PORT ALLEN - On Tuesday, teachers set up inside Cohn Intermediate, the newest school in West Baton Rouge Parish, for the first time, as the school will open its doors to students on August 6 for the 2026-27 school year.

The school will be full of approximately 250 students in grades three through five. Its principal, Erikka Wishom, says it's surreal to begin work in the brand new facility.

"The anticipation of the building and knowing that it's here, it's real. It's surreal. It's something the students deserve, and they need. Showing up to school in a brand new building. It makes you feel like you're wanted," Wishom said.

The parish school system says this new modern building will enhance the education experience with amenities like an interactive board in every classroom and better audio systems.

"We've put a new system here called audio enhancement, so in every classroom, the teacher will have a teacher mic. It will allow kids to hear even in the back of the classroom. It has a speaker system throughout the building," WBR Schools Superintendent Dr. Chandler Smith said.

However, the new campus will still keep parts of the old Cohn campus.

"The cafeteria is not being torn down; it's being renovated, so new lights, new paint, new flooring," Wishom said.

The third through fifth wing is just one part of a much larger project at the Cohn campus. Starting next year, Cohn Intermediate will accommodate students in third through 8th grade.

"This is just phase one. Phase 2 will have a new enrichment building, which will have our library, our media center. Our arts, our music, our band, STEM. (There's ) The middle school wing, which will have another 250 students in that building and a brand new gym," Smith said.

While third, fourth and fifth grade students begin next week, students in grades six through eight will be at Port Allen Middle School as Cohn's middle school wing is expected to open for the 2027-28 school year.

Port Allen Middle School will then serve a new purpose.

"That will become our Early College Academy, so we will have dual enrollment courses there, associate degrees, and do computer science courses," Smith said.

This is part of a series of new schools or renovations that have gone on for the parish school system over the last several years.

"Every community will have one brand new school," Smith said. "Brusly High School, we finished that five years ago. Port Allen will get Cohn Intermediate, and then our Erwinville Community got Caneview, which is a K-8 school."

Smith says there are still a few to go.

"We have renovations that we're doing to Brusly Upper, Lukeville; we're going to expand to get a new gym and cafeteria, and then other small renovations throughout," Smith said.

When construction for the Cohn campus is finished, Port Allen Elementary will be for students in Head Start through second grade, Cohn Intermediate will be for grades three through eight, and ninth through twelfth for Port Allen High School.