Iberia Parish Superintendent Dale Henderson said it is time to demolish Peebles Elementary School.

“This kind of recommendation is not an easy one to make, as so many residents of that area have a long history with that facility,” Henderson said Monday. “It seems at this point the logical and common sense thing to do is to demolish the building.”

Peebles, located at 4915 Weeks Island Road, has not been used since being flooded by Hurricane Rita in September 2005.

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The Iberia Parish School Board will discuss Henderson’s recommendation to demolish the facility at its 5:30 p.m. meeting Wednesday at 1500 Jane St.

After Hurricane Rita flooded the facility, Peebles students were relocated to Belle Place Middle School. Since that time, Henderson said the Peebles facility has been stripped bare and is an ongoing target for vandals.

“It is an unlikely position that we would ever relocate students there again,” Henderson said.

Students who would be attending Peebles are attending the new Caneview Elementary School, which Henderson said has considerable room for growth.

Wayne Landry of the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said half of the property on which Peebles is located on belongs to the Sterling Corp. and the other half to the School Board.

The portion belonging to the School Board was given by R.P. and Elsie Duplantis, under the condition that if it is ever stopped being used for a school it will be returned to its original owners or their descendants.

The board also will consider the election of officers for 2009 and take appropriate action. The board is also scheduled to hear a presentation of the Kid ID program, as well as consider the Sole Source purchase of reading materials for use parishwide.