East Baton Rouge school board approves ‘Students First’ facility realignment plan

The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on April 28 approved Superintendent Cole’s “Students First” 2025 district facility realignment plan, voting 7–0 to accept the recommendation to close, vacate or repurpose multiple school buildings across the parish.

The plan calls for nine schools to be closed, four to be left vacant and six to be repurposed; the superintendent said the changes would affect more than 10,000 students and about 1,400 staff. The district also cited roughly $130,000,000 in deferred maintenance as a key driver of the proposal. After the board vote President Stewart declared, “Motion carries.”

Why it matters: the board framed the realignment as an effort to place students in better facilities, improve feeder patterns, and concentrate certified teachers and support services in fewer schools. Supporters said the plan will allow the district to reallocate limited dollars and add classroom capacity where it is needed; opponents urged more community engagement and asked for protections for culturally important sites.

Superintendent Cole told the board he had visited every school in the district while developing the plan and said the intent is to “put kids in better school facilities” and to provide “high quality instruction” by adjusting where…