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'It was very emotional': St. Pete school leans on community to build temporary classrooms

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Published  October 4, 2024 3:27pm EDT
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FOX 13 News

ST. PETE BEACH - Hurricane Helene flooded coastal communities throughout southeastern Florida, with St. Petersburg proving no exception.

Attention has been turned to cleaning up the destroyed homes and businesses, but some schools in the region facing flood damage have been unable to reopen their doors to students.

With the education of students at risk of stalling because they can't attend school, some schools in the region are making temporary accommodations for students.

READ MORE: Cleanup of 'unprecedented' storm debris will take 'weeks if not months,' Pinellas officials say

St. John Vianney Catholic School, a Catholic school in St. Pete Beach, has 248 students aged from K to middle school and has been unable to reopen because of flooding from Hurricane Helene.

Megan Rivera, Assistant Principal at St. John Vianney Catholic School, says Hurricane Helene devastated the school and describes the flood damage it faces.

"There was water in some places chest-high, at least mid-calf. All of our books were damaged either by mold and mildew that have set in or by actual water damage," Rivera said. "Carpets, chairs, supplies, anything left in the classrooms have been unusable, as the classrooms themselves have been."

St. John Vianney Catholic School is now leaning on other Catholic schools in the area to build temporary classrooms and provide normalcy to students who have been without it since the storm hit more than a week ago.

Starting Monday, October 7, students aged Pre-K to 5th grade will attend classes at the Cathedral School of St. Jude in St. Petersburg, and middle school students aged from 6th to 8th grades will be taught at St. Petersburg Catholic High School and the Pastoral Center of the Diocese of Saint Petersburg.

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St. John Vianney Catholic School's faculty and students unloading desks for temporary classroom setups after Hurricane Helene. Courtesy: St. John Vianney Catholic School

"Everyone, all of our staff, has been able to return, so they (the students) will have that sense of safety that maybe right now they do not have," Rivera said. "I think it is going to be incredible for them." 

Rivera thanked the network of Catholic schools in the area for rallying to St. John Vianney’s support and grew emotional when describing the flood damage her school faced from Hurricane Helene.

"It was very emotional; it has been my home for 14 years. Walking in and seeing that school was devastating," Rivera said. "To have the generosity of other Catholic schools and our dias, everyone has really stepped up."

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