Back-to-school season can be a stressful time as administrators, teachers, parents and students fall back into the school year routine. For these individuals in Louisiana, this back-to-school season is especially stressful following a bout of severe weather that has left communities throughout the state destroyed by recent floods.

Now, not only are the state’s educators in charge of greeting a new crop of students and parents, they are also in charge of finding assistance to help them replace the classroom materials they’ve lost to flooding before school resumes.

In order to help educators pick up of the pieces of what was lost to disaster, the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana has established a relief fund that is counting on the donations of the national community to make it happen.

"A+PEL will cover all schools in all parishes declared disaster areas. This includes public schools, private schools and charter schools, as well as schools in both the Lafayette and Baton Rouge regions,” said TheAdvertiser.com.

At the time of the article, the organization had received over 200 requests for classroom materials, a number that is likely to increase as more teachers are actually able to assess water damage in their classrooms.

In communities hit hardest by the flooding, schools have been closed for the past week, delaying the first day of school.

According to The Advertiser, Lafayette Parish schools have been closed since the first day of school last Thursday, delaying classes for a least six days following the start of the school year.

Officials told the news source that part of the reason behind closing school has to do with building damage, but also ensuring that teachers, other school employees, parents and students are able to achieve stability before rushing back to school.

Damaged school buses, impassable roads and families in need of assistance are all things that are causing schools to delay opening.

To find out how you can help Louisiana’s schools, see here.

Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

8/17/2016