The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board has approved a schematic design for the new Lake Pontchartrain Elementary School in LaPlace. It comes with a projected price tag of $22.5 million.
The school opened in 1989 as The Glade. It was badly damaged during Hurricane Isaac in 2012, remains closed and is scheduled for demolition.
The new school is expected to open in 2017 at the same location on U.S. 51, but with several noticeable changes. Notably, it is to be built four feet higher and with buildings that will face the highway.
The School Board's Land and Facilities Committee held a public hearing last week for input from parents and school workers before approving the layout design by Yeates & Yeates Architects. "There were some very minor concerns," committee chairman Ali Burl said, such as the number of doors leading into the school and the sun's glare in the library. "Other than that, everyone was satisfied."
Burl said the adjustments can be made without delaying the school's planned opening.
The 95,450-square-foot, steel-frame building will have a brick exterior. If there is money for the project, a $2.7 million gymnasium could be added, officials say.
The current school was built for 1,200 students. The new one will be scaled back to 800 students in pre-kindergarten through 8th-grade. About 575 Lake Pontchartrain Elementary students are currently being educated on a temporary campus at East St. John Elementary.
The new school will consist of separate wings for the upper and lower grade levels. Students in pre-k through third grades will be separated from older students by the cafetorium, offices, art and band room. There also will be separate play areas for the students.
In addition, there will be separate entrances for the public for events in the cafetorium and gymnasium, so they don't have to enter the building near classrooms, Burl said. "We're trying to decrease the outside traffic flow into the school," he said.
The design also includes separate student drop-off points for bus and car riders. Both will have canopies.
Meanwhile, the school system is seeking permits to demolish the current school. It expects to solicit bids for the teardown in the next few weeks, Burl said.
Lake Pontchartrain Elementary and East St. John High School flooded during Isaac. More than 2,000 students were displaced.
Most East St. John High students, with the exception of ninth graders, attend school at the former Leon Godchaux Junior High in Reserve. The ninth-graders attend class in the Freshman Academy wing of East St. John High, which escaped damage.
Some $10 million in work is underway inside East St. John High, shielded from view. But passing motorists can see a mitigation project in the works, with the construction of a FEMA-required dirt levee around the school.
The earthen ring levee, which will be 2 to 6-feet, will give the low-lying property up to 8-feet in flood protection, officials said.
Repairs at the high school started this summer. They are on schedule to end by August.
"It's exciting not only for me, but for the entire community, to see the progress being made on these two schools," schools Superintendent Kevin George said. "Both projects are currently on track to be completed on schedule so that we can accomplish the most important milestone, which is getting our students and staff back in their schools."
