By: ELIZABETH
WEST
Managing Editor
At the Evangeline Parish School Board meeting on Wednesday, board members heard from Mike Holt with Yeager, Watson & Associates, who shared that it was time to replace damaged floors at two schools in the district.
According to Holt, the two schools that need floors to be replaced are Mamou High School and Bayou Chicot Elementary.
Holt said, “The recent flooding that has occurred has reeked havoc on so many things, including some of your schools. Now, the fire marshal has demanded that a plan be put in place to fix the gym floor at Mamou High and the floor in the hallway at Bayou Chicot Elementary, and then take action on that plan.”
At both schools, they plan to rip out the current floor. Underneath the floor, Holt shared that their is concrete.
The plan that he presented to the board would entail building up the concrete that is under the current floors at MHS and BCE.
MHS’s floor would be raised a total of six inches, which would make the floor higher than any flooding that has occurred at the school.
Holt informed the board that the BCE project would cost approximately $42,000 to $43,000, while the MHS project will cost around $149,000.
Following this discussion, Superintendent of School’s Darwan Lazard announced Charles “Chuck” Johnson as Pine Prairie High School’s new head principal.
Johnson, who graduated and formerly taught and coached at PPHS, has a total of 24 years of experience in education, with 10 years in administration.
The Pine Prairie native spent 10 years as an assistant principal at Evangeline Central and eight years as the principal at the Math Science and Arts Academy in Iberville Parish.
At the meeting, Johnson said, “I am excited to come back to Pine Prairie. My parents are still here and I am happy to once again be a part of the community.
“I look froward to growing the success we have had in the past.”