ST.LANDRY PARISH — If you are a parent, student, or teacher in the St. Landry Parish school system, there might be changes regarding the schools you attend. Those changes could involve school closures, but there is no need to panic, as the school district tells me nothing has been set in stone just yet.
"At this point, possible closures are scenarios being discussed, but the other thing I really like folks to know is that we are very early into this," said School Board President Mary Donatto.
Last Saturday, the St. Landry Parish school board met for four hours during a retreat discussing the district's strategic and future planning criteria, which includes five district priorities and guidelines to help the district with everyday school operations; this will also play a role in what and if schools will close.
During the retreat, which was open to the public, there was a conversation among board members about consolidating, re-purposing, and re-configuring schools to meet better the needs of students that came up.
"So right now, I want the public to know that we are just beginning to scratch the surface; there is nothing definitive; the board is simply putting out ideas," said Donatto.
Donatto went on to explain that the district is seeing a declining student enrollment trend, which is why this is being talked about in the first place.
"Oh yes, there is a decline. We have 30 traditional schools, and a little more than half of them have 300 students or less," said Donatto.
Another school board member, Kyle Boss, tells KATC that back in 2003, the school district had around 25,000 students enrolled; today, that number is cut in half. For each student the district receives around $9,000 per student through federal and state funding. Donatto says that with fewer students, the cost will go up to keep schools running.
"So we are looking at the gap in what it costs, and if you consolidate and have more children, the less the cost will be; it's projected with the loss in enrollment and the loss of students, it's projecting that in the next three years, we could be in a lot of trouble, we can't continue to run 30 schools with 11,000 children, we just can't," said Donatto.
Donatto says the issue comes with the influx of charter schools, homeschooling, and private schools coming into the area.
Helix Academy, a new A. I and Medical Charter School is set to open in 2025.
Donatto says during that retreat, the schools mentioned for possible school closures are:
Opelousas Middle
Grand Coteau
And Northeast Elementary
The district plans to meet and review what was discussed at that weekend retreat with their committee of the whole meeting. Future meetings with stakeholders are also planned.
To read more about the district strategic plan,click here.
