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Friday, July 10, 2009
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EDUCATION
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LAFAYETTE — The reconstitution of Alice Boucher Elementary School is nearly complete, its principal said Thursday.
More than 200 people were interviewed to be a part of the changes planned for the school, and few positions remain open, Principal Keith Bartlett said.
An East Baton Rouge Parish school panel recommended denying a request Thursday from a local nonprofit to create two new small high schools in town. Advance Innovative Education, a recent offshoot of the better-known nonprofit Advance Baton Rouge, is developing plans for a new high school focusing on digital arts as well as another one focused on science, technology, engineering and math. A group of aspiring school principals listened Thursday as veteran educators and political advocates urged them to not only learn how to run schools well but become entrepreneurs who pioneer better ways of educating kids. ZACHARY — The Zachary Community School Board accepted the low bid of $5.72 million Thursday for a new early learning center to be built on a 62 acres the board bought last year on Rollins Road. Block Construction LLC, of Baton Rouge, was the lowest of 11 bidders for the 20-classroom project, which also includes a concrete road to the site. PLAQUEMINE — Leaders of a citizens group working to oust an Iberville Parish School Board member over a controversial school closure vote said Thursday they plan to push forward despite “good ol’ boy network” efforts to stop them. CENTERVILLE — There was good news and bad news Thursday for the St. Mary Parish School Board. The good news: The board was able to renew its student accident insurance at a $3,500 annual savings. The bad news: Sales tax revenue in June plummeted 22 percent below projected levels. LAFAYETTE — Only one bid was submitted for Pecan Island School, but it is $500,000 less than what the Vermilion Parish school system wants. The sole bid of $250,000 was entered by John Properties, LLC — registered to David and Peter John, of Crowley, according to the state’s corporation database. The brothers own JohnPac, a bag manufacturing plant in Crowley. Volunteers showed up Wednesday to help with WBRZ-Channel 2's Stuff the Bus school supplies drive for needy children. Both locations stuffed three buses full of supplies for a total of six school buses stuffed in one day. Donations of glue, pencils and other supplies were exchanged for free glasses of iced tea and lemonade from Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, a sponsor of the campaign. Office Depot was another sponsor of the event. Medical insurance premiums for East Baton Rouge Parish school employees, both active and retired, may be heading up after years of no increases. On Wednesday, Mercer, a company that tracks medical spending for the school system, recommended increasing premiums by $10 to $38 per year, depending on the plan the school system employee is enrolled in and whether the employee has other family members on that plan. YOUNGSVILLE — As the Lafayette Parish school district wraps up more than $1 million in water-intrusion repairs at N.P. Moss Middle School this week, three more schools built in the past 10 years also are showing signs of moisture intrusion. The St. Helena Parish school superintendent is fed up with the condition of her schools, so she's taking her fight for money online. The system hasn't built a new building in years, and voters in the parish recently killed a bond proposal to raise money. News 2's Luke Margolis gets answers on what the superintendent is doing to raise some cash. The new East Baton Rouge Parish school superintendent heard an earful Tuesday from parents and school employees who shared with him a rangeof complaints about the quality of education in Baton Rouge. BAKER — The Baker School Board voted Tuesday to stop holding its regular meetings twice a month. Starting in August, the board will meet only on the first Tuesday of each month. Bad news for the economy became good news for Ascension Parish schools when bids on their most recent project, a new primary school for Orange Grove subdivision in Sorrento, came back, a school system official said Tuesday. LAFAYETTE — The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s continuing education department has the following professional development courses scheduled this month... John Dilworth on Monday faced the public for the first time since taking over as East Baton Rouge Parish school superintendent and was quick to ask for help. LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish School Board will meet twice this week to hear pitches from vendors vying to implement a new student information software system for the district. CROWLEY — The Acadia Parish School Board, on a unanimous vote Monday, added about $995,000 worth of school building improvements after approving a general fund budget that projects a deficit. GEISMAR — Trenda Thompson stood in her brand-new classroom in Building A of Spanish Lake Primary School, directing her husband, Reginald, on where to move boxes. Thompson, who will be teaching second grade at the new school, was delighted to be there unpacking last week, “though he probably doesn’t feel the same way,” she said, nodding toward her husband, who smiled and shook his head. NEW ROADS — A top administrator with the East Baton Rouge Parish public school system, two Louisiana Department of Education officials and a former St. Helena Parish superintendent are all vying to become Pointe Coupee Parish’s new superintendent. CENTRAL — School bullies may stand head and shoulders above their victims, but newer and more menacing threats are those who use text-messaging and e-mail to harass other students, said Central school system officials. A significant number of high school students will pursue Louisiana’s new curriculum designed to reduce dropouts, parish school superintendents predict. LAFAYETTE — The long to-do list of campus improvements at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is getting shorter, but the momentum may stall in a budget shortfall. State school board official Tammie McDaniel, of Oak Ridge, said she is not resigning for now, at least until she discusses the matter with Gov. Bobby Jindal. A judge stood by his earlier decision Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to stop the state takeover of eight failing Baton Rouge public schools. OPELOUSAS — The St. Landry Parish School Board unanimously voted Thursday to give employees a $1,380 pay raise beginning in September. Tammie McDaniel, of Oak Ridge, a member of the state’s top school board, has been asked to resign her post by Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office. “I have not made a decision yet, but I expect we will discuss it after the holiday,” McDaniel said Wednesday. Southern University sophomore Polite Stewart Jr. is working full time this summer researching cancer markers and the impacts of proteins on prostate cancer cells. Louisiana’s colleges can now start cutting more than 8 percent from their state budgets for the fiscal year that begins today. The Louisiana Board of Regents on Tuesday finalized the shares of cuts for each college system with the Southern University System getting hit the hardest by an 11.5 percent budget cut. LAFAYETTE — Dilapidated school buildings and the need for a comprehensive after-school program for the parish’s schoolchildren aren’t issues that should be addressed only by the School Board. While higher education was spared $219 million in proposed state budget cuts, colleges are now left with the task of slicing more than $100 million from their books and laying off hundreds of employees. At least 125 children and their parents attended Charter Day Extravaganza in north Baton Rouge to learn about educational opportunities at eight charter schools in the state-run Recovery School District. The Southern University Board of Supervisors on Friday chose a top-ranking vice president as the new interim Southern president by just one vote to replace outgoing President Ralph Slaughter. With one exception, the 2009 session of the Legislature did little to change public schools in Louisiana. State aid to public schools was frozen. Four bills to revamp local school boards were rejected. GREENSBURG — St. Helena Parish School Board committees approved budget revisions, changes to bus and transportation policies and recommended switching board meeting times from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., beginning in August. ZACHARY — The Zachary Community School Board on Thursday accepted Superintendent Warren Drake’s recommendation to appoint Scott Devillier as principal of Zachary High School. LAFAYETTE — For the first time in several years, starting pay for teachers in Lafayette Parish isn’t budging, according to the district’s salary schedule. DONALDSONVILLE — Ascension Parish School Superintendent Donald Songy said Wednesday a comprehensive list of renovations and improvements planned for the parish’s public schools will be announced after a special School Board meeting July 6. Bowing to budget problems, the Legislature gave final approval Wednesday to a plan that freezes basic state aid to public schools at current levels for the first time in a dozen years. Advance Baton Rouge announced Wednesday it hired five new principals to run the nonprofit’s charter schools for the 2009-10 school year. LAFAYETTE — Pillows of Hope will hold its sixth annual back-to-school fundraiser July 26 at Davis Disco Club in Cecilia. CENTRAL — The Central Community and East Baton Rouge Parish school boards have approved a settlement agreement that will give land and cash to Central and dismiss all pending litigation between the two systems arising from Central’s separation from the parish school system two yearsago, officials said late Monday. The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, at a special meeting Monday, approved a $424 million budget for the upcoming 2009-2010 fiscal year. LAFAYETTE — The University of Louisiana at Lafayette will soon require its freshmen to serve the community under a new seminar now under development. For a minute one day last week, John Dilworth looked just like any other new employee of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system. Dilworth sat in a chair that all new employees occupy and smiled into a digital camera they all smile into and waited for the plastic badge they all wear. As he walked out afterward, Dilworth held aloft the badge bearing the title “superintendent.” Keenon Batiste joined 29 other students, ages 12 through 17, who were participants in, “Do You Believe You Can Fly” Aviation Youth Clinic, which is part of a three-day Southern University Ag Center Family and Youth Expo program which ends today, said Edna Lastrapes, youth agent for the center. The clinic introduces students to the world of aviation, she said. LIVINGSTON — In the end, the Livingston Parish School Board decided to keep school financing of utility costs as it has been rather than change things around to save the general fund a little money. The size of the potential layoffs of East Baton Rouge school system staff was cut in half by Thursday night when the School Board approved a resolution to authorize a reduction in force of up to 50 positions. Legislation that would allow for more charter schools in Louisiana passed a state Senate committee Thursday. House Bill 519, sponsored by state Rep. Walt Leger III, D-New Orleans, was originally written to set an administrative fee on charter schools. PORT ALLEN — The West Baton Rouge School Board on Wednesday approved a number of building repairs and improvements. LAFAYETTE — One federal program has teachers in the role of student to learn ways to improve ninth-graders’ understanding of math and science. LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish School Board gave Superintendent Burnell Lemoine high marks Wednesday night for his performance in the past year. The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board tonight will consider giving administrators the green light to give pink slips to as many as 100 teachers, but hope continues that the school system won’t have to use that power. An attorney for parents and teachers trying to block the impending state takeover of eight failing Baton Rouge public schools urged an appeals court Wednesday to reverse a judge’s dismissal of their lawsuit. AMITE — The Tangipahoa Parish School Board took steps this week to set up legal mechanisms for proposed new school taxes to help pay for a nearly $200 million school desegregation plan awaiting court and voter approval. LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish School Board adopted a $383.3 million budget Wednesday that reflects an anticipated 7 percent reduction in sales tax revenue and more cuts may come pending the state’s own budget process. LAFAYETTE — Dana Schmersahl, principal of J. Wallace James Elementary School, is one of 21 principals across the state named as a finalist for the state department of education’s principal of the year honor. Legislation that would freeze basic state aid to public schools at current levels moved within one step of final approval Tuesday when the House Education Committee passed it. The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board raised many questions Tuesday, but did not suggest significant changes to its $424 million proposed general operating budget. ST. FRANCISVILLE — Nearly one in every five West Feliciana Parish public school students scored at the “advanced” level in at least one subject area during the spring accountability testing, the School Board learned Tuesday. GONZALES — Donaldsonville High School is on its way to getting a large, digital roadside sign, the Ascension Parish School Board decided Tuesday night. BAKER — The School Board approved a contract with a private company Tuesday to provide Baker schools with several “highly qualified” teachers. AMITE — The Tangipahoa Parish School Board unanimously approved the parameters of a new three-year contract for Superintendent Mark Kolwe on Tuesday. LAFAYETTE — Today is the last chance to comment on or question school officials about the district’s proposed $383 million budget before it is approved later today. Luke O’Quinn sat transfixed in front of his glowing computer screen Monday afternoon, typing in short lines of code and listening to the instructor’s directions. The 14-year-old LSU Lab School student was one of 24 local high schoolers who chose to spend the week getting a crash course in supercomputing at the Beowulf Boot Camp at LSU’s Center for Computation and Technology. Southern University revealed its plans Friday to eliminate at least 100 positions, nearly half of which would be faculty, because of state budget cuts to higher education. A handful of groups want to start public charter schools in Baton Rouge in the fall 2010, but the time to apply is fast approaching. GREENSBURG — The Charter School of Pine Grove will open in the fall of 2010 under SABIS International’s management, the chairman of the charter group said Thursday. LAFAYETTE — Lafayette Parish school system officials say they hope to take care of at least $30 million in needed school maintenance and improvements as part of the federal stimulus program. LAFAYETTE — Meetings designed to assist the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in developing a hazard mitigation plan continue at 2 p.m. Monday at Abdalla Hall. Legislation that would offer public high-school students a new curriculum to try to trim Louisiana’s dropout rate came under fire Thursday from three national education groups. A Christian school that started as a home for inner-city New Orleans teenage boys and moved to Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina is closing its doors, but hopes to reopen down the road as a public charter school. LAFAYETTE — Headaches and respiratory ailments accounted for the majority of the 5,500 student visits to the Our Lady of Lourdes Health Center on the campus of Northside High School last school year. A national magazine says Louisiana has improved its graduation rates even as the state continues to debate how best to reduce its still daunting school dropout problem. Supporters of the new Capitol High Academy were surprised Wednesday morning when they found that the yard signs they had put up promoting the school had been stolen and replaced with negative ones. The East Baton Rouge Parish school system is heading into the hurricane season with property insurance costing much more and covering much less than it did last year when Hurricane Gustav blew through Baton Rouge. LAFAYETTE — Fourth- and eighth-grade students who didn’t master grade level math and English skills on the high stakes LEAP test are back in the classroom this summer. |
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