Board considers changes to Breaux Bridge schools

An item on the agenda for today’s (Wednesday) monthly meeting of the St. Martin School Board could have a major impact on the configuration of schools in the Breaux Bridge community.
Listed on the “consent” portion of the agenda, which normally means no discussion, is “ ... the consideration of the Breaux Bridge District Reconfiguration which is proposed to include moving two grades from Breaux Bridge Elementary to (the) Breaux Bridge Primary site and moving one grade from Breaux Bridge Elementary to Breaux Bridge Jr. High.”
Breaux Bridge Elementary currently houses grades 4 through 6 while Breaux Bridge Primary includes pre-K through grade 3 and BBJH has grades 7 and 8.
If the proposal is approved and proves feasible after staff research, there would no longer be students at the current BB Elementary site and enrollment at the BB Primary campus would increase from 750 to around 1,000 students while BBJH enrollment would jump from 252 to about 380.
Superintendent Dr. Lottie Beebe says if the board approves the proposal, the BB Primary property would house two “schools,” BB Primary with grades Pre-K through 2, and BB Elementary with grades 3-5.
She says she and her staff have not developed any specific plans regarding the use of the current BBE site if the proposal is approved. “These decisions would result from careful planning, board approval and community involvement,” she says.
Dr. Beebe also points out that the addition of grade 6 to BB Jr. High would create “a true middle school ... consistent with the Cecilia and St. Martinville schools (which has) proven successful in those communities.”
She also says the changes, if approved, would not go into effect until August 2015.
Dr. Beebe emphasized that the agenda proposal “is merely to allow the staff and me to move forward with activities needed to make the reconfiguration a reality ... education stakeholders and community leaders would be informed of specific details” once they are developed.