that spilled into the 80 year-old-school from Lake Boudreax and/or Bayou Grand Caillou.

Having flooded at least four times in at least 20 years, the staff and students would find themselves once again bouncing back with resilience; and with much appreciated help from many, some without recognition for thanks. “It was like everything suddenly appeared on our stage…we don’t even know where some of the donations come from,” said Principal Peggy Marcel.

So was not the case recently when Houma’s Downtown Business Association (DBA) donated a gift certificate for $200 to Lee’s Education Center in Houma. “The idea stemmed from our partnership with Time Warner Cable who headed up a School Supply Drive soon after water from Rita flooded our low-lying public schools,” said Susan Elstner Nini, DBA member. Time Warner Cable followed with a $400 gift certificate to Lee’s, which they too donated to the Grand Caillou Elementary.

“This is so great. This way the teachers can get something they need, and it’s nice that the money was spent locally,” said Principal Marcel.

Principal Marcel said just like most teachers, many of the Grand Caillou School teachers provide for their classrooms out of pocket. The teachers did raise equipment/supplies to the standard 36”, but as mentioned above, some water levels reached at least five feet.

Other donations included a “Classroom in a Box” from the United Way, tons of supplies from HBO, C-Span, Inspirational Channel (Time Warner School Supply Drive), pencils, copy paper and much more. They even received  a substantial cash donation from a school in Redway California.

“Calls and emails have been coming in from all over the country,” said Principal Marcel. She added, “We even have a gentlemen in Connecticut who is organizing a ‘town adoption’ because his great-grandfather was a student here.”

Principal Marcel she is using the flooding of Hurricane Rita as an opportunity to regroup the school. “We will now have a chance to put grade levels together, and just get better organized.” She added that the staff will also work on putting together an Accelerated Reading Center and most importantly a class inventory system, which was not in place. “If this ever happens again, we will know exactly what we lost, no more sifting through mud and guess-work.”

Students lost one week of school after Rita hit the area. The students were then transferred to Grand Caillou Middle School, where teachers, staff and students shared the building for five weeks. Lunch hours and recesses were split not to allow for overcrowding. School buses were shared also. The school was cleaned by Terrebonne Parish School Board workers, volunteers, staff, teachers and their families.

Grand Caillou & Vandypalooza

Most recently, Grand Caillou Elementary School was chosen by Vandebilt Catholic High School as this year’s adopted family.  Coach Reed Pere said normally the school will adopt 30 families from around the community. The students raise funds, which are turned into gift baskets filled with items for the holiday season. Staff member Margie Duplantis had close ties to the Grand Caillou Community, and Principal Marcel’s children attended the private school – so it was only fitting to adopt such a family.

Once again, the students raised money through various ways. Each Friday in December, the students can wear jeans and T-shirts at a cost of $3 per student. In honor of their “big fundraiser,” special T-shirts were made for the students to buy. “Vandypalooza” was recently held on the field of the Buddy Marcello Stadium. Eight bands made up of Vandebilt students ripped out tunes from the hottest groups around. A cover charge was set, and pizza, burgers and jambalaya was sold – ALL funds went to the recovery efforts of Grand Caillou Elementary.