Mary Queen of Peace ready to move in new space

“It’s big,” said principal Sybil Skansi about Mary Queen of Peace’s new, two-story building that will be ready for the start of school.
    The building has 14 classrooms – seven downstairs housing second through fourth grades and a computer lab, and seven upstairs for fifth through seventh grades and an art room that can parlay into a science lab.

     It replaces 12 temporary, portable classrooms and office space erected on the Mandeville campus after Hurricane Katrina caused the school’s population to more than double overnight as families who lost their homes to the storm moved to St. Tammany. Current enrollment is 540 students.
  “The school was relatively small, but after Hurricane Katrina so many children were moving in the area, especially from St. Bernard (that expansion was immediately necessary),” Skansi said. “It grew quickly.”

    To accommodate the hundreds of additional students who landed in Mandeville and desired a Catholic education, Mary Queen of Peace accepted portable classroom trailers from FEMA.
    “It gave us the opportunity to live our faith by opening our hearts to people who were displaced,” said former principal Dr. Jan Lancaster, now superintendent of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
 

   Knowing a permanent solution for housing students was necessary, Lancaster and Father Ronnie Calkins, Mary Queen of Peace pastor, worked with the archdiocese to design and fund a new school building with the possibility of expansion.
    It was created as an alternate project to flooded archdiocesan facilities in St. Bernard that weren’t reopening, with a maximum of $4 million allocated, said Jeff Entwisle, chief operating officer of the archdiocese’s Department of Financial and Administrative Services.

    Once the archdiocese selected Fauntleroy, Latham, Weldon, Barre Architect, APC, as the architect and Devier Design Build as the contractor, design work began and construction costs were determined. Construction began in earnest in August 2011. The exterior tan brick matches the brick on the original school building.
    “It ties in really well,” Skansi said about the new building blending with the old. “The architects did a great job with that.”
A pre-construction blessing
    A unique construction note: Following the suggestion of the religious education coordinator, workers placed blessed medals in the slab where each of the 12 classrooms was located, Skansi said. Skansi said it tied in perfectly with the school’s theme this year of building on faith where Jesus leads.
    Skansi said the new building won’t change the already strong curriculum at Mary Queen of Peace but will offer a permanent, state-of-the-art, inviting environment to enhance learning for students in pre-kindergarten age 3 through seventh grade. For example, Skansi said projectors were mounted in the ceiling for Smartboards, and there are more outlets for computers. Due for an upgrade, the school just bought new laptops and iPads.
    “Our building adds permanence for our school and offers a safe, pleasant environment for our students to learn, laugh, play and pray,” Skansi said. “The students and I are excited.”
 

   Now that the last of the classroom materials has been moved to the new building, Skansi awaits the removal of the temporary buildings from the school campus before school starts. Once this happens, it will free up space to expand the play area.
    Mary Queen of Peace will dedicate the new building with a Mass Sept. 5 at 9 a.m. to be celebrated by Archbishop Gregory Aymond. A school blessing and reception will follow.
    Christine Bordelon can be reached at cbordelon@clarion herald.org.