Cheniere donates more than $500,000 to school

Cheniere Energy Inc. representatives presented three checks totaling $503,608 to Dr. Doug Chance, Superintendent of Schools in Cameron Parish, during a gathering held at Hackberry High School Thursday.

Pat Outtrim, vice president of Governmental Affairs for Cheniere, said the donation will fund seven fully furnished classroom buildings to house the students of Johnson Bayou School.

Students will once again have their own desks and other classroom furnishings and audio-visual equipment. Each teacher will receive a state-of-the-art laptop computer for instructional use, and a 30-station mobile laptop lab will be set up for student use.

The buildings will initially be set up on the north side of the Hackberry campus and be moved to the Johnson Bayou school site as soon as it becomes safe and feasible for the children to move back into the community.

The donation will also include replacement of the gymnasium floor and bleachers at Johnson Bayou and a gym floor at Hackberry High School.

Winds and the storm surge from Hurricane Rita ripped out a wall at the Johnson Bayou school.

Following insurance assessments Johnson Bayou is now in the cleaning out and drying phase.

Work on the structure will begin soon.

Principal Gene Reynolds says it’s possible the portable classrooms will be ready for use after the Christmas holidays.

Johnson Bayou students currently share space at Hackberry High School in a platoon-like setting as do the totally destroyed coastal schools of South Cameron High and South Cameron Elementary at the Grand Lake school site.

Cameron School supervisor Stephanie Rodrigue said the generosity of Cheniere Energy will assist in the restoration of the both schools by allowing them to run on simultaneous schedules but within separate spaces.

She said the donation will also provide for Hackberry High School’s state championship basketball team to practice onsite instead of traveling out of town to practice and continue their game schedule.

Stan Horton, chief operating officer for Cheniere Energy, said the company is committed to the parish and will work closely with its leaders to assess their needs and stand with them to help in their recovery and rebuilding efforts.

Cheniere is in the midst of constructing an LNG terminal near Sabine Pass in Cameron Parish.

It’s also developing a receiving terminal near the Creole Trail in Cameron off the ship channel.