Parents and community residents are asking Terrebonne Parish school officials to reconsider last month s decision to close Pointe-aux-Chenes Elementary amid dwindling enrollment.
And they are hopeful that a Houma lawmaker s $1 million addition to the state budget bill will add an incentive to keep the school open.
But School Board President Greg Harding and Superintendent Philip Martin said they don t expect the board to overturn the decision.
Harding said his concern is that the proposed state money, even if approved by the Legislature, will not be sustainable year after year.
“So that would be my only concern is not to sell the residents and the people who live in Pointe-aux-Chenes with a false hope in saying that they don t continue on funding these programs, Harding said.
The board, before a packed meeting room, voted 6-3 to close the school and send its students to Montegut Elementary, about four miles away, starting next school year.
Here is how board members voted:
For the closure: Debi Benoit, Clyde Hamner, Gregory Harding, Michael LaGarde, Stacy Verhagen Solet and MayBelle Trahan.
Against the closure: Roger Dale DeHart, Matthew Ford and Dane Voisin.
Terrebonne schools Superintendent Philip Martin said previously that the closure is warranted because the school s enrollment is dwindling. He said it s difficult to justify keeping it open when the students can attend Montegut Elementary so close by.
Pointe-aux-Chenes enrolls fewer than 90 students, and Montegut enrolls 143, officials said.
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The resolution says the House of Representatives will “consider withholding COVID-19 relief funding from the school board if it continues to close schools unnecessarily.”
Opponents said they plan to fight Tuesday’s decision with lawsuits, but Terrebonne Parish School District Superintendent Philip Martin said he doesn’t think their challenges will have legal standing.
Martin said students will still be offered a quality education since both elementary schools are ranked B schools by the Louisiana Department of Education.
Martin told New Orleans Public Radio that the decision to close the school was difficult but necessary since the school’s enrollment is dropping fast.