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'Something so beautiful,' WBR school officials share progress on new school construction
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PORT ALLEN — A $25 million renovation project is transforming Cohn Elementary into an intermediate school on the site where Cohn High School, the first high school in the parish for Black students before integration, once stood.
"A lot of our community has gone through Cohn in their childhood; they're getting to see new Cohn and what that's going to do for future generations," Superintendent Dr. Chandler Smith said.
Smith shared that phase one of the project was recently completed. When construction is finished, the campus will hold more than 500 students in grades three through eight.
Phase two is currently underway and includes a new enrichment building, library and media center.
"We'll be able to have a new enrichment facility with new band space, STEM, robotics, engineering, new art space, new music space, we're extremely excited," Smith said.
Some students who graduated from Cohn Elementary and later moved to Port Allen Middle School will return to Cohn next August when it opens fully as an intermediate school.
"They were here through the trenches, they were here with the old building, they were sitting on top of each other when they were here, now they get to experience this brand new environment," Principal Erikka Wishom said. "They get to come to something so beautiful."
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