More Acadiana schools having trouble with water

• By MARSHA SILLS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Jul 9, 2009 - Page: 1B -- Acadiana Edition

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

YOUNGSVILLE — As the Lafayette Parish school district wraps up more than $1 million in water-intrusion repairs at N.P. Moss Middle School this week, three more schools built in the past 10 years also are showing signs of moisture intrusion.

N.P. Moss and three elementary schools — Ernest Gallet in Youngsville, Charles Burke in Duson, and Live Oak in Carencro — were completed in 1999 and varying degrees of water intrusion issues have surfaced. Work began last week to mitigate water intruding through the walls and windows at Ernest Gallet. At least $110,000 in reserves from the Moss repairs were transferred to the Gallet project to get it started.

Because mold was detected, the rooms are being cleaned and Sheetrock has been removed, said Lawrence Lilly, Lafayette Parish Schools deputy superintendent of operations and human resources.

“By Friday, the work should be 90 percent done,” Lilly said.

The majority of the damage was found in kindergarten classrooms, where carpets were replaced with tile during Christmas break last year, said Virginia Bonvillian, the school’s principal who was recently promoted to the central office.

Air-quality tests will be conducted and parents will be notified of the results, Lilly said.
At Burke and Live Oak, plans are in the works to address the problem of water seepage through window systems, Lilly said.

Different contractors and architecture firms originally worked on the schools.

“I don’t really know why they’re having similar issues,” Lilly said.

So far, the most extensive damage has been at N.P. Moss. The school was closed in 2007 and students were sent to two locations to complete the school year while repairs got under way.

The School Board filed a lawsuit to recoup repair costs at Moss, initially estimated at around $3 million.

The claims against Moss’ contractor, Ratcliff Construction, and architecture firm, Corne-Lemaire Group, were dismissed in state district court. The School Board is considering challenging the court’s dismissal of Corne-Lemaire.

Repairs at Moss are expected to be complete by the end of the week, said Kyle Bordelon, schools facilities director.

He said the school district spent $2.2 million at Moss Middle for testing, construction, labor, moving expenses, facility and equipment rentals, administrative salaries and legal expenses.