Freda Wood Toups
August 4, 2009
Clara Arabie Hoskins
August 6, 2009
As Tri-parish high schools open for the new academic year, one new state program won’t be implemented.
Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish superintendents have applied for a one-year waiver from Louisiana’s new Career Diploma Pathway program.
The St. Mary Parish School Board delayed its decision on the waiver until a vote at last night’s meeting. The final decision of the vote was not available at press time.
Each superintendent said they support the career diploma alternative, which permits high school students to choose vocational courses over college preparatory. However, they feel it would be difficult to implement so soon after its July 2 enactment.
“It’s impossible to start a program in a positive direction when you don’t have staff, curriculum or students scheduled,” said Terrebonne Schools Superintendent Philip Martin. “It’s a good idea, but it’s just too late for this year.”
“(Career Diploma Pathway) also requires principals to meet with the children and their parents before placing them in the program,” said Lafourche Schools Superintendent Jo Ann Matthews. “That can’t be done this quickly. This is a big decision for those kids.”
Dr. Donald Aguillard, St. Mary Parish Schools superintendent, said the district did not have the required math remediation course or mentoring program to offer career diploma tracked students.
Matthews is also concerned about the conditions that limit the number and type of students who can choose a career diploma.
According to state guidelines, to be accepted, beginning in the eighth grade, a student must maintain a 1.5 grade point average or higher, have no more than five unexcused absences each year and one or no suspensions on their school record.
“It seems to be very restrictive,” Matthews said. “The kids this program is trying to target are going to have more than five days of absences, or they may have gotten into trouble once or more.”
School superintendents are fighting to add an “opt out” provision for students who change their mind and want to earn a regular diploma.
Student Numbers Expected to Decline in Area
The continuous increase in student population is expected to end this year in all three districts.
Terrebonne is projecting 300 fewer students, bringing it to just under 20,000. St. Mary is forecasting about 100 less students at 9,400 and Lafourche’s tentative count of 14,530 is approximately the same as last year.
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) has increased the number of units required to graduate from 23 to 24. This year’s incoming freshmen class will have to pass at least one English, math, science and social studies course all four years of high school.
The move will have no effect in the Tri-parish high schools because they all have been on 4X4 block schedule, allowing students to earn more units than the state mandate, according to Martin.
Improving standardized test and state accountability scores are a perennial obsession for school administrators, and this year will be no different.
Results from the spring’s Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) tests and Graduation Exit Exams (GEE) were uneven throughout the Tri-parishes
Generally, St. Mary students exceeded the state’s average of students passing the high-stakes tests. Lafourche students were right at state averages and Terrebonne students were below state averages.
The state Department of Education is scheduled to release results from students who took the summer LEAP test tomorrow.
“I announced at the first principals’ meeting the three targets we will all strive for: student achievement, student achievement and student achievement,” Martin said. “I have asked teachers and principals to have tunnel vision and disregard anything that distracts from student achievement.”
Specifically, seven Terrebonne Parish schools will implement focus classes where kids who do not read at their level are paired with the most talented teachers. Oaklawn Junior High, which had to offer students a school choice transfer option last year for not meeting the state’s Adequate Yearly Progress requirements, is targeted for preferential staffing.
The school system also plans to purchase student assessment software to identify those who need intervention before they fail the standardized tests.
Matthews said she is pleased that all Lafourche schools have met the state’s 60 percent School Performance Score (SPS), but is concerned about the subgroups component of the SPS score.
“Regardless of if your school has a high SPS, you have to deal with subgroups that can cause your school to go into school choice or academically unacceptable status,” she said.
Aguillard said he has two priorities for the upcoming year – reduce the dropout rate and improve reading literacy throughout the school system.
The district will continue the extended day program, which keeps at-risk middle school students in school for an extra hour. Also, the district hired Kim-Notto-Lockley as an academic recovery specialist.
“She will work closely to reduce the dropout population and keep kids on track to be academically successful.” Aguillard said. “We’re absolutely committed to higher student achievement and we believe we have a good program in place to accomplish that.”
Terrebonne and Lafourche used money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to prevent laying off teachers. St. Mary, however, chose to use the “stimulus package” funding on instructional materials. The district laid off 25 teachers over the summer, reducing their numbers to about 715.
Students returning to school in the next week will notice physical changes to certain school facilities as well.
In Lafourche, which is first to start the school year on Friday, all interior and exterior locks in schools have been changed. Wooden doorframes have been replaced with aluminum ones and lockdown hardware has been installed in classrooms.
The changes are in response to the May 18 shooting at Larose-Cut Off Middle School where a 15-year-old student brought a gun on campus and killed himself.
In Terrebonne, which begins school on Monday, Grand Caillou Middle was converted to a pre-K through sixth grade school for 700 students, while Grand Caillou Elementary will house 200 seventh and eighth graders.
The move was made to alleviate overcrowding at Grand Caillou Elementary. Storm surge from Hurricane Ike last September left the main building on campus unusable.
St. Mary Parish students get a few more days of summer, beginning their fall semester on Tuesday.
South Terrebonne High School guidance counselor Christine Falgout (left) and freshman Beth Duplantis, 14, review her class schedule for the 2009-10 school year. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF
