Interim superintendent reports 371 students districtwide; audit findings, staffing gaps and athletics budget raise questions

BATON ROUGE, La. — Interim Superintendent Shirley Lewis told the Board of Directors of the Special School District on Sept. 9 that the district began the 2025–26 school year with 371 students and that schools and programs have started instruction and professional learning activities.

Lewis said the Louisiana School for the Deaf (LSD) began with 76 students; the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired (LSVI) began with 53 students (later reported at 56 enrolled); CLASSIC began with 36 students; Pine Crest and Renaissance Home for Youth together started with 111 students; and Office of Juvenile Justice programs began with about 85 students. Lewis said beginning-of-year attendance across schools averaged 94.2 percent.

The superintendent reported facilities and safety work: a visual and audio emergency alert system is in place in the secondary building and used during drills, and operations staff completed roofing, flooring and transformer work on campus. The district’s braille-transcriber staff at the Louisiana Braille Program at Angola completed brailler repair…