Kaplan High roof to cost $1.7 million; school board to hire Master Plumber

The Vermilion Parish School Board is still dealing with repairing school roofs from a pair of hurricanes that occurred two years ago, while at the same time, trying to find ways to save money to run the school system.
Two years ago, Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta damaged school roofs. The schools had more than $20 million worth of damage, most being the school roofs.
At Thursday’s meeting, the school board approved another $200,000 to repair the roof at Kaplan High School. The repairs have been taking place over the last month and the total bill thus far for the new roof is $1.7 million.
The additional $213,000 was to replace piping used for the drainage. The cost includes:
• The PCV pipes.
• Two plumbers charge $80 per hour.
• A plumber’s helper at an hourly rate of $60.
• Speaking of plumbers, the school board is now in the market to hire a Master Plumber to work for the school board.
The qualifications for Master Plumber:
• Must have a valid Louisiana Masters Plumbers license
• Able to lift 80 pounds
• Read and interpret blueprints
• Must be able to compile a bill of materials from blueprints or drawings
• Must know about all applicable plumbing and sanitary codes.
The salary of Master Plumber was not mentioned.
In other business, the school board rehired LUBA Casualty Company insurance company to be the school system’s workers’ compensation insurance company.
Out of the 14 insurance companies requested to send a quote, only LUBA responded. The 13 others declined to give a quote.
LUBA provided workers’ compensation insurance for the school system last year for around $300,000.
LUBA’s new price is $523,695, which is $223,000 more than a year ago.
The school board approved rehiring LUBA despite the $223,000 rate increase.