Audubon Charter School is planning a midwinter move to a temporary campus on the site of the former Jean Gordon Elementary School in Gentilly to accommodate renovations to its Broadway campus, its governing board has decided.
After an Annunciation Street lot in the Lower Garden District was deemed too heavily contaminated by lead to be suitable for a temporary campus, the Jean Gordon site at 6101 Chatham Drive was one of four options considered by Audubon’s board. At a meeting in July, parents and teachers had a generally favorable opinion of the Jean Gordon site, voting it as a strong second choice after the possibility of the St. James Major campus owned by the Archdiocese of New Orleans after Hynes Charter School moves out in December.
Carlos Zervigon, vice-president of the French and Montessori Education board that governs Audubon Charter, wrote in a letter to the Orleans Parish School Board that a “budget and program analysis” determined that the Jean Gordon site “would best meet Audubon’s needs and would also be financially viable.” The letter stipulates that the environmental studies of the site have pronounced it “clean.”
The renovations to the Broadway campus are expected to take two years, and could begin after students move out over the winter break.
The FAME board’s regularly scheduled August meeting is set for at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Carrollton campus.
I’m curious, why was St. James Major rejected? Is another school moving into there?
Julie, I don’t know the answer to that. At the meeting this morning, I was actually trying to confirm that the Carrollton campus will get renovations, and didn’t have a chance to ask about St. James Major. Here’s the article: https://uptownmessenger.com/2011/08/audubon-charter-school-governing-board-august-meeting/