New Orleans - Priestly School
The drive down was smooth, pleasant, and long. Pulled into Hands-on New Orleans about 8:30 last night. The volunteer center is in a smaller church than the group we worked with last year. A bunk room has lots of 2x4 bunks, some apparently recycled from a Boy Scout camp. But the beds were comfy, and the organizers were competent, if young. There are a bunch of Americorps people here who are the long-termers.
Today we pulled old carpeting out of Priestly School. On the drive there, we saw signs saying the charter school was accepting applications for 9th and 10th graders, so I assume they are planning on getting it open by September. Hard to believe. We were yanking out flood-rotted carpeting, well enriched by pigeon shit (many windows are boarded up, but not well enough to keep the birds out.) In the process of removing carpet on the 3rd floor, chunks of termite-digested wood came out. If there's this much termite chew on the 3rd floor, I don't want to know about the supports holding us up on the first and 2nd floors. And with the rotted wood and the broken glass and warped closets and peeling paint all over, it does give the impression that kids would be better off in a toxic waste dump.
But we pulled and crowbared and hauled, and got it done. And did it in hot weather while wearing Tyvek hazmat suits and respirators. We were all pretty soggy, and that 4-minute outdoor shower back at home base felt like heaven. (The time is rationed so that everyone can get in.)
Later tonight, we're going to go back to the lower 9th and check on the houses we gutted last year. It's hard to say for sure if there's been much progress, since we're in a neighborhood (Central) we didn't work in last year.
More later....
Today we pulled old carpeting out of Priestly School. On the drive there, we saw signs saying the charter school was accepting applications for 9th and 10th graders, so I assume they are planning on getting it open by September. Hard to believe. We were yanking out flood-rotted carpeting, well enriched by pigeon shit (many windows are boarded up, but not well enough to keep the birds out.) In the process of removing carpet on the 3rd floor, chunks of termite-digested wood came out. If there's this much termite chew on the 3rd floor, I don't want to know about the supports holding us up on the first and 2nd floors. And with the rotted wood and the broken glass and warped closets and peeling paint all over, it does give the impression that kids would be better off in a toxic waste dump.
But we pulled and crowbared and hauled, and got it done. And did it in hot weather while wearing Tyvek hazmat suits and respirators. We were all pretty soggy, and that 4-minute outdoor shower back at home base felt like heaven. (The time is rationed so that everyone can get in.)
Later tonight, we're going to go back to the lower 9th and check on the houses we gutted last year. It's hard to say for sure if there's been much progress, since we're in a neighborhood (Central) we didn't work in last year.
More later....