Rising interest rates cost WBR schools a shot at saving $3 million on bonds

West Baton Rouge Parish schools were set to save about $3 million by refinancing a set of bonds from 2017, according to Superintendent Dr. Chandler Smith. Then interest rates went up, and the deal stopped making sense.

Smith told the school board Oct. 21 that the savings "basically was lost" when rates rose. The district's bond attorney and municipal advisor recommended waiting, and the district took that advice.

"We're only allowed to go for refinancing once and we didn't think that this was the time to do it," Smith said.

The district may try again in a year or two and roll in a second set from 2018, Smith said. Jared Gibbs, who oversees the district's finances, said doing both at once would mean paying transaction costs once instead of twice.

"So now it could be a one transaction and one cost for two different sets of bonds," Gibbs said.

Sales tax is up

Sales tax collections are running about 8% ahead of last year, Gibbs told the board's finance committee. Fund balances are about three times what they were when he started 15 years ago, he said.

August spending came in about $1.5 million under August 2025. Last year the district bought new workbooks, textbooks and curriculum licenses and didn't need to buy them again, Gibbs said.

Brusly Upper's awnings are crumbling

The board voted to seek bids to replace the concrete awnings that connect the buildings at Brusly Upper Elementary. Supervisor of Maintenance Chad Fontenot estimated the job at about $400,000.

"It's becoming a safety issue," Fontenot told the facilities committee.

Water has gotten under the awnings' top layer over the years and soaked into the concrete, he said. Now the concrete is breaking away from the steel rebar inside. Lukeville Elementary has a section with the same problem, and crews already had to patch one spot there.

The lowest price the district got at the end of last school year was around $340,000 to $360,000, Fontenot said. That's over the limit where state law requires a public bid.

"Nothing goes down in price," he said.

The new awnings would be aluminum. Near the front office, they would have a pitched roof so debris from the cypress trees slides off instead of holding water. The goal is to have a contractor lined up so work can start the first day of summer break.

Other facilities news

Construction on the new Cohn campus is moving quickly, Fontenot said. The gym is going up at the back of the campus, and the playgrounds will sit in a courtyard in the middle, with the buildings acting as a fence. The board also made the school's new name official: Cohn Intermediate School.

Brusly Upper students got their gym back around Oct. 1. The work ran long after termites turned up in the old wooden bleachers. The gym has a new court, new paint and aluminum bleachers on wheels. Fontenot said the contractor agreed in writing to come back next summer and fix some detail work on the court. It also took $5,000 off the bill for the inconvenience.

At Lukeville, the district plans to turn a building it bought into a gym, then later add a cafeteria and kitchen, Fontenot said. It will be done in phases because money is tight, and the board will see a master plan with cost estimates first.

Crews stayed busy over the summer. At Port Allen High, they added handwashing sinks, replaced restroom stalls and turned the old band room into offices for guidance counselors. Port Allen Elementary got repainted hallways and a remodeled teachers' lounge. Brusly Middle got sound panels and metal mesh on its gates, and Brusly High got several new windows. Every campus now has signs pointing the public to Facilitron, the website for renting school gyms and fields.

New state law changes discipline policy

The board approved a batch of policy updates. Most come from Act 539, the new state law known as the Teacher's Shield Act, which took effect Aug. 1.

Under the new rules, a student accused of assaulting a school employee, on campus or off, must be recommended for expulsion and can't go back to the school where that employee works. Employees hurt in an attack can use sick leave for medical care, counseling and physical therapy without losing pay or leave. Schools also have to remind employees every year of their right to ask for a student to be disciplined.

Other updates:

• Two district employees must be present when anyone reviews video from a special education classroom, and anything illegal seen on it has to be reported to law enforcement.
• School resource officers are now spelled out as mandatory reporters of child abuse. All district employees also have to take a new two-hour state training on reporting abuse, the board was told.
• Licensed behavioral health providers, such as ABA therapists, must be allowed into core classes. Before, those visits were mostly limited to electives. Providers have to apply, carry liability insurance and meet with the district first.

Head Start

The board approved Head Start's application for its next federal grant, which serves 136 children. It also approved a one-time request for $138,148 to buy automated hearing screeners, put shade canopies over playgrounds with no trees and make safety upgrades at Head Start sites.

Many children couldn't be screened for hearing last year with the old method, which relies on them identifying pictures, Head Start staff told the board. The new devices only need them to tap when they hear a sound.

From the superintendent

On Oct. 8, a tractor-trailer full of career simulators from the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry stopped at the West Baton Rouge Career Academy. More than 150 students tried out jobs like truck driver and diesel mechanic, and it didn't cost the district anything, Smith said. Gov. Jeff Landry and state Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter came out. West Baton Rouge was the trailer's first stop in Louisiana.

The Joe Burrow Foundation also visited Port Allen Elementary. About 80 second graders learned about healthy eating and exercise and went home with bags of food.

Coming up

• Nov. 23–27: Thanksgiving break
• Dec. 9: Best of the West, where outgoing board members will be honored
• Dec. 21–Jan. 1: Christmas break
• Jan. 4: Teacher-only day. Students return Jan. 5.

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