BATON ROUGE - Over 200 employees no longer have jobs as of May 24 following the closing of the IDEA Bridge and Innovation campuses in Baton Rouge. 

In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification issued by the Louisiana Workforce Commission in April, officials said the closings would affect 212 capital region jobs under the IDEA name. 

IDEA Bridge and Innovation were announced to close in January at the end of the 2024-25 school year, which went into effect on May 24. 

IDEA Innovation was set to be taken over by New Orleans-based charter company Audubon Charter, and IDEA Bridge by Colorado-based company Third Future Schools. WBRZ contacted both companies to find out if they plan on transitioning the former employees into new positions under the new ownership. 

Steve Corbett, the CEO of Audubon Schools, called WBRZ and said they have hired teachers, assistants and some of the leadership staff from IDEA.

“We’ve hired a lot of really talented staff” from the IDEA schools, he said.