In the cafeteria of L. Leo Judice Elementary School in early October, a student proudly introduced Brownie, the school guinea pig, as it ruffled through a heap of straw. Prospective families, visiting the school on its open house day, ducked under colorful cascades of paper jellyfish.
“They get everything that they get at every other school, right? But over here, they’re going to learn about nature and they’re going to be able to get their hands dirty, and learn some skills that they can use forever,” says Paula Guidry, Magnet Academy Director for the Environmental Program and science lab teacher at L. Leo Judice.
As parents make plans for the 2027-2028 school year, LPSS’s 19 magnet academies, located in 21 schools across the district, offer supplementary curriculums to traditional public educational paths. In recent years, the district has highlighted magnet programs as providing a competitive edge over charter schools, amidst declining student enrollment. Placement in the magnet programs is determined by a randomized lottery system, which parents can enter until December 15.
At L. Leo Judice Elementary, students engage in progressively more complex ways with the natural world. Kindergarteners have an easier time of it — “Kindergartners are just our nature explorers,” says Guidry.
First graders are the litter patrol, — “so they wear superhero capes and they go outside and we have grabbers and they help me pick up litter around the neighborhood.” Second grade students are the veterinarians, helping take care of the science lab’s pets. The third graders take on the task of meteorology, running the school’s weather station. By fourth grade, students are working on the school’s vegetable garden in partnership with LSU AgCenter.
Environmental education is woven through students’ time at L. Leo Judice — from cooking classes, to monthly lessons in native plants, to class trips to farms and Baton Rouge’s Science Museum. The school’s low-slung campus hosts a vegetable garden, pollinator garden, and native plants.
Until the lottery closes on December 15, Lafayette families can enter their children into consideration for a selection of elementary, middle school and high school programs. Specializations range from environmental science to arts, French immersion, STEM, and legal studies. Five schools in the system — like L. Leo Judice Elementary — are fully lottery-based, meaning the entire school is a magnet academy. Those schools reserve 25% of their spots for students in the vicinity.
Most programs, however, are housed within larger school buildings — like the broadcast journalism program at Northside High. Applicants to those programs will also come through the lottery system, while the larger student body will come from the neighborhood.
Results from the randomized lottery will be available in February, after which LPSS will contact parents or guardians to notify them, says Tracy Wirtz, the Communications Director for LPSS. If a family’s first choice is not available, they may be offered a spot at their second choice academy.
For families that are not offered a spot and schools that still have availability, a second round of applications will open two weeks after the initial lottery placement. That round of selection will be first come, first serve, from the time that LPSS determines.
As LPSS has faced declining student enrollment in recent years, due in part to the expansion of charter schools in the district, magnet programs offer an avenue to compete with the charters.
“When you think about it, this is what sets us apart. This is what makes us different,” says Chris Broussard, the director of Career and Technical Education/Magnet Academies at LPSS. “We have these academy offerings, and it’s a very diverse group of academies. If you’re truly interested, you’re going to find something in what we have to offer.”
“The charter schools may offer electives, but the question that I would ask as a parent is: ‘Do you offer that truly immersive opportunity, or the pathway to continue from K through 12?’” adds Wirtz. Some magnet programs, like French immersion or arts, allow students to continue that educational track from elementary through high school.
Decisions regarding the development of new magnet academy programs, as well as funding for those programs, are made by the school board.
For parents not sure how to decide on a program for elementary-aged children, Broussard says, they can consider the longer pathways that the system offers. “You may sign up for French immersion at one of the schools and then realize that’s not for you. But you also may get there and be like, ‘this is the greatest thing in the world.’ And then you actually have a path that you can follow where you go from that elementary school to middle school, and immersion continues, and then actually to high school,” he says.
Magnet programs hosted an open house and showcases in early October. But families, Broussard emphasized, are encouraged to arrange tours with any schools they’re interested in throughout the semester.
This year, the district increased enrollment at L. Leo Judice by 45 students. For a school that had 378 students last year, the increase was noticeable.
Now with 425 students, says Principal Mia Lemaire, the school is at capacity. Lemaire has been principal for 14 years. Last year, LPSS named her Elementary Principal of the Year. L. Leo Judice — which ranks at consistently excellent levels for the district — has something special, aided in part by its small class sizes.
The school still faces challenges, Lemaire says. The campus was built 75 years ago to house 175 students. The school has temporary, portable metal structures that date back to the 1970s, and aging buildings face continued electrical and plumbing issues.
Despite the aging facilities, Lemaire says as she passes one of the temporary structures, schools are valuable for far more than their buildings.
“The teacher who’s in there says…‘I will come to the sweatbox in the summer and the ice chest in the winter, but I’m okay because I don’t want to be anywhere else,’” she says.
That commitment is what makes the school special, Lemaire says, but she’s aware of the competition. “Parents have a lot of options. Many more options than we did when I was growing up.”
