Caddo School Board OKs attendance zones for Sunset Acres, Werner Park

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — After lengthy discussion and extensive questioning, Caddo School Board members decided Tuesday (May 7) on where about 450 students will attend class since their two schools are targeted for closure.

The vote was 6-4 for Sunset Elementary students to attend Westwood Elementary and for Werner Park Elementary students to attend Caddo Heights.

Sunset Elementary’s estimated 211 students will join about 304 students at Westwood Elementary, which has a capacity of 539 students.

And the 239 or so students at Werner Park will join an estimated 403 students at Caddo Heights, the latter of which has a capacity of 645 students.

The vote on the attendance zones comes in the wake of a decision Friday (May 3) to close two campuses, convert another school to a charter school and make some campus leadership changes.

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The actions are in response to a letter April 26 from the Louisiana Education Department and the Recovery School District with a request for action that will affect several campuses. The RSD has the authority to call for any school system with a campus rated as academically unacceptable for at least four consecutive years to develop a reconstitution plan or call for closure of the campus.

During the special School Board meeting Friday, the Education Department presented the plan to School Board members, who then voted on it. If the board had not approved the proposal by May 15, the state could have assumed control of the seven Caddo campuses that are rated as academically unacceptable.

As it stands, Caddo’s School Board voted 9-3 to approve the Education Department’s recommendation. The state’s plan calls for:

• Closing Sunset Acres and Werner Park elementary schools at the end of the 2023-24 academic year;

• Converting Fair Park Middle School to a charter school operated by Third Future Schools to open for the 2024-25 academic year; and,

• Changing leadership at Atkins and Bethune-Oak Park elementary schools, Broadmoor STEM Academy and Caddo Middle Career & Technology Center.