ReNEW is vacating the former McNair Elementary School at 1607 S. Carrollton Ave. (via Google Maps)
The Lycée Français de la Nouvelle Orleans board voted Monday to submit a letter of interest to acquire the soon-to-be-closed McNair campus in the Carrollton neighborhood.
The ReNEW charter system was operating two programs at the former Ronald G. McNair Elementary School at 1607 S. Carrollton Ave.: a pre-kindergarten program and a therapeutic day program for children with behavioral disorders.
A report by Marta Jewson in The Lens states ReNEW quietly made plans to close the campus and send the day program students, described on the ReNEW website as third- to fifth-grade “students with complex socioemotional and behavioral needs,” to ReNEW Schaumburg, about 12 miles away in New Orleans East.
ReNEW informed the district in March that it was vacating the building, The Lens reports, although the McNair programs were listed on OneApp for the 2019-20 school year.
Lycée Français, meanwhile, has been in expansion mode as it adds one grade per year in its quest to become the nation’s first tuition-free pre-K through 12th grade French immersion school. The school’s board decided at its April 22 meeting to initiate the process of taking over the building.
David Amoss, the Lycée Français board chairman, confirmed in an email that the school is informing the Orleans Parish School Board of its interest in McNair by the Friday, April 26, deadline.
“It would stand to reason though that having our campuses for our eventual 1,400 PreK-12th students in close proximity to each other is generally a desirable situation for our school,” Amoss stated. “Further, we have, through our use of the Johnson campus and our ownership of the Priestley building, signaled that this neighborhood/region is intended to be home long-term to a significant number of those students.”
The Johnson campus of Lycee Francais. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com file photo)
Uptown Messenger file photo
A Lycee Francais banner hangs from the roof at the former Priestley campus in July 2015. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com file photo)
The charter school moved grades three through eight into the James Weldon Johnson school building in Carrollton last year, despite misgivings from some parents about the safety of the neighborhood. In February, the school moved to extend its lease on the Johnson Street building.
The Johnson campus is mere blocks from the Alfred C. Priestley Junior High School building at 1619 Leonidas St., a building Lycée Français purchased in 2015 to use as a high school, after a major renovation and addition. The school plans to break ground on that project in the fall and move in for 2021-22 school year, Amoss said.
The designs for the building and addition have been competed, Amoss said, and the school is in talks with financial institutions to secure financing. A fundraising campaign is also in progress.
Amoss said Lycée Français is committed to the Carrollton and Leonidas neighborhoods. “We have developed partnerships with neighborhood groups, businesses and residents over the past several years that are very valuable to us, and we hope to continue those vital partnerships through our use of Johnson and our renovation of the long-vacant Priestly campus,” he stated. “It is important to us to continue to be a good neighbor and partner.”
The Patton Street campus
The McNair campus is four blocks from Priestley and six blocks from Johnson.
Lycée Français also has a campus for preschool through second grade on Patton Street near Audubon Park.
