The Brookhaven School District will get a share of millions ofdollars in federal restart funding to aid with recovery followingHurricane Katrina.

Brookhaven School District Superintendent Lea Barrett said the$133,038 will be used for losses not covered by insurance andFederal Emergency Management Agency funding. Overall, Mississippischools, mostly on the coast, will share $79 million, with morefunding expected in the future.

Barrett said Brookhaven’s portion will reimburse the districtfor approximately $30,000 to $40,000 in lost cafeteria food andincome during the nine days school was closed, as well as purchasesome new desks to help accommodate coast students who joined thedistrict after fleeing the August storm’s wrath.

The money will also purchase instructional assessment softwareto indicate where the new students fit into the Mississippicurriculum. A vast majority of the students joining the districtare from New Orleans and its environs, and the Louisiana curriculumis substantially different from its counterpart here.

“It helps us assess those students in terms of the Mississippicurriculum and provide for their specific instructional needs,”Barrett said. “Those students will be counted on (state andfederal) test scores and we need to know how prepared they are forthat.”

Barrett commended her staff on getting the information preparedfor the Department of Education to be in line for the grant. Thedistrict was originally told they were not eligible and had 24hours to put together their figures.

Despite the rush, Brookhaven is one of only two districts toreceive all the funding it requested.

“I think that speaks volumes to the accuracy and quality of thedata we provided,” Barrett said.

The district is also eligible for a second round of federalfunding later this month. The Emergency Aid for Displaced Studentsgrant application is due Thursday and will provide a fixed amountfor each displaced student.

Each displaced student now attending Brookhaven will be fundedat $1,500 per quarter under the grant. With an estimated 200displaced students in the Brookhaven school system, Barrett saidshe expects the district will receive approximately $300,000 whenthose grants are announced.

Those funds will be used to help both students and the districtovercome obstacles caused by the displacement by providing avariety of options to districts, Barrett said. The money can beused for counseling services to aid students psychologically withthe trauma of the disaster, textbook replacement, school suppliesand other needs.

Marsha Bond, director of federal and instructional programs forthe Brookhaven district, said school supplies have been in shortsupply because teachers “opened their cupboards” as the displacedstudents began arriving in the district.

Each teacher is given a certain allotment of funds to purchasethe school supplies they will need throughout the year.

“They used the money they had to assist those who needed it andessentially wiped out their funds,” Bond said.

The Lincoln County School District was not eligible for thefirst round in federal disaster-related grants, said SuperintendentTerry Brister.

The county district accepted approximately 40 displaced studentsshortly after the storm, but that number quickly dropped to lessthan 15, he said.

“And not all of those are still here,” Brister said.

The county superintendent said it was unlikely the districtwould receive any funding in the second round, the Emergency Aidfor Displaced Students, for the same reason.