Students are victims of Wilma

By JEREMY FRANCIS

Freeport News Reporter

Not too many structures built along Grand Bahama's coastal zones were spared destruction from Hurricane Wilma's merciless wind gusts and torrential rains as it rapidly, but severely, passed over the island Monday.

St. Vincent de Paul School, in Hunters, was one of the island's coastally-erected structures that was seriously devastated by the storm.

Today, hundreds of students who attend the school remain at home — awaiting the school's reopening.

One of the school's teachers, who was cleaning-up articles of debris that were left behind in her classroom subsequent to the storm's passage, disappointingly admitted yesterday that damages inflicted upon the school by Hurricane Wilma were greater than Hurricanes Frances' and Jeanne's destruction to the campus.

The southern portion of the campus was completely obliterated. Huge boulders that once lined the body of water near the school, along with chunks of sand and seaweed, were driven into classrooms on the south side of the campus by powerful storm surges.

Director of Catholic Education, Claudette Rolle, who was assessing damages the structure sustained with the school's principal, Alexandria Bowe, said that six of the school's classrooms are in the process of being salvaged so that children can return to school as of Tuesday, November 1.

But before they return to school, Mrs. Rolle said all precautionary measures will be taken to ensure that what happened during Hurricane Wilma doesn't happen again, assure that the remainder of the school remains in one piece, and maintain students' safety.

"Once we get (the school) cleaned-up and get some barricades so that the ocean is inaccessible to the children, then we should be able to begin school on Tuesday," she said. "I wanted to get those students back in the classroom yesterday if I could, just to be able to have some stability."

Noting that last September's hurricanes disrupted every school on the island's schedule, Mrs. Rolle said that extending St. Vincent de Paul's school year is trying to be avoided at all costs.

Last year, in excess of a half-million dollars was spent on repair costs to the island's three Catholic schools: St. Vincent de Paul School, Grand Bahama Catholic High School, and Mary, Star of the Sea School.

This year, however, "we only have St. Vincent de Paul that would seem to need any of the financial contributions that we receive," Mrs. Rolle said, adding that she hopes funds needed to return the school to normalcy do not exceed a quarter of a million dollars.

"Grand Bahama Catholic High or Mary, Star, they haven't received the type of damage as St. Vincent de Paul," she happily mentioned. "As a matter of fact, they're in school today, so that's a clear indication that they're okay."

RUINED — A classroom at the south of St. Vincent de Paul School's campus was filled with debris as a result of Hurricane Wilma.

© 2005 The Freeport News