LAFAYETTE PARISH, La. () — Founded nearly 100 years ago, Duson Elementary now faces possible closure. Mayor Johnny Thibodeaux said this could have a drastic impact on the community.

"It's going to have an effect on our kids if they have to eventually shut our school down and go to another school," Thibodeaux said.

According to the mayor, the Lafayette School Board received recommendations from the firm Civic Solutions Group to evaluate the district's operations. The board received advice from the firm to possibly close multiple schools in the district — one of those being Duson Elementary.

A recent meeting included members of the community and the school board to discuss the possibility of the closure.

"[We were] jam-packed at our town meeting. We had people standing up. We had just standing room only. Then we had another meeting Wednesday at the Duson Elementary School... both of those went well," the mayor said.

Although this is only a recommendation, the mayor said the possibility of the school's closure will impact everyone, especially the more than 230 students at the school.

"To be thrown into the mix of things. It's [going to] kind of have a psychological effect on some of these kids. Hopefully, we can get this resolved and everything's going to be all right," he said.

There will be another meeting on Oct. 29 to further discuss the issue and the school board will cast its final votes on whether or not the school will close down on Nov. 20.

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