Day Two at Andrew Jackson Elementary

Mrs. Donna Schultz, pictured below at her desk, is one great lady! While living in an 8' x 24' FEMA trailer for the past seventeen months, she has started school at night to work on her Master's degree; while she and her husband are rebuilding their home and raising their special-needs, 16-year old son. How she keeps so upbeat amid the complexities of post-Katrina life in St. Bernard Parish is a mystery to mere mortals like me.

Her class is filled with 26 kids who can tell story after story regarding their experiences with Katrina, and any one is capable of curling your hair. One boy related how he and his family clung to a light pole for hours during the storm, afraid that they would "go flying" if they let go. Winds were 100 - 140 mph in the area, as the waters reached the second floor of the schools and office buildings. 65,000 people lived in this area, and only three of their homes escaped the flood waters after the levees broke. Water in the downtown area reached 20 to 30 feet. Most residential areas had from 14 to 20 feet of water, and the peak depths lasted for three days. Several feet of water remained for weeks.

School appears to be an island of normalcy in the Chalmette area of St. Bernard Parish. As mentioned previously, the Andrew Jackson (public) Elementary School combines the seven elementary schools which existed prior to Katrina. None survived! AJE also has the preschool kids down to the age of three, so things are hopping in this 2,000 student facility. Workers did an outstanding job of opening this school, and the walls and ceilings show no evidence of the water levels that existed in the area for weeks.

With 2,000 students arriving at the same time, traveling through a minefield of abandon neighborhoods, on streets where only a few traffic lights are working and using a single driveway - traffic control can be a nightmare. However, they have it down to a science and it all seems to work flawlessly. Cooperation and patience have become the watchword in this town.

These are the FEMA trailers which are spotted on the grounds of the school and reserved for teachers and school personnel. All over town there are FEMA trailer parks like this, only most are much larger. FEMA trailers are also spotted on home owner's lots when they plan to rebuild their homes. 24' x 8' is the standard size. For my few nights in trailer #AJ-16 this was enough room, but it is very tight for families. "Trailer stories" abound, wherever two or three are gathered.