LAFAYETTE PARISH — After months of planning and approval, the Lafayette Parish School System is heading into a summer of renovations, repairs, and major campus reassignments — part of an ambitious repurposing plan expected to impact nearly 5,000 students.
Summer 2025 will bring sweeping changes across the district as crews begin work on a wide-ranging optimization effort. The campuses seeing the greatest impact include Katharine Drexel Elementary, S.J. Montgomery Elementary, Lafayette Middle School and Lafayette High School.
"We're talking about making sure that those spaces are ready when the doors open in August 2025," said LPSS spokesperson Tracy Wirtz.
Approved by the school board in late 2024, the plan is aimed at reducing operational costs and addressing declining enrollment across Lafayette Parish. Work includes everything from infrastructure upgrades to full-scale demolition.
“We have a very finite window to move three schools — to completely move them,” Wirtz said.
“S.J. Montgomery, essentially Lafayette Middle — which will be a move-out, move-in situation — and Katharine Drexel, very similar. It is very daunting. The scope of work is incredible.”
What’s Changing?
- Katharine Drexel Elementary will become a pre-K-only campus.
- S.J. Montgomery Elementary will be shut down and demolished.
- Its students will transfer to Lafayette Middle, which is being converted into an elementary school.
Lafayette High School is being prepared for the upcoming year and is set to receive a new athletic complex.
"At Lafayette High, they have to get all the new furniture in and get ready for the teachers and the students to get in there," Wirtz said.
LPSS says construction on the new Lafayette High athletic complex could begin as early as this fall, though a firm completion date has not been set.
At S.J. Montgomery, crews are currently conducting asbestos abatement inside the walls — a required step before demolition. Once complete, the district plans to begin construction of Lafayette High’s athletic facility on that site.
“I think all of us are a little bit overwhelmed about the level of activity that needs to happen,” Wirtz added.
“We’re talking about entire school buildings of furniture that house these students. We’re talking about playground equipment — and a lot of things that need to happen.”
District leaders say this summer marks one of the most ambitious transitions in LPSS history, with complex logistics required to move multiple schools simultaneously.
Officials confirm that parents were notified in advance about the changes and how they would affect their children.
For more information, visit LPSS’s website.
