A yard sign popped up earlier this month in front of Bethany Church’s Baker campus announcing the arrival of a new school: “Come Home to Baker: Park Ridge! Now Enrolling.”
Less than two miles north, Bethany’s previous tenant erected a sign of its own in front of the closed White Hills Elementary: “New Home of GEO Prep Baker.”
The changes of address for Park Ridge elementary and GEO Prep Baker come just weeks before the start of the 2025-26 school year. They are the latest developments in the unusual school war that has engulfed this small suburban city of 12,000 residents north of Baton Rouge.
All charters
In just over a decade, Baker has gone from having five traditional public schools to five charter schools. Charters are public schools run privately via contracts…