Russ Feingold: “students, teachers, and school personnel across Wisconsin and around the country are settling in for a new school year.…”

“students, teachers, and school personnel across Wisconsin and around the country are settling in for a new school year. Regrettably, thousands of students and teachers in the hurricane-ravaged gulf coast region have no schools to which they can return. According to the Louisiana Department of Education, schools in six parishes have been destroyed or are too damaged to reopen, and more than 240,000 students from that State alone have been displaced as a result. The Federal Department of Education estimates that a total of more than 370,000 students across the region have been displaced, and many of them will have to spend the entire school year attending a different school. I commend the school districts around the region and around the county, including in Wisconsin, that have opened their doors to students who have been displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing devastation left in her wake. While the start of the school year usually means getting new school supplies, renewing friendships that may have lapsed over the summer months, and embarking on new courses of study, for the students displaced by Katrina, starting school may be the first step in restoring a sense of routine and a small measure of normalcy. Many of these students are separated from family members and friends and from familiar teachers, counselors, coaches, and other school personnel as they begin classes in another district or in another State.…”