Rebuilding

Once the kids were back in school, the next task for the community was to rebuild a K-12 school where the old school stood. The attitude among Jeff Davis Parish school officials was to consolidate. And so the stage was set. The first school board meeting on the rebuilding and consolidation issues was on March 14, 1990. Just over four months since the students of Hathaway began their daily-seventy miles, round trip to Lake Arthur. Before the meeting, residents of Hathaway organized a group of residents that would rally support to stop consolidation and rebuild Hathaway as a K-12 school.

At the first meeting, an educational demographics expert testified before the Jefferson Davis Parish school board. He gave seven options for consolidation. All of the options called for keeping elementary and middle school students close to home while sending all high schoolers in the parish to Jennings and Lake Arthur to better their adjustment to leaving home for college studies. The expert spoke of difficulty in maintaining a curriculum at schools with small numbers. S.O.S. spokesperson, Joe Landry countered that smaller schools are in a better position to answer the individual needs of the students. The expert reduced the people of Hathaway to a number. Well, the people of Hathaway made sure the school board knew they were an important number not to be ignored with 819 signatures on a petition to rebuild Hathaway High School as a K-12 school.

On April 6, 1990, the Jefferson Davis School board met to decide the fate of Hathaway school children. The vote to rebuild Hathaway was unanimous. However, whether the building would house students K-12 remained to be seen, as did the consolidation issue: The vote to continue the consideration of consolidation throughout the parish passed. The vote to rebuild was a light of hope for the students and teachers, who were just getting used to their temporary school.

Bidding on building the school ran from December 17, 1990 to December 19, 1990. The bid was awarded (date) to J.B. Mouton and Sons with a bid of $3,310,000 of Lafayette. The project included construction of a new school, renovation of the Agriculture building, an up-to-date library, science and computer lab facilities. The cost exceeded $4 million dollars, which was funded by the insurance settlement from the old building, interest earned, and the bond approved before the old building burned. The building was designed by Lafayette’s Corne, Sellers, & Associates, who worked with the principal, and a community building committee of parents, teachers and citizens to insure the best possible school was being built. The groundbreaking ceremony for a 60,000 square foot structure to house the students attending Hathaway High School was held on February 8, 1991. In early July 1992, the faculty and staff began moving into their new school. Almost 1,000 days after their school burned, the first day in their new school was August 29, 1992.