ST. AMANT - Parents in Ascension Parish showed up Monday afternoon to participate in a discussion about the future of the school district when Prairieville High School joins the school system.

Ascension Parish is growing rapidly. The addition of this new school aims to alleviate some of the overcrowding at other schools in in the parish, while providing the opportunity for continued growth in enrollment.

"All our high schools are 2,000 or more. Once this is done all four high schools on the east bank will hopefully be around 1,800. It's going to make it more manageable. I've been at Dutchtown for the last eight years and to see what the overcrowding has done to that area. To be able to alleviate that overcrowding I think will help with Dutchtown as well as grow a new school," Prairieville High School Principal Randy Loving said.

An informational meeting was held on Monday at St. Amant High School for parents to voice their opinions about the three proposed redistricting plans. It was the first of three meetings this week for parents to talk with school officials about the changes being proposed.

"I think it's important to get parent's input because [school officials are] looking at it from a statistical standpoint and we're looking at it for our kids," parent Tabitha Wheat said.

"We want to always have a good partnership with our community, our students, our parents so this matters. It's not enough for us to just use internal stats, we need to go out and see what other people's ideas are," Superintendent David Alexander said.

Two big concerns were answered tonight by school officials. Only incoming freshman will have to attend the school in their district after 2024. Upperclassmen will have the choice to stay at their current school or move to the assigned school for their new district.

For those concerned about extracurriculars at Prairieville High School, Principal Randy Loving said they are awaiting approval from the LHSAA but intend to offer everything for the students. 

"We're going to offer as many sports as we can offer for the staffing that we have, so we are going to have athletics at our school and the same thing about other extracurricular activities. We're going to sit down with our kids throughout the course of the year and see what we can offer them to give them a true high school experience," Loving said.

Two more meetings are scheduled this week, one tomorrow at East Ascension High School and another on Wednesday at Dutchtown High School. Both start at 6 p.m.