Published: April 08, 2009 02:29 pm      

BCISD enrollment on the rise again

BRIDGE CITY — Two Orange County school districts suffered the brunt of Hurricane Ike’s deadly storm surge in September 2008, but none worse than Bridge City Independent School District.

According to information provided by Bridge City ISD, all of the district’s facilities incurred damage from the storm. And, all of the facilities with the exception of one, the main Bridge City High School Campus, took on the damaging storm surge waters.

“All of our buildings received some type of damage. The surge waters were most damaging, of course,” said Dr. Jamey Harrison, BCISD superintendent. “Hatton Elementary and Sims Elementary were the hardest hit. Hatton took on about two feet of water, but Sims was damaged much worse, receiving over four-feet of storm surge.”

The district now faces some very difficult decisions with regards to recovering from this damage. While most of the facilities can be saved, some of them may be past the point of repair. However, some repairs have been completed.

“We have completed temporary repairs at Bridge City Intermediate and Bridge City Middle School,” Harrison explained. “The permanent repairs are planned for this summer. They cannot be completed while school is in session and kids are in the buildings. In relation to the scope of damage, we expect these repairs to be relatively routine to complete over the summer months.”

Sims Elementary will offer the most difficult challenge. The storm surge caused a great deal of damage, primarily to the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.

“The building is all masonry construction,” Harrison added. “We have to abandon most of the underground conduits requiring us to rewire most if not all of the building. With cinderblock walls, rewiring will be particularly challenging.”

The estimated cost of repairing the facility is between $4 million and $6 million. Harrison stated this estimate has created some questions.

“Clearly when you have to consider spending as much or more money repairing a facility as it is worth, you have to consider all options available to you,” Harrison continued. “Any option we consider will be a capital improvement project. We are not even discussing, nor will we discuss, a bond issue at this time.

“We have to find a way to fund any solution we ultimately opt for through other revenue means,” he said. “We will not discuss any bond referendum.”

Bridge City ISD students missed a total of 19 days following Hurricane Ike due to the amount of damage the community and several of its campuses received, bu the Texas Education Agency waived a majority of the missed instructional days.

“The state issued a blanket waiver for all of the affected school, which covered 10 days of missed classes,” Harrison said. “But since we missed a total of 19 days because of the hurricane, we had to submit another waiver request, and we have since adjusted our schedule accordingly.”

Harrison said Bridge City ISD students would have to make up 5.5 days of missed classes, which required modification to the remaining school year calendar.

The first change was on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Originally it was a staff development day and student holiday, but it became a full school day for students.

Harrison also said the Memorial Day holiday, which is May 25, is now a full school day, and the remaining early release dates — Jan. 16, April 9, May 15 and May 22 — have become full instructional days.

Harrison also said all flex days are now full school days with the exception of June 1 through June 5, which are still flex days.

“Flex days are built into the schedule for students who are at risk of failing TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills),” Harrison said. “School will end on May 29th for the students who have passed the TAKS test. June 1st through June 5th is solely for those students who did not pass the first two administrations of the TAKS test. We want them to succeed and move on to the next grade, and that is what we hope to help them accomplish.”

The school district’s enrollment also took a tumble thanks to Ike as only 14 of the approximate 3,500 homes in Bridge City did not sustain some form of water damage.

According to Orange Leader archives, Bridge City ISD began the 2008-2009 school year with 2,509 children enrolled, which was 102 more than the start of the prior year.

Enrollment peaked at 2,551 prior to Hurricane Ike but dropped considerably following the storm. However, enrollment continues to increase steadily and was listed at 2,362 students as of Feb. 27.

Many students and their families relocated to other nearby communities due to the lack of immediate housing in Bridge City. However, the Bridge City school district made a remarkable decision and arranged for transportation to and from Bridge City with other school districts to keep children in its district.

Students have been transported from areas like Beaumont, Port Arthur, Vidor, and LC-M, among many others.

In a previous interview, Harrison stated the district initially was transporting 500 to and from Bridge City schools, but that figure had declined to 150 students in mid-January.