Some Lafayette Parish School Board members have been tossing around the idea of establishing new attendance zones for schools, and will discuss the idea publicly for the first time Wednesday.

“We just need to start the initial dialogue so the public is aware of the possibility,” said board member Tehmi Chassion, who placed an informational item about the topic on Wednesday’s meeting agenda.

If a multitude of issues can be worked out, and if the discussions progress quickly enough, new zones could be in effect as soon as the start of the new school year in August.

Chassion said the discussion is being driven mainly by what some see as uneven school populations.

“There’s an overcapacity situation at a lot of schools, and on the other side of the coin, there are schools with not enough kids, with empty classrooms,” Chassion said. “We just need to balance out the ratios and the numbers.”

For example, Chassion noted that Lafayette High has more than 2,500 students. Comeaux High has more than 2,000. But Northside High has somewhere between 700 and 800 students, he said.

Meanwhile, Chassion said there are students who live within walking distance of Paul Breaux Middle, but are not zoned for that school.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

Board member Erick Knezek said that while specific talk about rezoning might be a little “premature,” he is worried about the high number of schools that use temporary classrooms because there isn’t enough room for students in traditional buildings. Knezek has been reviewing and presenting data to the board on the topic over the past few weeks.

“It basically shows that we have many schools that are literally over 200% classroom capacity, while we have some with empty classrooms. Overall, about one in five classrooms in our parish is a temporary classroom,” Knezek said via email. “This is simply unacceptable.”

According to school data compiled by Knezek, the district has 1,616 permanent classrooms and 461 temporary classrooms, and is at 129 percent of its classroom capacity. Some schools, including Comeaux High, L.J. Alleman Middle, Broadmoor Elementary, Evangeline Elementary, Milton Elementary/Middle, Plantation Elementary, Prairie Elementary and Ridge Elementary, have almost as many temporary classrooms, or more, than permanent classrooms.

Schools that are at more than 150 percent of their classroom capacity include Comeaux High, L.J. Alleman, Alice Boucher Elementary, Broadmoor Elementary, Katherine Drexel Elementary, Duson Elementary, Evangeline Elementary, L. Leo Judice Elementary, Milton Elementary/Middle, Plantation Elementary, Prairie Elementary, Ridge Elementary and Woodvale Elementary, according to the data Knezek compiled.

Knezek noted that the board has asked district staff to present possible solutions to the problem by May 20.

“I am expecting staff to return to the board with multiple solutions, including potential solutions like moving Schools of Choice, transportation changes in bus routes and stops and rezoning,” Knezek continued.

Chassion said that so far, the informal talks have become “pretty serious.” Several issues would have to be considered, including whether some Schools of Choice academies would change locations, which students would have to transfer, how students would be grandfathered in to the schools they are currently zoned for and what kinds of transportation changes would need to happen.

The last large-scale rezoning in Lafayette Parish happened in August 2011, when students zoned for N.P. Moss Middle were dispersed to five other middle schools. That same year, Moss closed as a middle school and was reopened as what is now the David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy. The school board opted for that move rather than have the struggling N.P. Moss taken over by the state.

Before that, the biggest rezonings came in the late 1990s and early 2000s as the school district ended its 41-year-old desegregation case in federal court.

Knezek noted that Lafayette Parish’s population has shifted and grown considerably since then.

“We simply can’t afford to build schools as fast as our population shifts, so we must address this population shift by changing school zones,” Knezek continued. “There are a limited amount of classrooms, revenue and overall resources that we must manage as efficiently as possible.”

While no one has specifically mentioned rezoning publicly, there has been talk in recent months about shifting student populations at some schools. District officials mentioned the possibility of closing at least one school with low enrollment for financial reasons, although that idea is off the table for now. The school was never publicly identified.

The school board is also considering making Myrtle Place Elementary a French immersion-only school. If the change is approved, kindergarten students zoned for Myrtle Place who are not in immersion would attend either S.J. Montgomery Elementary or Broadmoor Elementary. No final decisions have been made.

Chassion said he knows some parents would be concerned about any changes, and noted that officials may consider any hardship situations on a case-by-case basis. Incoming Superintendent Donald Aguillard, who is set to start work May 18, is also expected to be heavily involved in the discussions.

“Right now, it’s just preliminary,” Chassion said. “We’re going to try to offer a platform for anybody to talk about it. We at least need to start the conversation.”WANT TO GO?

The Lafayette Parish School Board meets at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the central office, 113 Chaplin Drive.