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Charles Caldwell recalls fondly his years at Baton Rouge Magnet High School, where he felt free to excel in his studies.

A 1981 graduate, he credits the school culture of excellence with setting him off on a successful career as a Houston attorney, not to mention a happily married father. He endured no bullying jocks, there were no popularity-obsessed cheerleaders. You weren’t put down for being different. Students were celebrated for their individuality.

“So much of a child’s achievement depends on confidence,” Caldwell says. “If you’re a smart kid in any other school you can feel like a bit of an oddball, but if you put all of those kids in the same building and you nurture them academically and creatively you create a unique culture, one that is achievement oriented. There was no clear hierarchy at Baton Rouge High Everyone was celebrated whether they were good at music or they were gifted at math.”

Caldwell counts himself as one of many Baton Rouge High alumnae anxiously watching what happens to the distinctive neo-Gothic brick and terracotta school. He’s part of a dazzling list of graduates that includes Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal, Secretary of State Jay Dardenne and Hollywood hotshots Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick. The Government Street school, decades behind in maintenance, is crumbling around the National Merit semifinalists it produces.

Plaster flakes from classroom walls. Mold and mildew feed on intruding moisture behind the crumbling brickwork, which has separated from the building’s exterior. It’s so bad it routinely sickens students and faculty.

“The mold and mildew on the third floor are just out of control,” Principal Nanette Greer says. “You wouldn’t believe the number of people who are sick or have problems due to allergies. It’s unbelievable. We’re all sick. I’m on allergy medication as is most of the staff. We don’t complain because it is what it is.”

School officials originally toyed with the idea of tearing down the 1926 building to make way for a state-of-the-art facility. They even considered relocating the school from its landmark Government Street location.

It didn’t take long for the school’s brainy alumnae to mount a campaign to save their old school, which, has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986.

A petition to save the school began circulating on the Internet. There’s even a Facebook page dedicated to the issue with more than 880 members.

Baton Rouge High’s outspoken, committed supporters include people like Lauren Ford, one of four generations in her family who graduated from Baton Rouge High that includes her maternal grandmother in 1932, both of her parents in 1958, she in 1980, and her son Josh earlier this year.

Ford and her father, Bill Mitchell, remain passionate about preserving the school, both serving as officers on the board of the alumni association.

Lauren Ford (left) and her family represent four generations of Baton Rouge High graduates, starting with her maternal grandmother in 1932, her parents Bill and Diane Mitchell (right) in 1958 and son Josh, who graduated this year.

“The school system has a serious P.R. problem,” Ford says. “They need to be very careful when they start talking about demolishing something of this nature. This school is important to a lot of us, and it deserves to be saved.”

Alums, faculty, staff and supporters within the community unleashed a hail of phone calls and e-mails on school officials. System Superintendent Charlotte Placide empanelled a 12-person committee, which includes the principal, Mark Upton, a board member at the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, and the school’s student government president. The committee’s mission: determine whether to restore, renovate or replace the school.

After a torrent of angry letters to the editor and various editorials and opinion pieces, the committee quickly took demolishing and moving the school off the table.

“Everyone has an opinion, everyone feels that certain things should be done and there is a lot of blaming going on right now. At this point it’s important for the community to better understand that the blame game needs to stop,” says Samuel Sanders, executive director of the Mid City Redevelopment Alliance. “While we’ve been having these (committee) discussions, others have been having other discussions, and they’re having those discussions without the facts. Because of that information going out and spreading; it’s time to put a stop to it.”

The Mid City Redevelopment Alliance hosted a forum Nov. 6 in an effort to update the community, which included updates by school board officials, the system’s maintenance consultant, and an alum. The forum went a long way to allay fears about demolition.

Still, the committee remained no closer to agreeing on a solution. And information remains scarce about the most crucial questions of all, how much restoring or renovating would cost, where the money will come from, or where students would attend classes during two years of construction work.

The committee continues to work on the problem and is scheduled to make its recommendation to the school board in early 2008.

“We don’t want to drag this out,” says committee member Bob Cooper. “We still have some financing options to explore and cost estimates to gather.”

What to do with the old building may not even be the committee’s toughest question. Most members agree the benefits of a full-scale renovation far outweigh restoring the historic main building to 1926 standards, but no one knows how to pay for the overhaul or where to relocate 1,250 students for two years.

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Baton Rouge High

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“If there is anyone out there who has facility space and wants to contribute to the decision-making process I encourage you to come forward,” Superintendent Placide says.

Local mortgage broker Brian Andrews has been asked to research innovative financing options.

The Foundation for Historical Louisiana, the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are helping the school board explore everything from grant opportunities to tax credits to designating the school a nonprofit organization.

Despite its prominent alumni, the school has found little support from its wealthiest alums, and donations from the 500-member alumni association usually total less than $10,000 a year. The organization hosts fundraising golf tournaments and sells personalized engraved bricks for the alumni plaza at the school’s front entrance, plus each member pays annual dues. “We usually fly below the radar,” Ford says. “Considering the number of years this school has been around, we’re a relatively small group. We give what we can.”

The alumni association is waiting to see what the committee’s recommendation to the school board will be before initiating a massive fundraising effort. Early, rough estimates of the total cost range from $40 million to $50 million.

Winnie Byrd, president of the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation, is unfazed by the challenges ahead.

“I don’t think we need to reinvent anything,” says Byrd, who graduated from the school 65 years ago. “We all know many communities throughout our country have faced this problem and are facing this problem. It’s nothing new.”