Concession stands to cost $500,000
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NEW IBERIA — Money, new schools, square footage and millages were all topics of discussion Wednesday at the regular Iberia Parish School Board meeting.
The meeting was held at the newly constructed North Lewis Street Elementary. It included a tour of the 77,000-square foot school, which boasts 40 regular education classrooms and cost $10 million.
“I wish everyone in the community could come and see what their tax money is doing,” said retired Jeanerette Elementary teacher Janet Buford.
North Lewis originally opened as Elizabeth Fogey Elementary in 1956. Patricia Broussard, 80, the only surviving teacher from the school’s original staff, toured the new building.
“It’s different,” Broussard said. “It’s a nice school, but ours was lovely too.”
The board was also presented with a $500,000 price tag for the construction of concession stands at New Iberia Senior High and Delcambre High. The cost raised eyebrows, but general manager of maintenance Harry Lopez Jr. said the cost reflects governmental regulations, including elevation criteria for the flood-zoned area.
“What kind of concession stands are we building?” asked board member Elvin Pradia. “The Taj Mahal don’t cost that much.”
Lopez added that concrete blocks would be used in the place of sheetrock, and that also contributes to the cost — as do demolition, air-conditioning, sewer, sinks, storage, new water lines and electrical service which were also written into the amount.
The concession stand project was approved with Pradia casting the lone opposing vote.
“I’m not opposing the project, I’m just opposing the cost of the project,” she said.
The board also unanimously approved $60 million in new bonds for an ambitious capital improvement program which would include the construction of two new schools. The first school would combine the Hopkins Street Elementary and Johnston Street Elementary schools, and the second would replace the current Loreauville Elementary School.
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