This past month has been quite the challenge for students and staff in the Little Cypress-Mauriceville school district, due to Hurricane Harvey significantly affecting the area. Along with homes and cars being ruined, Little Cypress Junior High and Mauriceville Middle School consequently faced the same devastation. Students and staff  were relocated to other learning facilities in the district that had little to no water. Because of this, the normal school schedule has completely changed and the high school has been hosting LCJH and MMS students for about three weeks now.

LCJH received about two to four inches of water throughout the campus. MMS received quite a bit more, with one foot to three feet of flood water. The schools’ new construction is now having to be torn out and rebuilt, and it will still be a while before the actual reconstruction part begins. The work that is going on at LCJH and MMS is very similar to what is happening in most people’s homes at the moment; floors, furniture, and sheet rock are being removed so the drying process may begin. To help with drying out the buildings, desiccant air dryers, dehumidifiers, and air scrubbers are being used in both schools. The construction workers are currently running a day and night shift at MMS.

“The schools flooding has affected me by adding more work to my plate and many others,” Assistant Superintendent Greg Perry said. “We were finished with all of the new construction at LCJH and were just about finished at Mauriceville. Now we are having to start over in many aspects. That is very disappointing, but one day we will get it back better than ever! I am very thankful that the damage at the high school was minimal.”

The LCJH campus will open up sometime in October, but will then be used for pre-kindergarten through third grade students, who have been attending North Orange Baptist Church. There is no date yet for MMS; until they have completed the clean-up phase and the rebuild goes out to bid, the school will remain closed. Both LCJH and MMS students will stay on the high school campus until further notice.

“I think everyone was affected in some way or another,” Perry said. “Many students and staff are dealing with flooded homes and lots of those who did not flood have family and friends living with them because their homes flooded. Although it will be a long time before daily life returns to the way it was before Harvey, students and staff are adapting wonderfully to the many changes and daily challenges.”

Everything that was on the floor or down low in the classrooms and other areas was lost. This includes books on the lower library shelves and band instruments on the floor or lower shelves, supplies, Physical Education equipment, and all the wooden gym floors.

“It is very sad to see a place you love damaged,” MMS principal Kimberly Cox said. “But, they are all encouraging each other. We know that this is unfortunate but that it is fixable. We feel that the half day high school plan is working and we are moving forward with the best year ever.”