The proposed site of the new Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse of NWLA’s Adolescent Treatment Program (CADA) is drawing criticism from some of the neighboring residents, including the Word of God Academy (WOGA), a private Christian school offering “pre-k through 12th grade,” according to its website.
The location of CADA’s new facility on Summer Grove Drive would put it next to the school, something that has parents and school officials worried.
“While we honor and wholly support the mission of CADA, we don’t feel that this is the best location for a facility of that nature,” said WOGA officials in a letter to parents that was posted on the school’s Facebook page. “Currently, the only thing separating the two properties is a chain link fence that borders the playground used by our students every day.”
CADA, however, believes that their new facility and its residents will not pose a safety risk to any of the students at WOGA.
“CADA is a good neighbor that cares about the health and well-being of everyone located in the neighborhood,” CADA officials said in a press release.
Officials from CADA also pointed out that the new facility will be used to treat adolescents, and that the residents will be supervised at all times. They also mentioned that CADA’s 70-bed facility in Bossier City is next to a “Head Start program” and that “in the fifteen or so years it’s been in that neighborhood there has not been one security incident.”