By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Although the new elements of the building have been open for classes since the start of the second half of the school year, LaPlace Elementary celebrated its grand opening in style with a ceremony and open house Tuesday evening.

St. John the Baptist Parish School officials joined council members, parish leaders, school faculty and some past principals for the ribbon cutting on the front steps of the new school building.

“I think we are all elated to be a part this evening,” said School Board President Patrick Sanders. “This is a fantastic day for St. John and its future as the children of this school will now have a state-of-the-art facility to call their own.”

School Board member Lowell Bacas, who was a principal at LaPlace Elementary for 19 years, offered special thanks to the community, which voted for a $46 million bond issue in 2008 for the school system.

“It is a rare feat to have a bond proposition pass by a vote margin of two to one,” Bacas said. “The people of this parish care about the community and the education of its students, and now we have a beautiful building that students will enjoy for a number of years.”

LaPlace Elementary Principal Alison Cupit said the construction period, which lasted about 18 months, moved faster than she expected and added that the students and faculty took everything in stride.

“Everyone worked together as a team during the transition period,” Cupit said. “I feel like I have won an award with this beautiful school building.”

The renovations added a 55,000-square-foot two-story structure that replaced school buildings constructed in the 1960s. The renovations included a new media center with two separate computer rooms, color-coded hallways according to grade level, 12 new classrooms and a new fully functional cafeteria with a stage. Total cost of construction came in at about $9.7 million.

The new main building will be the home for third through sixth grades, and two renovated buildings in the back will be for kindergarten through second and seventh and eighth grades. The three buildings form a quadrangle in the middle of the grounds with green space for activities.

Floyd Luster, a project manager for CSRS, the consulting firm in charge of the project, said there are still some tweaks that need to be made that will wrap up before the end of the year.

“We are still finishing the parent drop off driveway as well as some other walkways and canopies,” Luster said. “We will also be assembling gates to line the school for added security. Those will start going up next week.”