Central City News

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News – Baton Rouge By the early 1990’s, I had represented Baton Rouge as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for 20 years, most of that time as a member of the House Education Committee.  My colleague, Sen. Mike Cross, had served as mayor of the City […]

Since 2003, McKanstry Preparatory School has met the need for personalized, small group instruction that caters to the exceptional talents in Baton Rouge area. Founders Ken and Shelia McKanstry’s vision was clear: to cultivate not just students, but leaders and lifelong learners. In contrast to the conventional classroom experience, M.P.S. has emerged as a compelling […]

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News – Baton Rouge More than 3,000 packed the Baton Rouge River Center Wednesday night, May 15 for the 112th Annual Graduation Ceremony of Central High School. A total of 350 seniors crossed the stage and received their diplomas. Leading the way were valedictorian Madison Lumpkin and salutatorian Samatha […]

In May 1913, Pearl Elizabeth Felps walked to the podium as the valedictorian of the first graduating of the new Central High School, located at the corner of Canal (now Hooper) and Sullivan roads. A copy of her speech was discovered in 2009 and given to the Central City News. It is a timeless message […]

 Each year the Central Bloomers Garden Club dedicates funds from their annual plant sale to award grants to local schools in the Central community to create school gardens for their students and teachers to enjoy. This year Tanglewood Elementary School applied and was awarded one of the grants totaling $300. Tanglewood Elementary plans to expand […]

It was an honor to be sworn in as Louisiana’s Treasurer by our new Speaker of the House, Congressman Mike Johnson.  Mike is very special to me.  Not only are we close friends, but he succeeded me as Congressman from the 4th District eight years ago.  Together, we have had the privilege of representing the […]

The Central Community School System continues to hold a strong “A” ranking among the state’s top performing school districts, according to the Louisiana Department of Education’s latest accountability report. The report showed the district improved its performance score by 1.1 points from 2022 to 2023, climbing to a 92.4 overall score. At the same time, […]

McKanstry Preparatory School on Greenwell Springs Road is proud to announce that Micah McKan-stry, a 12th grade student at the school, has been named a national finalist to present a research paper at the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) annual conference in Seattle, Washington.  Micah’s research, which he conducted through the LSU High School Summer Research […]

The Central Community School System was honored last week with a visit by State Supt. of Education Cade Brumley. Brumley has been visiting classrooms throughout the state and had a particular interest, he said, in Central’s math programs. The state education leader was hosted by Central schools Supt. Jason Fountain who introduced him to central […]

Central Community Schools consistently earned the state’s top scores in various academic categories of the spring 2023 LEAP assessment, growing the district to #2 overall in the state, according to a report released this week by the Louisiana Department of Education.  The results are based on the percentage of students who scored Mastery and Advanced […]