Memorial ninth graders back at school

By David Ball
The Port Arthur News

PORT ARTHUR January 12, 2009 07:16 pm

— Three weeks away. An extra week of Christmas vacation. Now it’s time to go back to school and get busy.
Students of Memorial Ninth Grade Campus returned to class Monday after being displaced by a fire on Jan. 4 on the Booker T. Washington Elementary side of the building, adding an extra week to their Christmas holiday.
Kendra Flugence, Janet Contreras, Romanda Lebiege and Alexis Harris, all students at the school, agreed it was a nice vacation, but they knew they had to come back eventually.
“It feels different. Some are glad to be back,” Lebiege said. “We have report cards next week and it’s a little hard to catch up.”
In addition to making up school work, other distractions, these students say, is dealing with the burnt-out smell, the chemical solution used for cleaning, and workers in the hallway.
“We couldn’t go to some of our classes. We had to go to portable buildings or in the cafeteria,” Lebiege said.
Charlenee Hardee teaches world geography at the ninth grade campus. She said it was great to be back to see her kids.
“You have students who never want to come back, but most of them are glad to be back. We’ve had some alternative room assignments. You have to be flexible and bend with the wind,” she said.
Hardee believes most courses will catch up the five school days missed with the possible exception of math.
“Math is the worst to get back to because you build upon concepts. Other courses can modify. They’ll just have to work harder,” Hardee said.
She added this isn’t her first experience with this kind of thing. Hardee’s cousin’s school burned down when she was in high school. They were sent to a rival school at different hours when the rival school’s students were not attending.
Principal Raymond Polk said it also felt great to be back to school with a lot of time and efforts from individuals to get things in order for classes to resume.
“Our students have been amazing and they’re ready to come back. The majority are ready to come back. We’re having classes as usual. We had some new classroom assignments with the assignment of different teachers into some portable buildings.
Polk said returning to school would have been harder for the students if the ninth grade campus wasn’t ready so soon.
And though the students have been away for three weeks, Polk said it’s been a working vacation for them, with a packet of research papers assigned over the holidays.
“They were already presenting their research papers in class,” he said.
Mark Porterie, assistant superintendent, said everything is well at the school.
“We’re up and running,” he said. “The students have been absolutely wonderful. They just came in.
“The elementary students are at their schools and the principals and teachers there are doing a magnificent job in welcoming them. To the kids, it’s almost like a field trip. Some of them have never ridden a bus. It’s refreshing.”
dball@panews.com

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