Projects underway to upgrade Audubon Charter facilities were a focus of attention at the board’s monthly meeting in March.

The biggest project is renovation of the school’s Broadway campus. A contractor has been selected and the work, scheduled to begin in mid-April, is on track to be completed by December 2013, the original deadline. Principal Janice Dupuy said school administrators are very excited about it.

An additional $1.3 million has been approved for the work, bringing the total for the Broadway campus overhaul to $14.5 million, Dupuy said.

Work to stabilize Audubon’s Carrollton campus isn’t moving along quite as well, but school officials said they are grateful to be receiving any stabilization funding at all.

“What’s happened is that we can’t use the stabilization money for the annexes, we can only use it for the main building, and we have more students in the annexes than we do in the main building,” Dupuy said.

The school has requested additional funding for  the annexes.

“The main building has antiquated heaters, termite-damaged flooring and it needs some roof patching. The roof has needed work since it was Lusher’s school, so these are longstanding issues,” Dupuy said.

In other action, the Friends of Audubon board announced that the schools received over 1,000 applications for admission in the coming year. They have also officially added pre-k 3 to the French immersion program and an additional fourth-grade class.

Final admission numbers aren’t calculated yet because competing schools have not yet mailed acceptance letters. The current enrollment stands at 738, not counting pre-k 3, Dupuy said.

“We can’t be too sure of our numbers yet because of other schools and because of our relocating to the Gentilly campus. Some parents are pulling their children out because it’s too far away,” said Alisa Dupre, Audubon’s operations manager.

Board members present at the March 17 meeting were the Rev. Cornelius Tilton, chairman; vice chairman Timothy Jackson, and members Jolynn King, Eva Alito, Shawn Barney, Derek Bardell, Jean Claude Brunet, Yvonne Locke, Greg Thompson, Lynette Brice, Elfie Cheynet, Sophia Griffies, Dennis Smith and Ben Hicks, in addition to Dupre and Dupuy. Absent board members included Claire McDaniel, Robert Sloan, Jacqueline Smith and Dawn Collins.

The next board meeting will be at 10 a.m. Saturday April 21 on the Audubon Charter School Carrollton Campus.