by Antonina Zielinska

Nearly three weeks after superstorm Sandy devastated the Rockaways, St. Rose of Lima became the first Catholic school on the peninsula to welcome students back for a full day of classes.

“It’s our strong faith that will pull us through this,” said Theresa Andersen, principal of the Rockaway Beach school.

“I felt like a fish in the middle of the ocean,” she said describing the process of trying to get the school open again.

She said she was frustrated because it seemed that red tape and miscommunications kept on pushing back the date of the reopening. However, she said that with the support of the Brooklyn Diocese, the diocesan Superintendent of Schools, the DeSales Media Group (the parent company of The Tablet) and the school community, classes resumed on Nov. 15.

About 75 percent of the regular student body, 10 relocated students and all but one teacher were in attendance for the first day back. Two of the teachers commuted from Staten Island. A generator supplied through the efforts of U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer powered the school.

“I was happy to help secure a new generator from New York City’s Office of Emergency Management to get the lights back on and building ready to once again educate our kids,” Sen. Schumer said. “This is just one step towards the long road to recovery and I applaud Bishop (Nicholas) DiMarzio, Msgr. (James) Spengler (pastor) and Principal Andersen who have continued to collaborate with all levels of government to ensure that the school reopens immediately.”

Parent Lizann Maher said she is thankful that her daughter, Mary Kate, was able to go back to school because it re-established a sense of normalcy in her family. She said her husband has not been able to go back to work, and they evacuated their home. However with school starting again, the family is falling back into a familiar routine. On the first day back, she was already volunteering to help during lunch.

“The parents felt good because they are putting their children into familiar hands,” said Assistant Principal Bridget Murphy describing that morning’s drop-off. “We’ve always been a family. And family takes care of each other. And that’s what we have always done.”

She said the sense of family could especially be felt when the school community huddled at St. Rose of Lima Church on Sunday, Nov. 11 to get a sense of what the plans are. Murphy said the church was at standing room only despite the fact that it still had no electricity. Nonetheless, she said the atmosphere was a positive one as people came together to support each other. She said she felt strengthened to deal with her destroyed home in Breezy Point when students and parents came to hug her and tell her they were worried about her.

“The ocean was in my lobby; I know what these families are going through,” said Genevieve Powers, Pre-K teacher. She said the students in the school benefit from a caring and dedicated faculty who understand what the students have to deal with.

Andersen said she is thankful for the members of her staff who have gone above and beyond to make sure the students have a good place to learn. She said the custodian, Mauricio Arias, walked all the way from his home in Jamaica to make sure the students had a clean and safe building to learn in. He cleaned out the sand and water from the school, hosed the outside of the building and even made sure all the windows had a shine to them.

Arias said part of the reason he walked to the school when bus service was not available is that he wanted to make sure looters did not get into the school. Thankfully, he said, the school stayed untouched. Even Sandy did minimal damage to the infrastructure. Andersen said four classrooms were flooded, but the rest can be used.

The principal said the key is for the children to feel safe and comfortable in the school. To this end, before the school opened, everything was made to seem undamaged. The students were even able to use the Internet in the school on the second day back, thanks to technical support from DeSales Media.

Murphy said some of the students feel more comfortable in school than at home.

“The children, some of them, are warmer here then they are at home because they have no heat at home,” she said. Approved Oil has assisted with daily deliveries of oil to keep the generator operational.

However, the school takes more into account than the physical well-being of its students. Continuing with its emotional literacy program, the teachers held special lessons for the students to help them cope. This included discussions about how the students are feeling and the role God plays in recovery from natural disasters.

Anderson said religious values dictate how the school is dealing with difficult situations. She said all the teachers were paid the day they came back to school to help make sure they are able to deal with their own hardships, and parents received a full month free from tuition. The principal said she will also do everything in her power to make sure that students can have their uniforms and school supplies replaced.

“God always provides,” she said, adding that trust in God’s goodness will help the school thrive once again.

On the second day since the school reopened, the student body was surprised by a visit from Bishop DiMarzio who visited each classroom and listened to the students’ stories about their ordeals.

The diocese and the Superintendent of Schools have worked diligently with local, state and federal officials to facilitate the reopening of Catholic schools in Howard Beach and the Rockaways. This included securing generators for the sites, assessing the extent of the damage to electrical and heating systems, determining necessary repair time and taking precautions that included air-quality testing.

St. Helen’s, Howard Beach, reopened on Wednesday, Nov. 14.

Ave Maria Catholic Academy, Howard Beach, reopened on Thursday, Nov. 15.

The school community – including students and all faculty – of St. Camillus, Rockaway Park, has temporarily relocated to Ave Maria, where space has been made available to them while the building of St. Camillus continues to undergo repairs.

St. Francis de Sales, Belle Harbor, will temporarily relocate as a school community and be reconstituted at SS. Simon and Jude, Gravesend.

For any logistical questions, parents are urged to contact their school principal.