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Their Buildings Took a Beating, Returning School Officials Find

Harvey, La.

Mold is growing on the carpet, chairs, tables, and walls of the Jefferson Parish school district’s main office here. But that’s only one of countless problems that David P. Taylor and Scott B. Adams were worrying about last week.

Early on the morning of Sept. 8, the two district employees climbed into a dark-green van and headed southeast from Baton Rouge to the school system adjoining New Orleans to get a better fix on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Although most headlines and TV cameras have spotlighted New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, across the Mississippi River, has plenty of headaches, too. Not only did the storm damage many of the district’s 84 schools, but its central offices took...