Jeannie A

Central Community School System

The Central Community School System opened on July 1, 2007, becoming only the third new school system to be created in Louisiana in the past 100 years. The system gained ownership of four aging schools formerly within the East Baton Rouge Parish School System—Bellingrath Hills Elementary, Tanglewood Elementary, Central Middle, and Central High. Due to overcrowding issues, the district rented the campus formerly housing private Starkey Academy to become the temporary home to Central Intermediate School. In August 2012, the $46 million Central Intermediate and Central Middle School opened on a shared campus on Sullivan Road. This alleviated the need to lease a campus for thousands of Central Intermediate students and allowed the students at the old Central Middle site the use of a facility that was free of condemned buildings and safety hazards. At the outset of the 2015-16 academic year, the Ninth Grade Academy building opened its doors on the north side of the high school campus. The opening of this institution reduced crowding at the main high school facility by roughly one-fourth, while providing a close-knit environment for students making the transition from middle to high school. As the rains fell during the flood of August 2016, Tanglewood Elementary took on several feet of water. Students were temporarily housed on the Central Intermediate and Central Middle campus until Tanglewood Elementary, completely renovated on the interior, re-opened in January 2017. When the district opened in 2007, it serviced about 3,300 students. Now, Central Community School System has grown to over 4,800 students.