Board votes to close two elementary schools

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BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Two East Baton Rouge Parish Schools with outdated buildings and declining student populations will close next year. The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board voted to close Banks and Brookstown Elementary Schools at a meeting on Thursday night.

Banks Elementary School was originally scheduled to close after the approval of the 2003 Tax Plan, but after Hurricane Katrina closing the school was postponed.

Students from Banks Elementary School will attend assigned: Delmont, Claiborne, or Progress Elementary Schools. Superintendent John Dilworth says Banks Elementary School will be used as swing space for students who may be displaced by the construction of a new Progress Elementary School.

"It's always tough to close a school. It's emotional and it's tough but these are the types of decisions I'll have to recommend in the future," said Superintendent John Dilworth.

Students currently attending Brookstown Elementary School will go to the new Claiborne Elementary school scheduled to open in August, 2011.