If a pair of school tax propositions pass on March 24 Eunice will get a new elementary school.
A plan is starting to take shape for the school system’s buildings as evidence at a special meeting of the St. Landry Parish School Board at the St. Landry Parish Visitors Center on Interstate 49 on Thursday.
Patrick Jenkins, superintendent, said, “We know our timeline is shrinking rapidly” before the Board members reviewed options for each high school attendance zone.
The School Board has called an election on two tax proposals. One proposal is an 11.3 mill, 10-year tax to pay for salary increases. The other is a 12.1 mill, 20-year tax to fund a $99 million bond for capital improvements.
Both proposals have to pass to take effect.
The Board decided earlier this month that if the proposals pass certified employees would get $3,000 raises and other employees would get a $2,000 raise.
“We want to have a solution or answers for the public on our March 8 Board meeting. So, we have a lot of work to do today or up to March 8,”Jenkins said.
The plans are broken down into the schools that feed into high schools.
In Eunice, there was only one option presented and it includes a new pre-kindergarten to fifth grade elementary school on the Highland Elementary campus. The school would have a design enrollment of 657 students.
In the future, a second elementary school of the same size is proposed and all of the existing elementary schools would eventually be closed.
The plan presented Thursday includes:
— Highland and Eunice Elementary would be consolidated in the new building.
— Central Middle would be closed upon the completion of a new school. Sixth through eighth grades would be combined in facility to be determined at a later date.
— Gelndale would become K-5 school and combined with Glendale at a later date.
— Eunice High School needs would be addressed in a third phase.
No costs were given in the options presented Thursday. However, earlier meetings have included estimates of up to $120 million in an initial building project.
The Northwest High school attendance zone was the only other area with only one option presented. The option included:
— A new pre-kindergarten to eighth grade elementary school, which may include renovation of the existing school.
— Addressing needs at Plaisance and Grand Prairie schools later.
— Northwest High School needs to be addressed later.
The other high schools are Opelousas, North Central, Port Barre and Beau Chene.
