2 schools tagged for scores

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Aug 5, 2008 - Page: 1BA - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Twitter
• Social Media

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

LAFAYETTE — N.P. Moss Elementary joins Alice Boucher Elementary this year on the list of schools tagged for low performance scores under a program required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

The performance scores released this month also bring Northside High School out of corrective action, meaning students who moved to Acadiana High or Comeaux High over the past two years may return.

The label of “academically unacceptable” given to N.P. Moss Middle means students there may switch to Acadian Middle or Lafayette Middle this year, the School Board announced Monday.

Alice Boucher was placed on the “academically unacceptable” list last year for a performance score below the standard of 60. The school remains on the list this year after seeing its score fall by four points.

Students at Alice Boucher again have the option of attending Myrtle Place or Carencro Heights, and Alice Boucher students will now be eligible for special tutoring programs as the school enters a second year on the unacceptable list.

At N.P. Moss, the staff has 60 days to develop a plan to improve the school, said Michael Babineaux, the No Child Left Behind specialist for the Lafayette Parish school system.

Students at N.P. Moss were shifted to different facilities halfway through last school year when leaking walls led to concerns of mold in the building.  The students are scheduled to return to the main campus when school begins Friday, and they will be met with a largely new administration, Babineaux said.

Comeaux High was also identified as a school in need of improvement this year because of poor graduation rates, but students there will not have the option to transfer. That’s because certain provisions of the No Child Left Behind act apply only to schools that accept federal money for having a high percentage of students from low-income families.

Babineaux said Comeaux High staff will develop a plan for improvement. Statewide, 103 schools were labeled “academically unacceptable,” with the highest number — 18 — in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Schools deemed “unacceptable” could eventually be taken over by the state should performance scores not improve.

The “unacceptable” label generally gives students at the school the option to transfer to better-performing schools.

Last year, 42 Alice Boucher students chose to transfer to Myrtle Place and 10 chose Carencro Heights, Babineaux said
Babineaux said that if parents choose to transfer their children from low-performing schools, the students must remain at the chosen school until their zoned school overcomes the “unacceptable” classification.

Registration for school transfers will run through September.