The Lafayette Parish School Board approved the following measures to support a quality education for students while ensuring the efficient use of taxpayer funds.
- SJ Montgomery Elementary (students to be zoned to other sites)
- EJ Sam Accelerated School (moving to Comeaux High campus)
- Katharine Drexel will become a Pre-K only campus.
- Lafayette Middle will become Lafayette Elementary.
- Middlebrook Elementary will become a Fine Arts Academy.
- Alice Boucher Elementary will become an ACE school.
- In schools designated as 100% Magnet Academies, 25% of available seats will be allocated through lottery to eligible students residing within the priority area.
- Arts and STEM programming will be offered at additional schools.
- Elementary hearing impaired program moving to Broadmoor.
- Carencro Bob Lilly will house the newcomer EL program.
- Elementary Spanish Immersion moves to Live Oak.
- Development of a comprehensive master plan to guide future decisions.
- Zones have been redrawn for the following schools:
- Acadian Middle
- Alice Boucher Elementary
- Broussard Middle
- Carencro Middle
- Dr. Raphael A Baranco Elementary
- Edgar Martin Middle
- Ernest Gallet Elementary
- Evangeline Elementary
- Green T. Lindon Elementary
- Judice Middle
- L.J. Alleman Middle
- Lafayette Elementary (new)
- Live Oak Elementary
- Martial F. Billeaud Elementary
- Scott Middle
- Woodvale Elementary
- Priority zone of David Thibodaux STEM
- Priority zone of L. Leo Judice Elementary
- Priority zone of J.W. James Elementary
- Priority zone of Myrtle Place Elementary
School Board to Vote on Agenda Items Below |
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Agenda Item 4.3 |
CSG Recommendation |
Additional District Recommendations |
This board agenda item has been approved with revisions. Please see Agenda for details CLICK HERE | ||
Expand popular Arts and STEM programming at additional schools |
Beginning in 2025-26, expand popular Arts and STEM opportunities at additional schools beyond the current expansions at Broussard MS, Gallet ES, Lindon ES, Middlebrook ES, and Youngsville MS.
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Review and align magnet programming with parent demand and new HS accountability |
Continue to review and align magnet programming with parent demand, geography, and new HS accountability in mind.
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Magnet Academy Pathway relocation, realignment, removal, and new academies. |
Long-term recommendations: School culture survey, facilities master plan, SPF |
Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, engage vendors to develop a comprehensive facilities master plan and school culture survey. Use the 2025-26 school year to pilot a School Performance Framework that can be applied annually to direct future district optimization decisions.
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Corporal Michael Middlebrook Elementary School |
Create an elementary magnet fine arts feeder to L. J. Alleman MS. |
Corporal Michael Middlebrook Elementary will have K-2 arts academy beginning in the 2025-26 school year and expanding an additional grade each year until fully implemented. |
David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy J. Wallace James Elementary School L. Leo Judice Elementary School Myrtle Place Elementary School |
Give eligible applicants who live in the established priority area of the school priority to 25% of the seats available in the annual admissions lottery for new students. In order to receive this priority, families who reside in the established priority area must submit an LPSS Magnet Academies application and meet the eligiblity criteria for the school set by the district. All students currently attending a magnet school will remain at their existing campus. |
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Katharine Drexel Elementary School |
Close Katharine Drexel ES and rezone K-5 students to Billeaud ES and Gallet ES; This action may require some current Gallet ES students to be rezoned to Lindon ES. Create a PK-only facility at the existing Katharine Drexel site by relocating PK classes from select campuses and adding new PK classes. |
Truman PK will service the West side of the Vermilion River and Katharine Drexel PK will service the East side of the Vermilion River. |
Ernest Gallet Elementary School Green T. Lindon Elementary School Youngsville Middle School |
Add STEM opportunities to Gallet ES, Lindon ES, and Youngsville MS to create continuity of programming and a K-8 programmatic experience for students and families. Fifth graders will remain at Lindon ES and Gallet ES. |
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Alice N. Boucher Elementary School Dr. Raphael A. Baranco Elementary School J.W. Faulk Elementary School |
Add ACE programming to Boucher ES for the 2025-26 school year. |
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Agenda Item 4.4 |
CSG Recommendation |
Additional District Recommendations |
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Lafayette Middle School |
Close Lafayette MS and repurpose as Lafayette Elementary; rezone current students to Acadian MS, Edgar Martin MS, Scott MS and L.J. Alleman MS. This action will require some current Scott MS students to be rezoned to Judice MS.
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Rezone a small portion of students from Edgar Martin Middle and L. J. Alleman Middle to Broussard Middle. |
S.J. Montgomery Elementary School |
Close S.J. Montgomery ES and move students to the newly-repurposed Lafayette ES facility, Boucher ES, and Woodvale ES. Relocate the Hearing Impaired Program to Broadmoor ES and the ELL Newcomer Program to Carencro-Bob Lilly ES.
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Rezone a small portion of Woodvale Elementary to Dr. Raphael Baranco Elementary to align Dr. Raphael Baranco Elementary's feeder pattern to Paul Breaux Middle and Woodvale Elementary's feeder pattern to L.J. Alleman Middle. |
Acadian Middle School |
Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, rezone a portion of students of students from Acadian MS within the Carencro High School zone to Carencro Middle School.
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Rezone a small portion of Live Oak Elementary to Evangeline Elementary to align Evangeline Elementary's feeder pattern to Acadian Middle and Live Oak Elementary's feeder pattern to Carencro Middle. |
Agenda Item 4.5 |
CSG Recommendation |
Additional District Recommendations |
Duson Elementary School |
Close Duson Elementary and rezone all students to Charles Burke ES. This action will require some current Burke students be rezoned to Prairie ES and Ridge ES. LPSS and the City of Duson should partner to use the Duson ES facility in a way that continues to benefit the community. |
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Agenda Item 4.6 |
CSG Recommendation |
Additional District Recommendations |
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This board agenda item has been approved with revisions. Please see Agenda for details CLICK HERE | ||
O. Comeaux High School E.J. Sam Accelerated School of Lafayette W.D. & Mary Baker Career Center |
The Comeaux Facility will also be used as a middle school athletic facility and to house additional district personnel." Senior Opportunity 2025-2026 Waiver |
Agenda Item 4.7 |
CSG Recommendation |
Additional District Recommendations |
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This board agenda item has been approved with revisions. Please see Agenda for details CLICK HERE | ||
Northside High School Paul Breaux Middle School |
Build a new 6-8th grade Paul Breaux MS facility (Phase I) and a separate Northside HS facility (Phase II) on the existing Northside HS campus. Upon completion of each facility, decommission the current Paul Breaux MS and Northside HS campuses. Current Paul Breaux MS students will remain on the current site until a new facility is constructed. Upon completion of a new Paul Breaux MS campus, close Acadian MS and rezone students to the new Paul Breaux MS.
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In the spring of 2024, the Lafayette Parish School System (LPSS) engaged Civic Solutions Group (CSG) to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the district’s operations, known as district optimization. The primary goal is to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently to meet the needs of today’s students.
Key Areas of Focus: During Phase I of the evaluation, input from stakeholder surveys and community meetings highlighted several priority areas:
- Teacher and staff compensation
- Equitable funding to support student success
- Academic excellence
- Adequate and well-maintained facilities
- Positive school culture
CSG has used this feedback, along with data, context, values, and their own expertise, to develop initial recommendations for LPSS.
Phase II: Community Engagement As the process continues, Phase II will provide additional opportunities for the community to contribute their thoughts and ideas. Below, you’ll find the specific ways to get involved.
CSG presented to the School Board a list of 14 initial recommendations on Wednesday, October 9, and collected input through an online survey and community feedback sessions. The strategic planner used the information they gathered, along with other data, in their development of the final recommendations, released to the Board and the public on Wednesday, November 13.
The Lafayette Parish School Board will consider the adoption of the final recommendations at the regular meeting on Wednesday, November 20.
a. Additional information: Acadian MS has the second-lowest rate of zoned students attending the school of any LPSS school. The school has consistently low enrollment that could fit into the available capacity at Paul Breaux MS or Carencro MS. Acadian MS has a higher cost per student, lower rate of parents choosing the school, and similar or worse academic performance than either receiving school.
Current Acadian MS students that are zoned to Carencro HS will attend Carencro MS. Current Acadian MS students that are zoned to Northside HS will be zoned to Paul Breaux MS. Those students currently living in the Acadian MS zone that will be zoned to Paul Breaux MS will attend a new campus after construction is completed. The gymnasium at Acadian MS can be reused for other district or community purposes. Spanish immersion programming currently at Acadian MS could follow students to either Paul Breaux MS or Carencro MS.
b. Schools involved:
i. Acadian MS
ii. Carencro MS
iii. Paul Breaux MS
a. Additional information: Alice Boucher ES meets one of four District Optimization priorities due to a high percentage of families zoned to the school choosing to attend. The school has consistently low academic performance and is located in a census tract with one of the highest concentrations of poverty in Lafayette Parish. Initial academic and outcomes data show success of ACE programming at Baranco ES and J.W. Faulk ES. The students in these three schools can be accommodated in two campuses.
If all recommendations are enacted, students in all three schools will have a clear PK-12 pathway from Truman Early Childhood → ACE programming → Paul Breaux at Northside → Northside HS.
b. Schools involved:
i. Alice Boucher ES
ii. JW Faulk
iii. Baranco
a. Additional information: Middlebrook ES meets all four District Optimization priorities. Despite this, the school has lost enrollment in recent years, making it a good candidate to receive students. Moving Katharine Drexel ES students to Middlebrook ES will place students in a higher quality and higher-performing facility. Adding arts programming to Middlebrook will make it a natural partner with L.J. Alleman MS.
b. Schools involved:
i. Cpl. Middlebrook ES
a. Additional information: Students living near the school will have enrollment preference for up to 25% of all available seats in the lottery, and must meet any existing admission requirements. Neighborhood boundaries will be determined by LPSS after District Optimization recommendations have been adopted. This enrollment preference will not impact students currently enrolled at the school.
b. Schools involved:
i. J. Wallace James ES
ii. L. Leo Judice ES
iii. Myrtle Place ES
iv. David Thibodaux STEM HS
a. Additional information: Duson's cost per pupil is the most expensive elementary school operating at $2,533 per student above the elementary threshold. This is due in part to Duson's small permanent capacity of 210 students, forcing the school to utilize portables. Any efforts to increase enrollment at the school would require additional portable facilities.
More than 36% of students zoned to Duson are currently attending other LPSS schools. Rezoning students to Burke, Ossun, and Westside will increase efficiency at the receiving campuses. All rezoning will be completed by LPSS after District Optimization recommendations have been adopted.
LPSS and the City of Duson should partner to use the Duson ES facility in a way that continues to benefit the community.
b. Schools involved:
i. Duson ES
ii. Charles Burke ES
iii. Ossun ES
iv. Westside ES
a. Additional information: The Ernest Gallet campus meets three of four District Optimization priorities and is a five-minute drive from the Youngsville MS campus. Green T. Lindon is two blocks from Youngsville MS.
Incorporating additional STEM programming into the Gallet and Youngsville campuses is responsive to significant parent demand across the district. This recommendation grants rising fifth graders access to accelerated programming and extracurricular activities at the current Youngsville MS campus.
b. Schools involved:
i. Ernest Gallet ES
ii. Green T. Lindon ES
iii. Youngsville MS
a. Additional information: The Katharine Drexel campus recently constructed a new wing that can accommodate a significant number of PK students. Moving all PK students in the region to the Katharine Drexel campus (similar to Truman) will provide PK students with a high quality facility and create additional K-5 capacity at popular and higher-performing elementary schools.
The elementary schools that receive current Katharine Drexel students in grades K-5 (Billeaud, Middlebrook, Gallet) are all higher-performing campuses and will become more efficient.
b. Schools involved:
i. Martial Billeaud ES
ii. Katharine Drexel ES
iii. Ernest Gallet ES
iv. Cpl. Middlebrook ES
v. Milton ES
vi. Green T Lindon ES
a. Additional information: Lafayette MS does not meet any of the District Optimization priorities set by the Lafayette Parish School Board, and only ~56% of the students zoned to the school attend. All three receiving schools are higher-performing academically, have a greater percentage of zoned parents attending, and meet between one and four of the priorities. All rezoning will be completed by LPSS after District Optimization recommendations have been adopted.
The Lafayette MS campus will be repurposed as Lafayette Elementary and will accommodate students from S.J. Montgomery. Those students currently living in the Lafayette MS zone that will be zoned to Paul Breaux MS will attend a new campus after construction of a 6th-12th campus at Northside HS is completed.
b. Schools involved:
i. LJ Alleman MS
ii. Paul Breaux MS
iii. Lafayette MS
iv. Scott MS
a. Additional information: Paul Breaux MS is one of the oldest MS campuses and has not received a major addition since 1975. Northside HS is the oldest traditional HS in Lafayette and has not received a major addition since 1981. Enrollment at Northside has increased by 14% and its SPS has increased by 13.5 points since 2018-19, though the campus still has 600+ vacant seats. Adding fine arts and/or selective admissions programming at Northside will be responsive to parent demand across the district. Investing in Northside HS is consistent with citywide economic development plans for the area.
Building a 6th-8th and 9th-12th campus that accommodates students zoned to Paul Breaux MS gives middle school students access to accelerated programming and extracurricular activities at the Northside HS campus. The LPSB should implement a community-driven process to determine the name and branding of the 6th-8th and 9th-12th campuses.
b. Schools involved:
i. Paul Breaux MS
ii. Northside HS
a. Additional Information: Comeaux HS enrollment has decreased by ~500 students since 2018-19. Only 66% of zoned students attend the school, a significantly lower rate than receiving schools in this recommendation. The Comeaux facility meets the "Facility Investment" District Optimization priority due to investments in its performing arts wing, but the poor facility condition of the rest of the campus was a consistent theme of the community engagement process.
The Comeaux facility can be repurposed in multiple ways, including a Career Center, alternative setting, and/or MS athletic and arts facility. This recommendation maximizes the number of seats filled at newer campuses and also takes the E.J. Sam facility offline;
b. Schools involved:
i. Acadiana HS
ii. Comeaux HS
iii. Lafayette HS
iv. Southside HS
a. Additional information: S.J. Montgomery does not meet any of the District Optimization priorities. The poor facility condition of the campus was a consistent theme of the community engagement process. This recommendation will move all students to higher quality facilities and similarly- or higher-performing campuses.
b. Schools involved:
i. Lafayette MS
ii. Live Oak ES
iii. SJ Montgomery ES
iv. Woodvale ES
a. Arts programming at the elementary and MS level is the most popular programming within the district by a wide margin--J. Wallace James received ~800 applications and has a facility usage of 98%;
b. STEM programming at the MS and elementary levels is the second-most popular programming for families, and is considerably more popular than language immersion or other programs;
c. Cpl. Middlebrook, Gallet, Lindon, Evangeline, Live Oak, and elementary/middle schools in 70501 are all strong candidates for new Arts and STEM programming.
a. High school magnet programming should be reviewed and aligned to both community demand and new School Performance Score changes for high schools;
b. Geographic misalignment of existing magnet programs limits program continuity;
c. Currently, there is no magnet programming in the Southside HS enrollment zone and limited elementary magnet programming in Northside enrollment zone;
d. Opportunities exist to consolidate language immersion programming across PK and elementary sites
a. Community Feedback Sessions placed an emphasis on the need to measure and build school culture at all LPSS schools. LPSS should consider engaging a vendor to conduct annual School Culture and Climate Surveys and take action based on the data.
b. Surveys and Community Feedback Sessions recognized that not all facilities can be new, but emphasized the need for a consistent standard of care for all facilities.
i. LPSS should engage with a partner to develop a Facilities Master Plan for ongoing maintenance and construction.
ii. The LPSS should develop a Facilities Condition Index for all schools and a Facilities Disposition Policy to be followed for all excess properties.
c. LPSS should develop a comprehensive school performance framework to apply to every school on an annual basis that assesses the quality of schools through evaluating student outcomes in order to place more students in higher-performing schools.
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