E. Feliciana won’t take St. Helena students
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CLINTON — The East Feliciana Parish School Board denied a request Tuesday to allow St. Helena Parish middle school students to transfer to Clinton schools.
St. Helena Central Middle School is among 21 schools the state Education Department has labeled as “academically unacceptable” for more than four years.
St. Helena Superintendent Daisy Slan asked in an e-mail if surrounding districts would accept students if their parents exercised their “school choice” option under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
East Feliciana Superintendent Doug Beauchamp recommended that the board deny the request, saying he could foresee problems in transporting students between parishes and in getting parents to respond if a child becomes ill at school.
Beauchamp said Livingston Parish school officials told Slan that parish does not have room for additional students.
St. Helena operates on a five-day instructional week, while East Feliciana schools operate on a four-day week with longer class days. St. Helena Central Middle School has grades five through eight, while East Feliciana fifth-graders attend elementary schools.
Board members Richard Terrell and Michael Bradford voted to grant the request.
On another matter, the board voted to advertise for bids on a modular building after Beauchamp received an offer from a firm to sell seven classrooms and three administrative offices now on a Chalmette campus for $133,300.
Beauchamp said the buildings have been used for two years. They could replace two modular structures on the Slaughter Elementary School campus that cost about $24,000 a year to lease.
Board member Mitch Harrell warned that the board should be cautious in accepting the offer because the board has been “burned before” in buying a former church for a kindergarten center. He asked Beauchamp to make certain the buildings meet life-safety codes and are certified as insect-free.
Terrell voted against seeking the bids.
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