The St. Landry Parish School District added a new middle school this year in Opelousas to ease students' transition from elementary to junior high school.
Creswell Middle School opened in the former site of the district's alternative program, CAPS, which moved to what was North Street Elementary before consolidation years ago. CMS became home to nearly 300 fifth- and sixth-grade students starting this fall.
The new school was a continuation of a step the district took the year before, opening Opelousas Middle School on South Street, as a stepping stone for fifth- and sixth-graders who would eventually go on to Opelousas Junior High for seventh and eighth grade.