Effort on school ‘abysmal’
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VILLE PLATTE — The Evangeline Parish School Board’s efforts to improve Ville Platte High School as part of a federal desegregation plan have been “abysmal,” Justice Department attorneys allege in court filings.
Ville Platte High, which has a predominantly black student population, has been a major sticking point in the parish’s decades-old desegregation case.
The Justice Department asked U.S. District Judge Tucker Melancon in November to force the School Board to replace the aging and run-down facility.
The judge has put off ruling on that request until July, after Ville Platte-area voters consider a tax proposal that would fund a new school.
Meanwhile, attorneys for the Justice Department and School Board have been dueling in court over whether the board has been serious about following a court-ordered plan to improve facilities and academics at Ville Platte High.
In the latest court filing, Justice Department attorneys state that, “The board’s efforts to effectuate the plan are abysmal.”
The Justice Department cites as evidence “makeshift library shelves,” doors “so warped that they would not close” and masonry walls in danger of collapsing.
The Justice Department also notes that Ville Platte High is the only school the parish to be identified as failing under the standards of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, though it has been designated as a magnet school.
“The goal of the plan was to attract students to Ville Platte High School, but the outcome of the board’s efforts is that it encourages students seeking a good education to attend school elsewhere,” Justice Department attorneys wrote in court papers.
School Board members have disputed that characterization, defending their work to fix problems at Ville Platte High School, where $2.7 million has been spent on improvements since 2003.
The School Board proposed a new property tax last year to fund a $28.5 million school construction bond, but voters shot the measure down.
The board plans to bring a similar proposal back to voters in July, but board members say that without a new tax, there will not be enough money to build a new school.
If the July proposal fails, a court hearing is set for the next week on the Justice Department’s request that the judge order construction of a new school.
