BATON ROUGE - Longtime charter school J.K Haynes Elementary is in talks to close its doors at the end of the semester. School Board members met with parents and teachers inside the school's auditorium Monday night, discussing what would happen if the plan went through.

Teachers were notified last week of the potential closure along with letters being sent to parents as well.

WBRZ spoke with EBR School Board President Carla Powell-Lewis, who said inspections indicated these facilities are not suitable for students.

"People deserve a decent place to work, people deserve a decent place to learn and this facility definitely needs as many repairs as possible," Lewis said.

The school board's director of communication, Taylor Gast, says there are better facilities within the parish for their students. The broken sidewalks, outdated ventilation, and floodable playgrounds as well as an underwhelming enrollment of less than 130 students played a role in these plans.

Staff, students, and parents have been recommended to report to Scotlandville Middle if they are in sixth grade, and for those in K-5, to report to Ryan Elementary next year. Gast told WBRZ that the school board's goal is to make sure the students and staff are supported.

"Ryan Elementary is also pretty under capacity at the moment, so they definitely have the space, and with the teachers transitioning with students, there's going to be a smooth transition," Gast said.