After more than three hours of passionate discussion and public comment, the Jefferson Parish School Board voted to pass Superintendent Cade Brumley's 2020-2021 Infrastructure and Efficiency plan, which includes the consolidation of several schools.
Hundreds and hundreds of people came out to the meeting Wednesday night at the administration building, spilling into overflow rooms.
Dozens spoke before the crowd, most passionately against the superintendent's plan.
The measure did pass with a six-point amendment, brought forth by board member Simeon Dickerson.
In the 2020-2021 school year, Douglass elementary will be absorbed into McDonough 26 and Johnson Gretna Park. In addition, students from Jefferson Elementary will be sent to Riverdale Middle School, and it will become a Kindergarten through eighth-grade school.
Under the original plan, Washington Elementary would have been consolidated with Bunche Elementary. But per the amendment, Washington Elementary School will stay as-is. Board members are giving the historic school an additional year to build up its population. In 2021, if the population is fewer than 350 students, the board will reconsider the school's future.
The fourth big change brought by the passage of the motion is that students from Myrtle C. Thibodaux will be moving to Pitre Elementary. In addition, based on an amendment presented Wednesday night, students from Ray St. Pierre Academy will be moving to the empty Thibodaux building.
Ray St. Pierre will then be declared as surplus and sold.
As proposed by Superintendent Brumley, Pitre Elementary will be renamed for the first African American superintendent in Jefferson Parish History, Isaac G. Joseph.
The superintendent contends this will save the parish millions and make mental health resources and technology better for students.
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