Original Research by School Decision on Glen Oaks Middle School (redesign Schools La)
Glen Oaks Middle School (Redesign Schools LA) operated as a single-school independent charter district serving sixth through eighth grade in East Baton Rouge Parish, but it has effectively closed. The school ceased operations as of June 30, 2024, and families in the Glen Oaks and Zion City area no longer have this charter middle school option. The charter school board voted to rename the school Zion City School, after the historically Black neighborhood where the relocated campus sits, but that name change came as the school shut down. Residual equity is being negotiated for repayment to the Louisiana Department of Education.
At the time of its last reported enrollment, the school was small. The student body was predominantly Black, with a small Hispanic population and no white or Asian students enrolled. The school had roughly equal counts of students across grades six, seven, and eight, which is typical for a middle school of this size. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility data, special education identification rates, and English learner counts were not reported in the available data, leaving an incomplete picture of the student support needs at the school.
No state assessment results were available for this entity, so there is no way to describe academic performance in reading, math, or other tested subjects. The comparison data among East Baton Rouge Parish's districts shows that the school's chronic absenteeism rate placed it in the bottom quartile, meaning a very high share of students were missing significant amounts of school. That rate was notably higher than the midpoint among the parish's districts, which is a soft spot a parent considering similar settings may want to investigate further with the school. The per-pupil current spending was in the upper range of the parish's districts, reflecting a relatively high level of expenditure for a small school.
The school's governance was as an independent charter district, which meant it operated separately from the larger East Baton Rouge Parish school system. The directory shows only one school under this district, Zion City School A Redesign School, which was the same entity under a different name. Given that the school has closed, this district no longer serves students in the area.
In summary, this was a small, predominantly Black middle school that ran as its own charter district in East Baton Rouge Parish, with no available academic performance data and a high chronic absenteeism rate. It has since closed, and families looking for a middle school in the Glen Oaks or Zion City area will need to seek options in the broader parish school system or other nearby charter schools.
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