School board considers turning Mayfair Middle into elementary lab school

The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board will take up a proposal Thursday to begin planning for the conversion of Mayfair Middle School into an elementary school modeled after the LSU Laboratory School. “Basically, we’ll be trying to replicate that program,” says school system spokeswoman Susan Nelson. The agenda item calls for spending an estimated $190,000 to begin planning for the conversion to an elementary and lab school, which Nelson says would entail working with LSU Laboratory School officials to “use their methodology and have some of their teachers train our teachers.” If approved, the conversion to an elementary lab school would take place in August. Mayfair Middle School currently serves students in grades 6 through 8. After the change, the school would likely educate those in kindergarten through fifth grade, but Nelson says the specifics of the transformation have yet to be finalized. Baton Rouge currently has two laboratory schools, one at LSU and one at Southern University. Nelson says a third lab school could help the LSU Laboratory School decrease the number of students on its waiting list. The board meeting starts at 5 p.m. Thursday and will take place at 1050 S. Foster Dr. You can see the complete agenda here.—Steve Sanoski