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13085 Depen St. |
April 15, 2001
Mr. Robert Clouatre
C/o Mr. Songy
Assistant Ascension Parish School Board Superintendent
38210 Highway 3089
Donaldsonville, La 70346-8586
Dear Sir:
I bring to your attention that we are again coming into our summer season, which brings excessively high temperatures. And that these temperatures will again bring the temperatures in the Dutchtown Middle School gym into the ninety-five to one hundred degree ranges, with heat indexes that can bring temperatures well in excess of one hundred forty degrees.
Hopefully after two seasons of bringing this to your attention you are well aware that temperatures at these ranges can and do cause serious illness and death.
Your feeble attempt two years ago at adding fans to circulate hot air was a charade. Your preposterous attempt last year at putting into place a plan to protect students from excessive heat was a sham, in that it first put responsibility on parents to attempt to prepare students for the excessive heat existing in this facility, and second placed responsibility on school staff not qualified to apply medical assistance if and when needed. Heat exhaustion if not treated properly and quickly can be fatal.
It is beyond my comprehension why you and your staff dogmatically refuse to do something positive about this dangerous health situation. You and your staff are supposedly educated responsible people, but you and your staff’s stubborn refusal to remove a serious health hazard makes me believe otherwise.
I will again this year be contacting both local and state health officials to monitor the temperatures and use of the Dutchtown Middle School gym and alerting the media to their findings.
Sincerely,
Chuck Le Mieux
Cc/Fax to:
Ms. Elizabeth Stafford Dutchtown Primary Principle
Ms. Cathy Meredith Dutchtown Middle Principle
Mr. Ron Nettles Louisiana State Board of Health
Mr. Morris Miller Ascension Parish Health Unit
Cc/email to:
Mr. Cecil Picard Louisiana Board of Education
Mr. George Valentine Ascension Parish School Board Member
Mr. Robert Clouatre Ascension Parish School Board Superintendent
Mr. Harold Marchand Ascension Parish President
Ms. Patricia Cook Ascension Parish Executive Secretary
Mr. R. Anderson Ascension Parish CAO
Ms. Jennifer Sheffield Channel 2 Education Reporter
Channel Two News Room
Mr. John MacMillan The Advocate’s River Parish Office
Mr. Steven Ward The Advocate’s River Parish Office
Mr. David Young The Gonzales Weekly
Mr. David Young The Community Mirror
Mr. David Young Ascension Parish TV
The Ascension Citizen
A copy of this letter has been published to the web site Inside Ascension Parish at http://www.inascension.com
July 15, 2001
Robert Clouatre
1100 WEBSTER ST
DONALDSONVILLE, LA 70346-2754
Dear Sir:
I again bring to your attention, for the third year in a row, the potentially dangerous conditions existing at the gym located at the Dutchtown Middle School. That being the excessive heat, ninety-six plus degrees Fahrenheit, without a heat index added.
You’re past attempts at removing this inhuman temperature has been totally inadequate. The fans installed the first year just moved the hot air around. The precautions supposedly put into place last year are a farce for the following reasons:
q You’re obvious attempt at placing the responsibility on the parent. Asking that the students get a good breakfast and a good nights rest and other such nonsense.
q Placing the burden of monitoring students for heat exhaustion on teachers and other employees not trained or qualified to do such monitoring..
q Relying on these same teachers and other employees to render first aid that are obviously not trained or qualified to administer life saving techniques.
q Not having in place personnel trained and qualified to apply life saving measures if the need arise.
I will again this year request that the State Board of Health visit this facility and once again bring to your attention temperatures well in excess of those recommended by qualified health experts for a safe environment.
Chuck Le Mieux
Cc/Fax to:
Ms. Elizabeth Stafford Dutchtown Primary Principle
Ms. Cathy Meredith Dutchtown Middle Principle
Cc/email to:
The Ascension Citizen
Ascension Parish CAO Mr. R. Anderson
The Ascension Parish Council c/o Mr. R. Loupe
Mr. Martin McConnell Ascension Parish Council District 10
Mr. Dudley Brown Ascension Parish Council District 4
Mr. Darnell Martinez Ascension Parish Council District 11
Mr. Jerry Savoy Ascension Parish Council District 9
Mr. Shafter Kling Ascension Parish Council District 8
Mr. Donnell Nickens Ascension Parish Council District 5
Mr. Alvin Thomas Ascension Parish Council District 1
Mr. Adrian Thompson Ascension Parish Council District 3
Mr. Harold Marchand Ascension Parish President
Ms. Patricia Cook Ascension Parish Executive Secretary
Mr. Songy Ascension Parish Assistant School Board Superintendent
Mr. & Mrs. Bill Essary
Mr. Cecil Picard Louisiana Board of Education
Mr. David Young The Gonzales Weekly
Mr. David Young The Community Mirror
Mr. David Young Ascension Parish TV
Mr. George Valentine Ascension Parish School Board Member
Mr. John MacMillan The Advocate’s River Parish Office
Representative John Juba Diez
Representative Emma Devillier
Representative Roy Quezaire, Jr
Senator Louis J. Lambert Louisiana State Senate
Mr. Steven Ward The Advocate’s River Parish Office
WBRZ Channel 2 News Room
WBRZ Channel Two Education Reporter Ms. Jennifer Sheffield
A copy of this letter has been published to the web site Inside Ascension Parish
at
http://www.inascension.com
