St. Landry Parish approves two charter schools to be located near Opelousas
An application for two proposed, newly-constructed, Opelousas-area charter schools was approved unanimously Thursday night by the St. Landry Parish School Board.
The schools which will lean heavily on artificial intelligence, medical field instruction and agriculture and energy curricula, plan to establish a partnership agreement with Helix Community Schools, which operates similar campuses in Baton Rouge and the St. Landry School District.
Helix Community Schools president Preston Castille, who finished his high school education in St. Landry public schools, said two charter schools that will be located somewhere near Opelousas, have been authorized to begin as kindergarten-through-eighth-grade campuses.
He and officials associated with Helix Community Schools, appeared before an academic committee last week before making a final presentation on Thursday night.
Castille estimated that costs for each of the 70,000 square-foot schools will be about $26 million. Each of the schools will require at least 10 acres of property that has not been purchased.
During the committee meeting Castille said Helix officials have been considering several tracts to purchase and both schools will be located in Opelousas. Their campuses may not necessarily be contiguous.
Costs for construction will not involve any revenue from parish property taxes or the school district, he said. Funding will originate from private investment and grant funding.
Castille told the Board Thursday night that the St. Landry school project has already received a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education
Following the vote, board members symbolically signed a construction-style hardhat that board vice-president Joyce Haynes presented to Castille.
Board member Raymond Cassimere, who visited the Helix aviation school Thursday in Baton Rouge, said he thinks the Helix charter schools will provide an impact for Opelousas-area public school students.
“I think what we are doing will bring about a great change in our school system and I am looking forward to that,” Cassimere said.
Castille said the Helix Schools management team recognized an opportunity for building the schools in March after 75 percent of parish property owners turned down a bond proposal that would have paid for new public schools in Opelousas and two other areas of St. Landry.
Residents have been leaving the Opelousas area and moving elsewhere, a demographic trend that Castille thinks the new schools will help reverse.
“I spoke with (Opelousas Mayor Julius Alsandor) the other day and he told me that Opelousas has lost 25 to 30 percent of its population. We’re saying to those who left and found what they thought were greener pastures, that we want them to come back,” he said.
The charter schools will operate, Castille said, as Type 1 charters, which means that routine oversight for their operation will be performed by the St. Landry Parish school district.
Tony Daspit, a UL-Lafayette education professor hired by the district to evaluate the Helix Schools applications, recommended that the charter schools begin as kindergarten through fifth-grade campuses.
Daspit, who acknowledged in his written evaluation that the Helix models were innovative, did not make a presentation on Thursday night, although he attended the meeting.
According to the charter school company, the schools should take about 15 months construction time.
This article originally appeared on Opelousas Daily World: St. Landry Parish approves Helix schools to open two charter schools
