CAJUNS FOOTBALL Quarterbacks getting their snaps with starters 1C THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
W e d n e s d ay, au g u s t 6, 2025
$2.00X
Schools mapped for first responders Lafayette integrating data with dispatch systems
BY ASHLEY WHITE
Staff writer
When first responders are called to any Lafayette Parish public school, they’ll be able to access an interactive map to help them navigate the school and respond quickly to the issue. The Lafayette Parish school system, Lafayette 911, the parish’s first responders and consulting firm Fenstermaker worked together to map each school and integrate that data with responders’ computer-aided dispatch systems. “When you talk about kids and schools, they’re probably our most precious commodity,” said Lafay-
ette Parish 911 Director Craig Stansbury. “This is something we wanted to make sure that we were able to provide for those first responders who are actually keeping the kids safe.” Lafayette Parish 911 paid for Fenstermaker to 3D map each school site over the summer. That information was then translated into the interactive maps that can be accessed through the dispatch system. It includes information such as window locations, exits, closets, room numbers and the colloquial names for rooms. When a call comes in to 911 and that emergency is at a school, the interactive map is shared with law enforcement and medical respond-
ers. Responders can then search for a location and it will highlight where they need to go on the map. It’s standardized for all first responders, including the Lafayette Police Department, Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, Lafayette Fire Department and Acadian Ambulance. In the future, the cameras inside schools will be accessible by the Lafayette police and the Lafayette Sheriff’s Office’s real-time crime centers. While each school has a resource officer who is typically familiar with the site’s footprint, the mapping is helpful for anyone who is
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Craig Stansbury, director of the Lafayette Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, discusses the new school digital ä See SCHOOLS, page 4A mapping on Tuesday.
Few kindergartners included in school voucher program
La. to ban SNAP for soda, candy Landry pushes forward on ‘MAHA’ movement BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
Russell Marino, executive director of Hosanna Christian Academy in Baton Rouge, said that none of the nearly 60 incoming kindergarten students at his school who applied for a new LA GATOR tuition grant received one.
Only 80 in state receive LA GATOR tuition grants
pay for private school or home schooling expenses, according to data shared by the state Education Department. Overall, less than 2% of the more than 5,800 grants awarded for the upcoming school BY PATRICK WALL year went to rising kindergartners. Staff writer The situation stems from limited state Incoming kindergarten students were funding and program rules that priorilargely shut out of Louisiana’s new pri- tized giving grants to students who prevate education program, according to viously received school vouchers — a state data, leaving thousands of families group that did not include this year’s scrambling and many private schools new kindergartners. Now private school leaders and adwith unfilled seats just as the new school year begins. vocates are sounding the alarm, saying Only about 80 of the 4,500 eligible in- that families who had counted on receivcoming kindergartners who applied re- ing state aid must either come up with ceived grants through LA GATOR, a new tuition money or enroll their children state program meant to help families in public schools that still have open
kindergarten seats as students return from summer break. While many private school families can afford tuition, some rely on scholarships and subsidies — including about 1,400 children from low-income families who attended statefunded private preschool last year. At Hosanna Christian Academy in Baton Rouge, most of the school’s 60 prekindergarten students last year were funded through that state program. Nearly all of their families applied for LA GATOR money this year — but none received any, said Russell Marino, the school’s executive director. “It really is devastating to these fami-
ä See PROGRAM, page 4A
Louisianans who get federal food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will soon be unable to use those benefits to purchase soft drinks, energy drinks or candy. Gov. Jeff Landry, “Gone are in a social media the days of post, announced that taxpayers U.S. Agriculture subsidizing Secretary Brooke Rollins had signed unhealthy off on a waiver that lifestyles and allows Louisiana to eating habits. exclude soda and I am proud candy from purto say that chase with SNAP benefits adminisLouisiana tered by the state. isn’t just A target imple- participating mentation date for in the MAHA the change is Jan. 15, according to in- movement, we formation on the are leading it.” U.S. Department of Agriculture’s SNAP GOV. JEFF LANDRy website. “Gone are the days of taxpayers subsidizing unhealthy lifestyles and eating habits,” Landry said in the announcement. “I am proud to say that Louisiana isn’t just participating in the MAHA movement, we are leading it.” The Louisiana governor was referring to the Make America Healthy Again movement led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Louisiana Surgeon General Dr. Ralph Abraham called federal support for the change “phenomenal.”
ä See SNAP, page 4A
La. in talks to run immigration jail inside Angola, sources say BY JAMES FINN Staff writer
Louisiana officials are in talks with the Trump administration about housing immigrant detainees at the Louisiana State
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 74 PAGE 8A
Penitentiary at Angola, part of a ä Florida planning second push to meet the demands of the immigration detention center. president’s widening immigration PAGE 5A crackdown by outsourcing operations to conservative states. An unused wing at the maxi- largest state-run penitentiary, has mum security prison, the nation’s emerged as a possible site for the
immigration lockup, according to people familiar with the talks. The move could save Louisiana costs of building a new facility like one unveiled in Florida last month, but critics contend it would place people without criminal records near
Business ...................10C Commentary ................3B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................4B Living............................5C Opinion ........................2B Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
others convicted of grave crimes. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the former South Dakota governor who is close with GOP Louisiana
ä See ANGOLA, page 5A
101ST yEAR, NO. 37