{"id":100017,"date":"2022-04-01T10:49:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T15:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=100017&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=100017"},"modified":"2022-04-06T12:24:50","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T17:24:50","slug":"native-american-schools-on-louisiana-gulf-coast-struggle-to-reopen-in-wake-of-hurricane-ida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/native-american-schools-on-louisiana-gulf-coast-struggle-to-reopen-in-wake-of-hurricane-ida\/","title":{"rendered":"Native American schools on Louisiana Gulf Coast struggle to reopen in wake of Hurricane Ida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Apps Mandar Bichu<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Medill Reports <\/em><\/p>\n<p>HOUMA, La.\u2014 \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t understand why they would want to shut schools down. It\u2019s confusing,\u201d the second deputy-chief of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gcdbcc.org\">Grand Caillou\/Dulac<\/a> tribe said, as she sat in the RV she calls home for the time being, with her children joyfully playing around her. (The deputy chief asked her name not be used in the article because she prefers to stay out of the media.)<\/p>\n<p>The Grand Caillou\/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw is one among 11 state-recognized tribes, such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pactribe.com\">Pointe-au-Chien<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/unitedhoumanation.org\">United Houma Nation<\/a>, that call the Louisiana Gulf Coast home. These communities have lived through years of segregation, colonization, hurricanes, land loss and educational discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in late August 2021, has compounded these problems in a way the tribes are still trying to come back from. Education has been adversely impacted over the past year, with many schools destroyed and some shut down \u2014 such as in the cases of Grand Caillou Elementary and Upper Little Caillou Elementary schools. The hurricane also exacerbated issues that led to the permanent closure of Pointe-Aux-Chenes Elementary School.<\/p>\n<p>The Terrebonne Parish School Board <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houmatoday.com\/story\/news\/2021\/04\/13\/pointe-aux-chenes-elementary-closure-terrebonne-board-vote-tuesday\/7193725002\/\">voted 6-3<\/a> in April 2021 to shut down Pointe-Aux-Chenes Elementary School, due to a cited lack of enrollment, and the school was officially shut down in June.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey just closed our school last year. They claimed that there weren&#8217;t enough students there,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/historyabovewater.org\/speaker\/theresadardar\/\">Theresa Dardar<\/a>, a tribal member of the Pointe-Au-Chien.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_100020\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-100020\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-100020 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9562-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Pointe au Chien Indian Tribe Community Center\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9562-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9562-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9562-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9562.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-100020\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Theresa Dardar is an active part of the Pointe-Au-Chien Indian Tribe Community Center, which has resources to learn more about the tribe and is currently stocked with multiple hurricane relief donation boxes. (Apps Mandar Bichu\/Medill)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/telelouisiane.com\/journal\/parents-allege-violations-of-us-louisiana-constitutions-in-federal-lawsuit-to-prevent-closure-of-pac-elementary\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In response to the closure, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">12 parents of the students at PAC Elementary<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> filed a federal lawsuit, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/USCOURTS-laed-2_21-cv-01144\/pdf\/USCOURTS-laed-2_21-cv-01144-0.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Billiot. v. Terrebonne Parish School Board<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which alleged the closure of the school was a result of discrimination toward Native Americans, since 70% of the students were Louisiana Native Americans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In efforts to preserve their native language, the tribe had also petitioned for a French immersion program in 2018 and 2020. The plaintiffs alleged the school board refused to respond to these petitions for discriminatory reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the lawsuit, the unexpected closure of the school in April 2021 \u201cdenied the Tribe and its members of the opportunity to establish a culturally appropriate charter school in time for the Fall 2021 semester.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The court ruled in favor of the school board, and the suit was dismissed with prejudice on Nov. 2, despite a <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.legis.la.gov\/legis\/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1213597\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">unanimous resolution<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the Louisiana House of Representatives, which urged the school board not to close PAC Elementary, with a warning that the House would \u201cconsider withholding COVID-19 relief funding from the school board if it continues to close schools unnecessarily.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dardar was among several members of the tribe who protested the decision to close the school.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe went to protest at the school board, and some of (the tribe) went and talked at the school board meeting,\u201d she said. \u201cWe stayed outside with our signs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The students of PAC Elementary currently go to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Montegut Elementary School<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is \u201ca majority white school that has no relationship with the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe,\u201d according to the lawsuit. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dardar said not only is Montegut not meeting students\u2019 cultural needs, but the facilities also aren\u2019t comparable to PAC Elementary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur school was better, because it had more bathrooms and they had a kitchen,\u201d Dardar said. \u201cThis school where they&#8217;re going, they have to bring food to the school.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Along with a decrease in the amenities the children are used to, the Montegut schools are also not accommodative of disabilities, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey had to separate siblings, because one of them was\u2026 in a wheelchair. So, he can&#8217;t go to Montegut Middle because they have up-steps, and he can&#8217;t go up-steps.\u201d Dardar said. \u201cSo, he has to go to a completely different school from his friends. That was what got a lot of people mad.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Grand Caillou\/Dulac schools also have suffered since Grand Caillou Elementary in Houma and Upper Little Caillou Elementary in Chauvin were significantly damaged during Hurricane Ida, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">leading to temporary closures for repairs, according to the tribe\u2019s second deputy chief, who said she harbors fears the schools might suffer the same fate as PAC Elementary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cLike, there&#8217;s legitimately no reason for why they shut that school down. So, if they can do it with them &#8230; they can do it with us too,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second deputy chief also pointed out the pattern exhibited by the school board in cramming kids randomly in other schools, which has led to worries about where her preschool-aged son might end up going if Upper Little Caillou Elementary doesn\u2019t open in time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf that school doesn&#8217;t open by the time August gets here, I don\u2019t know where my son is going to go to school because they&#8217;ll place him,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a school board Buildings Committee meeting held on Jan. 18<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the decision was made to shift all Grand Caillou Elementary students to Elysian Fields Middle School as of Jan. 10, while students of Upper Little Caillou Elementary school were moved to East Houma School on Jan. 24.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.houmatoday.com\/story\/news\/2022\/01\/20\/terrebonne-schools-continue-adjust-hurricane-idas-wake\/6577687001\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to reports by <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">local news outlet <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Houma Today<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, many parents have cited worries about the long commute to East Houma School since the driving distance between the school and Upper Little Caillou is 11 miles one way, which, given the small winding roads in the bayou, makes for a long and difficult commute.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lack of communication between the school board and the tribe doesn\u2019t help the situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe school board, basically, would be the ones to tell us what was up? Yeah. They need a whole new staff there,\u201d the second deputy chief said. \u201cThey\u2019re not really good with communication.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to reports by Houma Today, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.houmatoday.com\/story\/news\/2022\/01\/18\/terrebonne-schools-repairs-plans-advance-funding-200-million-hurricane-ida\/9097238002\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the school board plans to sell $200 million <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in bonds to help repair schools damaged by Hurricane Ida, including Grand Caillou Elementary and Upper Little Caillou Elementary, but so far no clear timeline has been provided. <\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_100022\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-100022\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-100022\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9588-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Boxes at the tribal community center\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9588-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9588-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9588-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9588.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-100022\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>A box of school supplies stocked at the Pointe-Au-Chien Indian Tribe Community Center. (Apps Mandar Bichu\/Medill)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Pointe-Au-Chien and the Grand Caillou\/Dulac are no strangers to facing barriers when it comes to education, as both tribes have faced a history of educational segregation. Before the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which included a provision that prohibited racial and other forms of discrimination in public schools and higher educational institutions, students in many Native American schools were only allowed to study up until the seventh grade, according to Dardar.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI know my parents &#8230; they only went up to seventh grade,\u201d the second deputy chief said, referring to the history of education among the Grand Caillou.\u00a0 \u201cSo, education is important now. We&#8217;re all about education now.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_100024\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-100024\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-100024\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9580-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Document detailing Indian ancestries \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9580-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9580-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9580-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/IMG_9580.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-100024\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>A document at the Pointe Au Chien Tribe Community Center traces the American Indian ancestry of the Verdun family through the generations. (Apps Mandar Bichu\/Medill)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dardar went to a segregated school in Houma during the \u201960s and has unpleasant memories of her time there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIn \u201967, I went to a segregated school. And so, that wasn&#8217;t good for me,\u201d Dardar said. \u201cIn fact, I ended up quitting school, because they would call us names and I would get into a fight and get suspended.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dardar eventually went back to night school and got her GED after getting married, but the memory of the prejudice she faced still sticks with her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYeah, it was rough being Indian. Well, I mean&#8230; it\u2019s just easier now,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd people disguise the prejudice, or they try to, you know, but it&#8217;s still there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dardar said she believes the negative preconceived notions against Native Americans is a big factor that contributed to the closure of PAC Elementary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI do believe that, because we had 70% Indian kids down there,\u201d she said. \u201cBut then, it\u2019s mostly white in Montegut. So, you know, they aren&#8217;t diverse either so &#8230; I don&#8217;t get it if (the closure) doesn&#8217;t have anything to do with the kids being almost all Indians here at the school.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dardar said the tribe was never given a proper reason as to why the school board was opposing the school.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tribe\u2019s plan now is to open a charter or French immersion school in place of PAC Elementary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe&#8217;re trying to get either a French immersion or charter school open, and we&#8217;re asking the school board &#8230; to donate the school building,\u201d Dardar said. \u201cIt got damaged in Ida, but we would be able to fix it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Louisiana\u00a0state Rep. Tanner Magee introduced a new <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/legis.la.gov\/legis\/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1252376\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">education bill <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this year for a new French immersion program and create \u201cE\u0301cole Pointe-au-Chien, a public French immersion school for students in grades prekindergarten through four,\u201d and \u201cto provide for a board of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">directors and a school director.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bill proposes the school be independent of control by the local and state school board, and instead be under the jurisdiction of a preselected board of directors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the history of educational disparity among the Gulf Coast tribes, which was made worse by Ida, the state of education among Louisiana\u2019s Native American communities shows signs of hope through community organizing, as <a href=\"https:\/\/fastdemocracy.com\/bill-search\/la\/2022\/bills\/LAB00018137\/\">the bill was reported favorably<\/a> by the state\u2019s Education Committee last week with no objections and is now scheduled for a vote in the state House on April 5.<\/span><\/p>\n<div data-pm-slice=\"1 1 [&quot;ol&quot;,{&quot;style&quot;:null,&quot;start&quot;:null,&quot;backgroundColor&quot;:null,&quot;color&quot;:null,&quot;lineHeight&quot;:null,&quot;listStyleType&quot;:null},&quot;ol&quot;,{&quot;style&quot;:null,&quot;start&quot;:null,&quot;backgroundColor&quot;:null,&quot;color&quot;:null,&quot;lineHeight&quot;:null,&quot;listStyleType&quot;:null},&quot;li&quot;,{&quot;style&quot;:null,&quot;checked&quot;:null,&quot;value&quot;:null,&quot;displayValue&quot;:1,&quot;backgroundColor&quot;:null,&quot;color&quot;:null,&quot;listStyleType&quot;:null}]\" data-en-clipboard=\"true\"><em>Apps Mandar Bichu is a social justice graduate student at Medill. You can follow her on Twitter at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ApoorvaaBichu\">@ApoorvaaBichu.<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Apps Mandar Bichu Medill Reports HOUMA, La.\u2014 \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t understand why they would want to shut schools down. It\u2019s confusing,\u201d the second deputy-chief of the Grand Caillou\/Dulac tribe said, as she sat in the RV she calls home for the time being, with her children joyfully playing around her. (The deputy chief asked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":813,"featured_media":100021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5280,5201,675,5282],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-orleans-gulf-coast-2022","category-medill-explores-2022","category-social-justice","category-spring-2022"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Native American schools on Louisiana Gulf Coast struggle to reopen in wake of Hurricane Ida - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/native-american-schools-on-louisiana-gulf-coast-struggle-to-reopen-in-wake-of-hurricane-ida\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Native American schools on Louisiana Gulf Coast struggle to reopen in wake of Hurricane Ida - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Apps Mandar Bichu Medill Reports HOUMA, La.\u2014 \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t understand why they would want to shut schools down. It\u2019s confusing,\u201d the second deputy-chief of the Grand Caillou\/Dulac tribe said, as she sat in the RV she calls home for the time being, with her children joyfully playing around her. (The deputy chief asked [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/native-american-schools-on-louisiana-gulf-coast-struggle-to-reopen-in-wake-of-hurricane-ida\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-01T15:49:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-06T17:24:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-31-at-2.35.32-PM-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"apoorvaamandarbichu2022\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"apoorvaamandarbichu2022\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/native-american-schools-on-louisiana-gulf-coast-struggle-to-reopen-in-wake-of-hurricane-ida\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/native-american-schools-on-louisiana-gulf-coast-struggle-to-reopen-in-wake-of-hurricane-ida\/\",\"name\":\"Native American schools on Louisiana Gulf Coast struggle to reopen in wake of Hurricane Ida - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/native-american-schools-on-louisiana-gulf-coast-struggle-to-reopen-in-wake-of-hurricane-ida\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/native-american-schools-on-louisiana-gulf-coast-struggle-to-reopen-in-wake-of-hurricane-ida\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-31-at-2.35.32-PM-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-01T15:49:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-06T17:24:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/0087d42b9ac5a76fc714188890eee373\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/native-american-schools-on-louisiana-gulf-coast-struggle-to-reopen-in-wake-of-hurricane-ida\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/native-american-schools-on-louisiana-gulf-coast-struggle-to-reopen-in-wake-of-hurricane-ida\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/native-american-schools-on-louisiana-gulf-coast-struggle-to-reopen-in-wake-of-hurricane-ida\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-31-at-2.35.32-PM-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-31-at-2.35.32-PM-4.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":733,\"caption\":\"Grand Caillou Elementary School in Houma, Louisiana, was heavily damaged by the impact of Hurricane Ida, and its students have been temporarily moved to Elysian Fields Middle School. 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