Zachary Schools Update

What You Get For the Money: How Tax

Dollars Have Improved Zachary Schools

By Adonica Duggan

Zachary Community Schools

Four years ago this month, voters in the Zachary Community School District voted to approve a $39 million bond issue to improve the condition of the schools for our students. Since that time, a lot has changed.

The district’s student population has grown more than 25 percent, the district has achieved No. 1 in the state’s accountability program for two years, Hurricane Katrina has dramatically changed our state, and other communities have followed Zachary’s lead by establishing independent school districts based on the successful model seen here.

We have also seen the opening of two brand new schools in our district in that time. The district’s first new school, Copper Mill Elementary opened in the Fall of 2006. This state-of-the-art facility houses the district’s 4^th and 5^th grade students. Copper Mill Elementary was built at a cost of $9,304,216.40.

Second and 3^rd graders at Zachary Elementary School may have also noted a few changes. The learning environment got a bit brighter with the upgrading of classroom lighting. There was also a new classroom building addition, administration area and library media center included in the $1.6 million spent there.

The $2.4 million spent at Northwestern Elementary School included the purchase and remodeling of a new Early Learning Center, kitchen renovations and additions, a new classroom building, and library media center.

Projects at Zachary High School include a new classroom addition with 14 classrooms, a new front office administrative area, computer labs and two new science labs were completed. The addition adds 35,000 square feet of much-needed space to the high school. Other enhancements include a new 16,000 square foot state-of-the-art industrial arts facility to contain classrooms and shop spaces for various alternative curricula, a stadium expansion of 800 seats and a new artificial surface on the football field and track.

The new Northwestern Middle School was built to house 1000 students. The 105,000 square foot facility cost $16,394,322.03 not including renovations of existing gym and theatre. Students were welcomed back to a new a radically different space.