St. Teresa’s School recovering from $500,000 in storm damage
School lost part of its roof, many textbooks and other property damage
St. Teresa’s Catholic School Principal Susie Hatcher, left, and Assistant Principal Linda Johnson expressed thanks to former students and to the community for their support in the school’s storm recovery efforts. (Staff Photo: Terry Lewis)
By Terry Lewis
ALBANY — Looking at the front of St. Teresa’s Catholic School, everything appears normal on the outside. Walk through the building, however, and it tells a different story.
Missing ceiling tiles and a blue tarp over the roof have not affected the school’s 111 students, but what you don’t see are all of the missing text books and property destroyed in the storms of Jan. 2 and 21-22.
“We lost part of our roof, which resulted in flooding which ruined many text books. Our Spanish room was hit especially hard,” St. Teresa’s Principal Susie Hatcher said. “We also had two trees hit the building and lost another 20 trees, which fronted Gillionville Road.
“We are still dealing with the insurance company and waiting to get the roof repaired. We’ve had estimates of $500,000 in property damage.”
The storms, which knocked out power for 11 days, did little damage to the school’s five high school classrooms in the back of the building. Hatcher said the school would be ready for its first class of high schoolers in August.
In the meantime, former students have flocked to the school to aid in the recovery effort.
“We’ve been pleased with the outpouring of support, not only from the parish, but also from former students, some of whom have helped replace some of the equipment and supplies we lost,” Hatcher said. “One irony of the situation is the theme of the 2016-17 class is ‘Pray for our school; pray for our nation.’”
Assistant Principal Linda Johnson agreed.
“I have four children and all of them went to St.Teresa’s, including a 6th grader this year,” Johnson said. “It’s really cool to see all the people show up to help us out. Parents and students have a special bond to this place and, despite the storms, I have never been more excited to be at St. Teresa’s. I regard this as a rebirth, and all the pieces have fallen in place for our new high school.
“God has a plan for us.”
Hatcher thanked the community for its support.
“I’ve been here 15 years and people have been amazing,” Hatcher said. “The response has been huge, more than I’ve ever seen before. We were blessed that no families were harmed, even though some of their homes suffered tree damage. We’ll be back better than before.”
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