Panel moves on school expansion

PORT ALLEN — A West Baton Rouge Parish School Board committee decided Tuesday to move forward with plans to expand Brusly Elementary School.

The panel suggested hiring an architect to draft preliminary sketches of a new wing that would add as many as 14 new classrooms.

Buildings, Equipment and Maintenance Committee members said the new wing, if built, would resolve overcrowding conditions at the school.

Committee members suggested using part of the $7.5 million in the board’s contingency fund to pay for the new wing, which they estimated would cost about $2.5 million or less.

“I think we always said we wanted to keep that fund in the $5 million to $6 million range,” board member Jason Manola said. “I see this as a one-time expenditure.”

Superintendent David Corona said about 700 students are enrolled at the school, which was built in 1993.

“We need the space and we got room for the space,” Corona told the committee members.

Brusly Elementary’s more than 180 Head Start and prekindergarten students attend classes in four modular classrooms adjacent to the main campus due to lack of space for them in the main building, Corona said.

Corona suggested building a new wing would give the board flexibility to move the four modules to other campuses to ease other crowded conditions.

The superintendent added the district has undergone modest growth during the past several years by gaining 40 to 50 new students annually.

“Right now, if we need an additional classroom, we’d have to go purchase one,” he said.

The committee’s proposal goes to the full board for a decision later this month.