Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Louisiana District Prepares for Three Facilities for Rebuilds

  • By Matt Jones
  • 02/14/22

The Lafayette Parish School System in Lafayette, La., announced this week that it has selected construction companies for three rebuilding projects within its district. According to local news, J.B. Mouton LLC has been named the construction manager at risk for renovations to Carencro Heights Elementary and Prairie Elementary. The Lemo1ne Company has been selected as the construction manager at risk for the Truman Early Education Center. The two firms were named after a unanimous vote at a school board meeting last week.

The Truman Early Education Center will move from its current location to a new, 10.5-acre property whose purchase the district approved in December 2021 for $2.3 million. Funding for the project is coming from $26.5 million in ESSER III funds; local news reports that the project qualifies because it will meet COVID-19 health and safety standards in a way that the current campus cannot.

“It has been somewhat of a rose bush in the forest,” said board member Elroy Broussard. “It’s hidden. Nobody knows it’s there. Unless you’re going there, you don’t know it’s there. When parents are looking for someplace to send their kid, they thing about every other school—but they don’t think about Truman.”

Broussard said he hopes the increased visibility at the school’s new location will help boost enrollment and increase community awareness of the facility.

Carencro Heights and Prairie Elementaries, meanwhile, have been tagged for replacement since the district’s 2010 facilities master plan. Carencro Heights’ rebuild will occur at its current site and on a 10.5-acre property next door that the school board bought in 2018. Prairie will also move to a new location, a 22-acre property also purchased in 2018. Both the Carencro Heights and Prairie rebuilds are estimated to cost about $22 million each, according to the school board’s agenda from last week’s meeting.

The architects for each of the three projects have also been announced. Grace Hebert Curtis and DLR Group will work on Truman, Barras Architects on Carencro and Poché Prouet Associates will work on Prairie.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Secret to Efficient, On-Time School Infrastructure & Modernization Projects is All in the Preparation

    Warmer weather and longer days make summer the ideal time for construction and modernization projects at educational facilities. School boards and construction firms must coordinate effectively to ensure that these projects do not extend even a single day into the school year and impede classroom operation.

  • Building Beyond Simulation: Creating Immersive Ecosystems for Healthcare Education

    Health sciences education is one of the fastest-growing facility types in colleges and universities. The demand for medical, nursing, and allied health professionals is driving the creation and renovation of medical simulation training facilities that provide students with real-world experience through advanced simulation-based learning.

  • Spaces4Learning Announces 2026 Product Award Winners

    Spaces4Learning has just announced the winners of the 2026 Product Awards! The award program spotlights outstanding product development achievements of manufacturers and suppliers whose products or services are considered to be particularly noteworthy in their ability to enhance K–12 and higher-education learning environments.

  • Houston-Area High School Receives Best Project Award from ENR

    Tomball West High School near Houston, Texas, recently received a K–12 Education Best Project Award in Engineering News-Record’s 2026 Texas & Southeast Best Projects Awards, according to a press release. The new facility was completed in May and opened its doors to students for the fall 2026 semester.