Lafayette Parish (Louisiana) district will shut down deteriorating elementary school

The Lafayette Parish (Louisiana) School Board has voted to close S.J. Montgomery Elementary and convert Lafayette Middle to an elementary.

The Acadiana Advocate reports that most of the changes the board adopted were recommended by Civic Solutions Group, a strategic planner hired to help the district create and carry out an optimization plan.

Students who now attend Lafayette Middle will be dispersed among four middle schools. Lafayette Middle Principal Tia Trahan spoke out against the closure.

"It is very unsettling to think that our currently zoned students will be split up into not one, but four different schools, losing their sense of community, belonging, purpose, work and belief that they matter," she said.

Board Member Roddy Bergeron said the choice was a tough one but was mostly motivated by the deteriorating conditions of S.J. Montgomery.