A Massive FEMA Effort To Rebuild Mississippi's Schools 

Release Date: August 10, 2007
Release Number: 1604-582

» More Information on Mississippi Hurricane Katrina

BILOXI, Miss. -- The rebuilding of schools on the Mississippi Gulf Coast is a top priority for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has committed more than $185 million in rebuilding funds to all 11 of the public school districts on the coast, plus $49.5 million for private schools, $30 million for public higher education and $4.9 million to schools in other parts of the state. 

More than 100 schools in the three coastal counties will receive FEMA rebuilding funds. Meanwhile, in other parts of Mississippi affected by Hurricane Katrina, 71 more public school districts are also slated for FEMA assistance.

"They've done a great job for us," said Henry Arledge, superintendent of the 13,000-student Harrison County School District, referring to both FEMA and its local partner in state government, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). "Their contributions have really helped the local area. They helped the school district to get organized to get back on its feet."

The sheer number of school rebuilding projects, with many separate FEMA worksheets assigned to the schools hardest hit by storm damage, makes the task of isolating specific numbers of projects a matter of interpretation. The worksheets themselves name at least 93 individual public schools on the coast as receiving FEMA attention, with grant funds administered by MEMA. And this is aside from district-wide aid that will benefit all schools in a given district, and large projects at the university level and at private schools.

In the 93 public schools in the worksheets, more than 560 rebuilding projects are being funded by FEMA. In the other 71 public school districts in Mississippi that are getting FEMA assistance, more than 400 projects are underway. With the three coastal counties this makes 82 public school districts and nearly 1,000 projects.

To give an idea of the size of the effort, an outline is supplied in the following pages, summarizing some of the school projects that are being underwritten by FEMA Public Assistance on the coast alone, along with a list of non-coastal recipients.

OVERVIEW: FEMA PUBLIC ASSISTANCE IN THE REBUILDING OF MISSISSIPPI'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS:

In the 11 public school districts serving the three coastal counties there are at least 93 schools with specific FEMA funded-projects, in addition to broader district-wide assistance. In the rest of the state, 71 public school districts are slated for FEMA Public Assistance. A total of 82 public school districts in Mississippi have nearly 1,000 projects.

Coastal Counties (more than 560 projects)

District  no. of projects no. of schools named

HARRISON COUNTY

268

41

1. Gulfport School District

38

10

Gulfport High School

Elementary Schools

28th Street, Anniston Avenue, Pass Road,
Soria City, Bayou View, Gaston Point. Central

Administration buildings, offices. Maintenance buildings, warehouse

Head Start main building, Museum, Learning Center, PTA Trailers

    

2. Biloxi Public School District

24

11

Biloxi High School/Vo-Tech Center

Michel Seventh Grade School

Elementary Schools

Gorenflo, Nichols, North Bay, Lopez, Beauvoir,
Popps Ferry, Jeff Davis

Annex Building (Project Read)

Books, Buses, Food inventory, other district-wide support

    

3. Pass Christian Public School District

71

4

Pass Christian High School, contents, repairs, parking lot

Pass Christian Middle School (eight buildings, cafeteria, playground)

Elementary Schools

Pass Christian Elementary School (seven buildings)
Delisle Elementary School (nine buildings, other projects)

District wide assistance

Administration, Maintenance, Sports Complex, Athletic fields

    

4. Harrison County Schools

88

11

Harrison Central High

Buildings, Cafeteria, Band Room,
Athletic field, grounds, fence

D'Iberville High School

Cafeteria and Gym Relocation; Library, Athletic field buildings/equipment; Buildings A, B, C, D, Main; Food loss

North Gulfport 7th and 8th Grade

D'Iberville Middle School

42.79 acre property acquisition, demolition of three buildings,
Gym, Cafeteria, Textbooks, Athletic Fields

Elementary Schools

Belaire, Pineville, Harrison Central, D'Iberville, Lyman,
Orange Grove, Saucier Elem.

Child Development Center

Alternative School District-wide

Administration Demolition and mold cleaning, buses,
Service building, food loss, and energy management system

    

5. Long Beach School Superintendent

47

5

Long Beach High School

Athletic fields and buildings/equipment, stadium, cleaning

Long Beach Middle School

Elementary Schools

Harper MacCaughan, Reeves, W. J. Quarles

Family Center

District-wide

Textbooks, Administration, Vehicle, Radio, Fence

    
 

JACKSON COUNTY

168

38

1. Moss Point School District

40

11

Moss Point High School

Vocational Technical Center

Ed Mayo Jr. High

Magnolia Jr. High

Elementary Schools

Orange Lake, Escatawpa, Kreole,
Charlotte Hyatt, West, East Park

Family Education Building, maintenance and service buildings

    

2. Jackson County School District

72

10

Vocational-Technical School

Van Cleave High

St Martin High

East Central High

St. Martin Middle School (19 buildings and contents)

Elementary Schools

St Martin Upper, St Martin East, Van Cleave Upper,
East Central Elementary, St Martin North

42 buses, other vehicles

    

3. Pascagoula Public Schools

53

15

Pascagoula High

Trent Lott Middle School

William Colmer Middle School

Elementary

Lake, Eastlawn, Arlington Heights, Cherokee
Jackson, Beach, Central, Gautier

Adult Learning Center, Applied Technology Center,

The Annex, The Opportunity Center

30 buses, 41 district vehicles, maintenance and transportation buildings

Food district-wide, Instructional administrative services center

Athletic complex

    

4. Ocean Springs School District

3

2

St. Alphonsus Elementary, Taconi Elementary, band trailer replacement

    
 

HANCOCK COUNTY

130

14

1. Bay St. Louis School District

62

8

Bay St Louis High School (buildings, athletic facilities)

Bay Waveland High School (buildings, athletic facilities)

Bay Waveland Middle School

Elementary Schools

Second Street, Waveland, North Bay

Alternative School Building

District cafeteria, administration building, and maintenance

    

2. Hancock County School District

68

6

Hancock County High (buildings, athletics, utilities)

Hancock County Middle School

Elementary Schools

Charles B. Murphy and Gulfview: consolidated into new South Hancock Elementary

North Central, East Hancock

    

(This list is designed to show the overall scope of aid. Any given school or district may be undergoing more work than is shown here, while the number of projects per school can be variously interpreted owing to multiple project worksheets. In work of this magnitude, the sheer number of Public Assistance projects necessarily militates toward estimation.)

Non-coastal counties receiving FEMA Public Assistance funds for public schools (404 projects)

  1. Natchez Adams School District
  2. Amite County Superintendent
  3. Attala County School District
  4. Calhoun County School District
  5. Carroll County School District
  6. Chickasaw County Schools
  7. Choctaw County School District
  8. Quitman Consolidated School District
  9. Enterprise School District
  10. Clay County Supt. of Education
  11. Copiah County Education Supt.
  12. Hazelhurst City Schools
  13. Covington County School Supt.
  14. Petal Public School District
  15. Hattiesburg Public School District
  16. Forrest County School District
  17. Forrest County Agriculture High School
  18. Franklin County Supt. of Education
  19. George County Schools
  20. Greene County Schools
  21. Clinton Public School District
  22. Hinds County School District
  23. Jackson Public School District
  24. Humphreys County School District
  25. West Jasper Consolidated School Dist
  26. East Jasper County School District
  27. Jefferson Davis County Schools
  28. Jones County School District
  29. Laurel School District
  30. Kemper County School District
  31. Oxford School District
  32. Lumberton Public School District
  33. Lamar County Education Supt.
  34. Lauderdale County School District
  35. Meridian Public School District
  36. Lawrence County Supt. of Education
  37. Leake County Superintendent
  38. Brookhaven School District
  39. Lowndes County Schools
  40. Madison County School District
  41. Columbia School District
  42. Marion County School District
  43. Neshoba County Schools
  44. Newton Municipal School District
  45. Union Public School District
  46. Newton County Schools
  47. Oktibbeha County School District
  48. North Panola School District
  49. Pearl River County School District
  50. Picayune School District
  51. Poplarville School District
  52. Richton School District
  53. Perry County School District
  54. McComb Public School Superintendent
  55. North Pike County Schools
  56. S. Pike County Consolidated School Dist.
  57. Piney Woods Country Life School
  58. Rankin County School District
  59. Scott County Supt. of Education
  60. South Delta School District
  61. Simpson County Schools
  62. Smith County School District
  63. Stone County Supt. of Education
  64. East Tallahatchie School Supt.
  65. Walthall Superintendent of Education
  66. Vicburg Warren School District
  67. Wayne County School District
  68. Wilkinson Superintendent of Education
  69. Louisville Municipal School District
  70. Yazoo City Public School Supt.
  71. Yazoo County School District

TOTALS

566 Coastal school projects
404 Non-coastal school projects
970 School projects in Mississippi funded by FEMA Public Assistance

FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.

Last Modified: Friday, 10-Aug-2007 11:41:13