Baker board to add grades to magnet school

BAKER, La. (AP) - The Baker School Board has approved adding sixth, seventh and eighth grades to Park Ridge Academic Magnet, making it a K-8 school.

The Advocate reports (https://bit.ly/1d3X1dM ) the board approved the measure in a 3-2 vote Tuesday.

School administrators said adding three grades to Park Ridge will cost the district $433,000.

The proposal calls for hiring five new teachers, a guidance counselor, assistant principal, band teacher, two paraprofessionals and clerk at a cost of $350,000.

Educational and other supplies would cost $28,000, library materials would be $9,000 and furniture would cost $3,500.

Food service and restroom facilities also will require $42,000 in upgrades, according to the proposal.

The new classes would be held in existing classrooms at Park Ridge.

Watson asked where the money would come from. “The state will provide the money,” Superintendent Ulysses Joseph said. “We just have to have the numbers, the enrollment.”

Park Ridge has 168 students enrolled. Ninety students will be added to the school, 30 in each new grade.

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Information from: The Advocate, https://theadvocate.com