Nine public schools in Baton Rouge are closing, four are relocating, seven are getting new grade configurations and 12 will have redrawn attendance zones under sweeping action taken Monday by the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board.
The school board, without opposition, approved Supt. LaMont Cole's long-in-the-making realignment plan. The vote sets off a three-month race to put the changes into effect for the start of the 2025-26 school year in August.
The 7-0 vote — board members Dadrius Lanus and Patrick Martin V were absent — was a strong show of support for Cole, who is just finishing his ninth month leading Louisiana’s second-largest traditional school district.
The closures, consolidations and other changes have been a long time coming for the school system, which was built for 60,000-plus students but is now educating fewer than 40,000. It’s a thorny issue that previous superintendents have considered and largely shied away from. The School Board, however, made it one of Cole’s first orders of business when it hired him in August.
Cole estimated he’s gained 60 pounds — he later revised that to about 30 pounds — from the stress of this first year, especially the work on this plan. And it’s not over. Cole pointed to a five-page action plan for his team to make these changes happen.
“The real work begins to make sure that our kids are safe on the very first day of school,†he said.
Chauna Banks, a school counselor and former Metro Councilwoman, said she supports plan, but offered a note of caution.
"It’s going to be very important that these schools work because, Supt. Cole, this is going to define your whole legacy,†Banks said.
. More than 10,000-children and 1,400-plus staff are impacted.
Cole unveiled the plan on April 15. Its unveiling was preceded by three community meetings as well as about 30 gatherings with groups in town.
Those discussions, however, were short on most details, meaning that Monday was the first time the public had a chance to sound off on an actual plan.
Much of the discussion Monday centered around the impending merger of Capitol High and Capitol Middle schools. It will mean the high school will leave the 1000 N. 23rd Street campus where it has operated for more than six decades.
"I do think it would be a detriment to take Capitol High School away from our community," said Eureka Gaston, a 1995 graduate of the school.
Capitol High alumni have been trying to revive the once-popular high school. In 2022, then-Supt. Sito Narcisse waged a successful public campaign to bring the high school back under the control of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system, with promises of building a new facility and a partnership with nearby Baton Rouge General Medical Center.
Board President Shashonnie Steward, herself a Capitol High graduate, said she has also been worried about the fate of her alma mater.
“I had to take my emotions out of it,†she said. “I’m not attached to the building. The school will always have memories for me. But you’ve always got to put the students first.â€
The merger with the middle school was in part prompted by a sharp dip in enrollment after Capitol High returned to EBR in 2023. Both schools are also F schools, which also spurred demands for change.
Steward said she’s interested in turning the old high school into an alumni center, similar to the conversion of the original McKinley High into an alumni center.
Of the nine schools closing when the current school year ends May 23, three were previously approved: IDEA Bridge, IDEA Innovation and J.K. Haynes elementary school.
In addition to Capitol Middle, here are five new schools being closed or consolidated:
- Bernard Terrace Elementary, 241 Edison St. Its students are being reassigned to Dufrocq elementary. EBR Virtual Academy is moving into Bernard Terrace.
- Eva Legard Learning Center, 408 E. Polk St. The 70 students in that specialized environmental education program are relocating to Glasgow Middle and McKinley High. The formerly Polk Elementary campus would become office space.
- Ryan Elementary, 10337 Elm Grove Garden Drive. Its 200 students are being reassigned to Progress Elementary. EBR Readiness Middle School is taking over the Ryan campus.
- Westminster Elementary, 8935 Westminster Drive. Its 200-plus students are being reassigned to Wedgewood and Highland elementary schools. One idea is to turn the Westminster campus into housing for teachers.
- Winbourne Elementary, 4503 Winbourne Ave. Its 290 students are being reassigned to Capitol and Melrose elementary schools. It will become the new home of Belfair Montessori School.
Brent Aucoin, a teacher at Eva Legard, expressed concern about the future of that school, which is only in its third year of operation. He notes that teachers have $50,000 in hydroponics and aquaponics equipment acquired through grants.
“I’m going to need a truck at least,†Aucoin said. “And I’m going to need to know where to move it.â€
Elementary education will now look a lot different in much of north Baton Rouge. Four elementary schools there will draw from wider areas but educate fewer grade levels.
Melrose and Merrydale elementaries will focus on prekindergarten to second grade. These new "foundational learning centers" will have two teachers in every classroom, an approach popularized at schools such as LSU Lab and Mayfair Lab. Capitol and Glen Oaks Park will shift to educating kids strictly in upper elementary grades. Capitol Elementary will add a sixth-grade, a grade currently served at Capitol Middle.
The approved plan also calls for upgrades to current schools.
That includes adding programs in STEM — short for science, technology, engineering and math programs — to Crestworth and Progress elementary schools, both in the Scotlandville area. That area is close to ExxonMobil, which has a longstanding partnership with Scotlandville High. And schools near Baton Rouge General that feed into Capitol High will all set up medical programs.
Claiborne and Capitol elementaries as well Park Forest Middle will spearhead the district's adoption of a popular school reform known as the Teacher Advancement Program, or TAP, offered by the Arizona-based National Institute for Excellence in Teaching. It centers around creating higher-level teaching positions where teachers earn more money for coaching their peers and improving the school while still keeping their hand in the classroom.
