Posted on 11/27/2009 12:20:27 PM PST by SandRat
Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Loriaux, 414th Civil Affairs Battalion, surveys the foundation of a new secondary school being built in Kalour village in Kirkuk province, Nov. 22. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Douglas, 1st Cavalry Division.
KIRKUK — U.S. Soldiers here are helping the village of Kalour construct a new secondary school to relieve overcrowded conditions through the addition of six classrooms.
The new school is being built across from the Kalour Primary School and will have six classrooms, helping to alleviate overcrowding at the primary school.
According to Abdul Jabbar Norey Ahmad, the Kalour Primary School principal, the addition of the new school will allow older children to attend secondary classes without the hassle of traveling.
"We don't have enough classrooms for all the children in our village," Ahmad said. 'We have to send some children to a neighboring village for secondary school and crowd the rest into the other classrooms."
First Lt. Bryan Riggs, from Stanton, Ky., a platoon leader in Company E, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, led the effort to get the school built.
"There are two schools in the village already, but with more than 300 students, the village requested an additional school," Riggs explained. "The school is a standard six-classroom school and paid for by Commander's Emergency Relief Program (CERP) [funds]."
The CERP invests money in local communities and is designed to provide quick access to up to $500,000 for projects designed for humanitarian assistance and reconstruction projects intended to provide for the public's needs, according to Lt. Col. Hugh McNeely, the deputy commanding officer of 2BCT, 1st Cav. Div.
Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Loriaux, 414th Civil Affairs Battalion (CAB), said the cost of the new school was approximately $98,000.
"The school is being built by local contractors and workers, and will take four months to complete," Loriaux said. "We will conduct inspections on a monthly basis as well to check on the progress."
The Kalour Iraqi Police were also in attendance, and took the opportunity to improve their relationship with the village children by distributing toys donated by the 414th CAB.
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