An elementary school located just a few hundred yards from an industrial plant that emits a chemical that could cause cancer will close next school year, the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board voted Thursday, a historic decision that follows a long push for action from environmental organizations and community activists.

The 300 kindergarten through fourth-grade students who attend Fifth Ward Elementary School on the reservation will transfer to two schools in the district.

The school board’s decision to close the school arrived in the middle of a series of legal battles involving the future of Fifth Ward Elementary, as well as the federal government Environmental Protection Agency. Denka Performance Elastomer, located near the elementary school, is the only facility in the country to emit chloroprene, classified as a probable carcinogen by the EPA.

The school is also in a U.S. census area where the risk of cancer from air pollution is the highest in the country, according to an EPA report. The federal agency sent a letter in 2022 to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality suggesting that Black residents in the area were subjected to adverse health effects because of Denka.

Average chloroprene emissions in August at the two fence monitors closest to the school were more than four times the figure the EPA warned about in its 2022 letter.

The Tokyo-based synthetic rubber manufacturing company makes products such as gloves and suits.

The school board meeting became tense at times, as members argued over the school’s future and questioned whether the planning committee that initially approved the closure had been transparent.

Raydel Morris, who represents the district where Fifth Ward is located, opposed its closure and expressed concerns that the physical building would be left abandoned after the school closed. He added that if the school closure was for “chemical reasons”, moving students to one of the neighboring schools would not have an effect on air pollution risks.

“We take them from the front yard to the back yard,” he said.

Most of the heated discussions revolved around transparency and economics. The school has declining enrollment and is operating at less than 50 percent capacity, a board member noted.

But legal battles and the neighboring chemical plant were looming. Nia Mitchell-Williams, who voted in favor of closing the school, noted that if they didn’t make a decision, the board would leave the future of Fifth Ward in the hands of a judge.

“That’s the real elephant in the room,” Mitchell-Williams said.

The formerly segregated black school will see its final term this year, and in the 2025-2026 school year, students will attend either East St. John Preparatory or LaPlace Elementary School. The motion was adopted by 7 votes to 4.

After closing, East St. John Preparatory will be renamed Fifth Ward Preparatory, to preserve the name and history of the originally segregated, all-black school. Mitchell-Williams made the motion at the request of the school’s alumni, she said.

The Future of the Fifth Ward

The vote comes after a federal judge in New Orleans heard arguments in a desegregation case against the St. John school board in late October. Lawyers with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund argued that Fifth Ward should be closed and its students transferred to LaPlace Elementary School four miles away.

While civil rights attorneys applauded the decision to close the school, they opposed the school board’s plan to divide students between East St. John Preparatory Academy, a middle school, and LaPlace Elementary School .

Victor Jones, an attorney with the Legal Defense Fund, said East St. John Prep is still located too close to the Denka plant and is not designed for younger elementary school children. The Legal Defense Fund wants all Fifth Ward students and teachers to stay together and move to LaPlace Elementary. The lawyers also want the Fifth Ward to be closed immediately.

“We won’t be satisfied until the school is closed,” Jones said.