Baton Rouge International School will close at the end of the school year

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – This week, officials announced that Baton Rouge International School (BRIS) will permanently close at the end of this school year after operating as a private International Baccalaureate (IB) World School. ) in Baton Rouge for over 20 years. years.

In a letter to students’ families, Sarah Graves cited a drastic drop in enrollment and the financial impact of natural disasters and the pandemic over the past three years as contributing to the decision to permanently close the school.

Graves is the Regional Managing Director of International Schools Partnership in the United States and Canada.

“From hurricanes and floods to the devastating effects of the pandemic across the geographic and socio-economic spectrum, this community has endured more in the past three years than most endure in a lifetime – your perseverance has been a inspiration to all of us,” Tombes said. “Unfortunately, these challenges have had particularly significant financial impacts on Baton Rouge’s education systems, and BRIS is unfortunately no different.”

Graves continued, “Despite the admirable efforts and goodwill of many people over the past few years, the situation at the school has continued to deteriorate. After the devastating drop in enrollment last year, we hoped to have enough students re-enrolled by the end of March to give us an indication of a better outcome for the 2022-2023 school year. Now well into April and more than 60% behind where we were this time last year, we have come to the painful determination that the school is no longer educationally viable. It is therefore with deep and profound sadness that I write to announce that the Baton Rouge International School will be permanently closing at the end of this school year.

School officials will do their best to help each re-enrolling student find an alternative option for the next school year, and current students in grades 10 and 11 will receive a scholarship for next year’s tuition in their next school, Graves said.

Teachers and staff will be offered opportunities to redeploy to other schools in the International School Partnership, where possible, Graves added.

“We will do our best to ensure that these last few months for BRIS and our students are full of all that is good and loved about school, so that when they leave at the end of term they can look back with love everything they’ve accomplished here,” Graves said. “While this is an extremely difficult decision for all of us, we hope the lasting memories of our BRIS community can be of the joyful times, personal growth and lasting friendships that have been made here.”

Click here to read the full letter announcing the closure of Baton Rouge International School.

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