There are, of course, lots of them along the Gulf Coast now. Here’s one featured in the Providence, RI paper because one of the teachers is a native of the area. Story:

The children at St. Peter the Apostle Elementary School in Pascagoula, Miss., had just started their first weeks of school when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Now, there’s next to nothing for them to return to.

Warwick native Elizabeth Stowe, who is teaching the second graders there, is appealing to her fellow Rhode Islanders for help.

Stowe and other teachers escaped the storm by seeking higher ground in Jackson, Miss. They returned later to see what was left.

"It’s unbelievable," Stowe said yesterday. "Anything along the water is basically gone. Everything else was flooded."

Stowe, 22, is one of seven teachers at the small and well-regarded Catholic school for students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. She was beginning a two-year master’s degree program in teaching at the school, through her enrollment at the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education.

The photos that she and the Diocese of Biloxi took of St. Peter Elementary show a building that looks as if it was pounded by a wrecking ball. The roof has caved in. Windows and walls have collapsed.

The house shared by the teachers survived the storm so well that the neighbors sought refuge there, Stowe said. But she said they don’t know for sure what’s become of their students and their families.

…

The Diocese of Biloxi is asking for donations to help rebuild its schools.

Help can be addressed to Hurricane Katrina Relief, Diocese of Biloxi, 1790 Popps Ferry Rd., Biloxi, MS 39532. To benefit St. Peter, address checks to St. Peter the Apostle Elementary School in Pascagoula.

By the way, here’s the National Catholic Education Association site on helping Katrina victims – which now includes a bulletin board on which needs and offers to help are posted.

And on a more personal note, blogger Rachel Balducci’s brother is spearheading a fundraising 5K for a school in Gulfport.