Sacred Heart School reopens after hurricane

Classes have resumed at Sacred Heart School in Rockport. The original school building was destroyed during last August's hurricane, but school officials have obtained several portable buildings for temporary classrooms. 

Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic

Gage Tyler, 9, is thrilled to be back home at Sacred Heart School. Since Hurricane Harvey destroyed his old school in Rockport on Aug. 25 of last year, both Gage and his twin sister Mia have attended school at Sts. Cyril and Methodius School in Corpus Christi.

On Jan. 4, the faculty, staff and children from Sacred Heart School returned for classes in Rockport, with school held in modular buildings and the old Activity Center/Gym. Before Hurricane Harvey hit, 146 children were enrolled at Sacred Heart. As of Jan. 4, 90 have returned for classes in 2018.

“It’s nice to be back home, but I miss my old school and my old classroom. The best part about being back is seeing my old friends and teachers again,” Gage said. “I missed my friends a lot.”

School staff started moving boxes from the old school back in December. Once the modular buildings were ready, they moved supplies into each building, Kathy Barnes, principal at Sacred Heart School said. Everyday they did as much as they could.

The work to prepare the school for opening by January required a lot of sacrifices from the staff, Barnes added, noting that December was “brutally cold and we were here working in freezing temperatures with no power.” The school received generators a few days after classes began. Power is still being repaired in that area of town.

Another area of top priority for the school is to build a secure fence around the new school site. Until then, off-duty police officers patrol the grounds throughout the school day.

“There are a few little inconveniences we will continue to work around,” Barnes said. “Besides not having electricity yet, we also have no telephones, so we are dependent on our individual cell phones. We’ve brought in a wireless hotspot for internet access. These issues are out of our control, so we will be patient. Thankfully our staff and our parents have all been wonderful.”

Some teachers’ workbooks were destroyed and must be reordered. The school’s entire collection of 9,000 library books was also destroyed in the storm. However, the school’s computers were spared, along with the students’ desks and chairs.

Father Ray Yrlas, pastor of Sacred Heart Church, said he is extremely proud of Principal Kathy Barnes, the teachers and staff, who worked together to make sure the school was able to re-open the first week of January.

Students from Sacred Heart School in Rockport returned to class on Jan. 4, 2018 for the first time since Hurricane Harvey devastated the area last August. Here, first grader Cameron Taylor works on math problems with the assistance of teacher's aide Lupita Garza. Rebecca Esparzafor South Texas Catholic

“Just the other day, one of our generators failed to work and so two classrooms could not be powered,” Father Yrlas said.  “I asked one of the teachers, ‘How are you going to handle the situation?’ She answered me: ‘With a smile.’”

Although Father Yrlas noted there is no timetable for when Sacred Heart School might be rebuilt, parishioners, parents, schoolchildren and staff are all hopeful about the future.

“We have had great obstacles and challenges, but the attitude of the school staff is so positive that we are getting things done,” Father Yrlas said. “The children have a great educational and spiritual environment here at the new, temporary Sacred Heart School. Words cannot truly capture how much we appreciate the support that we have been given by Bishop (Michael) Mulvey and the staff in the Construction Department of the Diocese of Corpus Christi.”

The outpouring of support not only from the local community, but also from Catholic schools nationwide has helped the Sacred Heart family heal from the overwhelming changes they have endured over the last five months. Barnes said donations from from throughout the nation have helped students with supplies.

“There’s one Catholic school in Houma, Louisiana, St. Francis de Sales School, who wanted to do something special for each one of our 104 families. They sent a cookbook with a $50 gift card to a home improvement store for each family at our school,” Barnes noted. “They had also been through a storm and knew exactly what kind of gifts would have the most impact.”

One Catholic school sent $11,000 for staff and teachers at Sacred Heart School who lost their homes in the hurricane.

“The destruction to our school was just unbelievable. But the people who have been there to support us all through this tragedy has truly been amazing,” she said. “It was particularly heartbreaking seeing the damage to our school because we put a lot of work into making everything look beautiful. We worked so hard all summer on the school, because we were up for accreditation in the fall.”

Barnes said she believes her staff, parents and even the schoolchildren will come out of this tragedy stronger and more faithful.

“We are going to make it. Things are dramatically different now. But hopefully, in a couple of years, we might have a new school: something positive, coming from something so tragic,” she added.