Loreauville Elementary School students enter their new school Thursday on Valentine’s Day. More than 600 students attend the school.

The new Loreauville Elementary 74,000-square-foot facility on Ed Broussard Road opened to more than 600 students and faculty Thursday after about 18 months of construction.

The almost $13 million facility houses 32 full-sized classrooms, two split classrooms and several smaller rooms for testing, tutoring, remediation and small-group teaching, Maintenance Supervisor Harry Lopez said.

The new facility’s architectural design is based on the Johnston-Hopkins Elementary and Caneview Elementary design.

The Iberia Parish School Board accepted the substantial completion for the new facility at the Feb. 6 school board meeting held in the new facility’s cafetorium. The substandtial completion included the main school building, the pavilion, a storage building, parking lots and driveways, said Iberia Parish Superintendent of Schools Dale Henderson.

The substantial completion did not include the baseball and softball fields or the concession stand located on the west side of the school because those facilities have not been completed. Henderson said the facilities have approximately one month of work remaining.