St. James Board Votes To Close Elementary School

LUTCHER, La. (AP) — The St. James Parish School Board has voted to close Romeville Elementary School and send its 88 students to Paulina Elementary School in August.

The school board also voted Tuesday to declare the school as excess property and agreed to put the building up for sale.

Officials told The Advocate the decision to close the school was difficult, but encroaching industrial growth and a decreasing neighborhood population forced the School Board to examine the economic feasibility of keeping the school open.

Romeville Elementary, near Convent in the rural community of Romeville, has students enrolled in first through sixth grades.

Superintendent Alonzo Luce said Paulina Elementary School, about 12 miles away, has 563 students enrolled in prekindergarten through sixth-grade classes.