IBERVILLE PARISH - The Iberville Parish School District has spent about $25 million on renovations for multiple schools.

For starters, there is a new cafeteria under construction at Dorseyville Elementary, which costs about $4.4 million.

"Our previous cafeteria is a little outdated, we have some new equipment coming in for our kitchen that's going to be the latest and greatest," said Principal Kelli Barbee. "We have high tech, we have a bigger area to provide our kids with as well as open it up to our community and our partners like our parents to come in.

"We will have a band room attached to it that will also allow us to have productions or programs in our new cafeteria."

Another big project is the brand new sports complex that is near completion at Plaquemine High School.

The complex will be the home to the baseball and softball teams. One of the biggest changes will be the artificial turf as opposed to the grass field they've been playing on. Baseball head coach Seth Montz says the new field will relieve a lot of stress for both the teams and coaches. 

"Taking care of the field as a baseball coach, when you have grass and dirt, it's a really big job and once you get that turf field, that's a lot taken off your shoulders," Montz said.

East Iberville High School is also getting upgrades in the athletic department. The district just broke ground on a $3.8 million field house for the St Gabriel campus. The field house will come with a state-of-the-art weight room, coaching offices, and locker rooms for boys' and girls' sports. 

"It's going to help to build champions in the classroom as well as on the playing field," Athletic Director Mark Brown said.

Lastly, there is a lot of work happening at White Castle High School, with a brand-new gym set to be ready for November 2024. The gym is costing the district a total of $8.5 million. The new structure is going to help the school and the boys' and girls' teams.

"It's more functional use than anything, obviously," Brown said. "The new gym is nice but on a day-to-day basis, it helps us out with practice, in our P.E. classes. It's really exciting and it's really going to make our day a whole lot easier."