Baton Rouge High grand re-opening Thursday | Business

The East Baton Rouge Parish School System and its School Board will celebrate the grand re-opening of the newly renovated Baton Rouge Magnet High School Thursday evening, Aug. 23 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.  on site with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.  The school, under the leadership of Principal Nanette McCann, opened on the district’s first day of school, August 8, after students and faculty were housed during the two-year renovation at the old Lee High School campus. 

The event is free and open to the public.

The school’s project cost was $58.2 million, which included renovating the historic main school and adding four new structures behind the original main building, plus a courtyard with an open-air theater. The renovations and additional instruction space more than tripled the square footage of the campus. The existing building retained 111,742 square feet, and the new buildings add more than 220,000 square feet. The main campus now totals about 331,742 square feet and includes 49 classrooms and 25 specialty classrooms.

These specialty classrooms feature multipurpose areas for dance and ballet and music recording rooms, an outdoor stage, art classrooms and two blackbox performance centers.  There also is a new track and soccer field, two gyms, a large new student cafeteria, a special area to house the school’s radio station and modern library/media center and more. 

Great pains were taken to preserve much of the historical significance of the four-story existing building, which was constructed in 1926.  The original large windows in the auditorium were uncovered from a layer of mortar to reveal their unique arched molding and bring in more light. The Louisiana State Seal also was preserved and restored in the floor tile of the original lobby.

CSRS Architects/Engineers, Chenevert Architects and MAPP General Contractors were involved in the construction project.

Self-guided tours of the campus will begin immediately after the ribbon cutting. Students and faculty will be placed throughout the building to answer any questions and provide directions if needed. The event will take place in the auditorium in the event of inclement weather.