Nearly a year after announcing major school consolidations as Jefferson Parish grapples with changing demographics, Superintendent James Gray said the district will not consolidate any more schools this year and instead will focus on two new school buildings planned for Metairie and Harvey.
The year began drastically different this past August for thousands of students across the district. Last spring, the Jefferson Parish School Board voted to close six schools, relocate two others, and build two new pre-K through eighth grade schools, impacting thousands of students.
Grace King High School in Metairie, Gretna Middle School in Gretna, Helen Cox High School in Harvey, Butler Elementary in Westwego, Mildred Harris Elementary in Westwego, and Washington Elementary in Kenner did not reopen this school year. Those students were reassigned to nearby schools.
Haynes Academy moved to Grace King’s campus, and Thomas Jefferson Academy moved to Gretna Middle’s campus.
“As of now, we have no plans to close any schools this year,” Gray said in an interview on Thursday. “Our focus is on ensuring that we get everything in place for the build of the two new schools.”
Jefferson Parish School Board member Clay Moise said more consolidations were likely "in the cards near-term" but not this school year.
"We still have a tremendous amount of excess capacity in our school system," Moise said. "We're a long way from being the right size."
2 new schools
The school closures were part of the district’s “infrastructure and efficiency plan” that aimed to meet the changing demographics of the parish — which has more schools than necessary for the declining number of students — while shifting more students out of aging buildings and into higher quality ones. Officials have said more consolidations would likely be necessary in the future.
With fewer schools, officials also hoped consolidations would help the teacher and staff shortage. Gray said there was “some movement” with employees after the consolidations but “nothing significant.” He attributed the ongoing shortage to pay gaps between Jefferson Parish and nearby districts.
Gray said the the district will instead focus on building two new $37 million campuses to be built at the Bunche Elementary site in Metairie and St. Ville Elementary site in Harvey.
“We're looking for both of those schools to kind of be a flagship in those two areas,” he said. “If we're going to be building a spending that amount of money at each site, we should be able to have something that you know the community can be proud of, the students can be proud of, and actually helps to increase the value of that area as well.”
Gray said the two schools are on track to open for the 2026 school year.
Lower scores at closing schools
Moise noted the "angst" felt by parents, students and staff in the aftermath of the closures, as well as the ongoing adjustment for the district.
Students took state standardized testing shortly after school closures were announced last spring. The six closing schools showed lower scores than the year before, among the lowest in the district. Grace King, for example, went from an 83.8 or a “B” to a 69.1, or a “C.”
Gray said it was impossible to blame the decreased scores on consolidations, and noted other schools saw similar drops, but he acknowledged it could be a factor.
“We are very mindful and strategic when we're making these types of moves," Gray said. "We're looking to build a better Jefferson School system but also be a contributing partners to a better Jefferson Parish by being as efficient as we possibly can, making sure that instruction becomes the primary focus for why we do the work and making sure that our kids are in buildings that they can be proud of."