Aiming for a September Fresh Start for Displaced Students

Tom Parlapanides prefers to look at the positives.

As superintendent of both the Seaside Heights school district and Central Regional High School, he’s had to oversee the closing and reconstruction of a school seriously damaged during Hurricane Sandy as well as the relocation of elementary school students and their teachers into a high school a town away.

But, he said, at least it’s an opportunity start fresh.

On Thursday, Parlapanides was on hand in Seaside Heights’ Hugh J. Boyd Jr. Elementary School to see Jersey Cares and roughly 150 volunteers from Verizon paint walls, build and stain picnic tables, and tend to the school’s landscaping, all in an effort to get the school, closed since the late October storm, ready in time for the next school year.

“We developed a comprehensive three-year plan to fix the roof, rip out and replace the carpet and make repairs before Sandy, but the storm expedited everything so now it’s only a six-month project,” he said. “So there’s getting the positive out of a negative.”

Sandy caused an estimated $1.1 million in damage to the school, Parlapanides said. Floodwaters ruined the flooring throughout the building and heavy winds tore pieces off of the roof, resulting in leaks in several spots along the ceiling. School equipment, including computers and other teaching tools, were also destroyed.

The school has been empty since Sandy, and in some classrooms children’s art and schoolwork remains taped to blackboards. The gymnasium and its concrete floor have become a storage area for hundreds of cardboard boxes full of miscellaneous supplies.

The students have all been transferred to Central Regional in Bayville where they’ve taken up one of the school’s wings for the remainder of the school year. The goal, Parlapanides said, is to have the work completed by July 1 and to welcome students back in September. In addition to assistance from volunteers, who are expected to return to the school for a second day in April, contractors are set to repair the roof within the week, a necessary step before more internal work can begin inside the school.

Seaside’s elementary school is one of several that Jersey Cares, along with several different corporate volunteer groups and non-profit organizations, is working on following Sandy. Schools in towns like Union Beach in Monmouth County and Beach Haven West have had similar storm damage, Jersey Cares Senior Director of External Affairs Sherry Fazio said Thursday.

Even five months after Sandy, there’s still work that needs to be done. Though they’re priorities, reconstruction of schools, in several instances, has had to wait as prohibitive costs and the wait for insurance payouts have caused delays.

There was talk of trying to reopen the school this school year, but that just wasn’t practical or fair to the students, Parlapanides said. He’s hoping the decision turns out to be a good one, but that likely won’t be realized until state tests are completed and scored.

A good sign, he said, is that students, both from the elementary school and high school, seem to be adjusting well to the unusual circumstance. High school kids have even volunteered to tutor some of the younger students and elementary school children have been able to take advantage of typically high school-related activities, like wood shop.

“We didn’t want to move the kids back into the school in the middle of the year after moving them once already,” he said. “We’re waiting for a fresh start.”