BATON ROUGE - East Baton Rouge Parish school teachers were treated to their own 'back to school bash" at the Raising Cane's River Center Friday. 

It was a way to show appreciation to the teachers as they gear up for the first day of school next week. They enjoyed dancing, raffles, and food provided by the East Baton Rouge School System.

Newly appointed superintendent LaMont Cole was there to welcome them, and he says he's honored to get to meet the teachers face to face. 

"I'm really excited to talk to them, hear their concerns for the school year and then talk about making a great year for our students," Cole said. “These are our front line workers, so I’m honored to be with them today, for fellowship and to just have a little fun.”

Teachers and staff there praised LaMont Cole and said they are looking forward to starting the school year with him as superintendent. 

"Having LaMont Cole as our superintendent, it's a beautiful thing. Our teachers, our district, we're all excited that we have someone that's homegrown, and so we just look forward to him coming in and doing what he needs to do as we get started for this school year so we're super excited about that," said Andrea Simmons, with EBRSS Communications.  

East Baton Rouge Parish starts class August 8th.