Letters
Debbie Carpenter

As a school counselor, one of our duties is to add and drop students. We knew we would be getting a few Katrina students and ended up enrolling about 70 new students in a two-week period.

There were many tearful days. The students and parents needed to do something normal, like attend school, even though some were fearful of a new situation. The thing that struck me the most about the evacuees was that they very much needed to talk about their situation. It seemed to help them deal with the reality of what had happened to them. Some of our students had problems several weeks after enrolling. Some had "break downs" while at school and needed to come talk. This seemed to especially apply to the kids living in shelters although we saw students who were able to obtain homes and apartments. One student who was angry would not accept help from anyone. She ended up sadly getting in trouble with the law. Everyone deals with crisis differently.

Our principal called the students into the library and spoke to them. He told them that he could only imagine what they had been through. He wanted them to know that they were welcome here and that we would do everything we could to help them. He told them they were "our" kids now. I think that helped them more than anyone knows.

I was so proud of our teachers, our principal, and students. They reached out and embraced these people who had lost everything. School supplies, uniforms, personal supplies were provided by our community and school district as well as districts far away. We were adopted by several middle schools across the United States. They actually sent trucks full of clothes, school supplies, books, and toys for our new students.

We still have about 20 Katrina evacuees enrolled in our school. Most have been a welcome addition and seem to be successful as well as good citizens. As time goes on they are becoming more a part of our school and community.
This has been a hard year, but we have learned a lot about dealing with crisis. Mostly that when you are challenged that you just simply roll up your sleeves and get busy doing whatever has to be done to meet the needs of the students.

Debbie Carpenter, School Counselor
Southside Junior High
Denham Springs, LA

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