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Members of the Southern University Board of Supervisors and their lawyers prepared Friday for their ongoing legal battle with former Southern President Ralph Slaughter.

The East Baton Rouge Parish school system cashed in money this past year it had been holding in reserve, in the process shrinking its undesignated surplus from $80 million to $47 million, according to its latest audit.

ZACHARY — Superintendent Warren Drake told Zachary Community School Board members Thursday that he wants the school system to reclaim its sense of history and also develop an international education initiative.

What would ordinarily have been a routine vote to sell $21.4 million worth of bonds turned into an unexpected backroom drama at the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board committee meeting Thursday.

East Baton Rouge Parish School Superintendent John Dilworth said Thursday his district has tentatively picked schools that could land $2 million in federal aid if Louisiana is chosen in a federal contest.

LAFAYETTE — Students involved in Carencro High’s Academy of Information Technology will be featured in an upcoming edition of “Louisiana Public Square,” a monthly public forum produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

OPELOUSAS — The St. Landry Parish School Board voted 8-3 Thursday to allow a 50 percent maximum grade for students who are making-up school work following their return to the classroom after a suspension.

ABBEVILLE — The Vermilion Parish School Board tabled a motion Thursday night to reject a property exchange between it and the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

LIVINGSTON — After achieving its best test scores so far in spring testing, Livingston Parish School Superintendent Bill Spear told the School Board on Thursday night he was surprised when the state Department of Education ranked the parish 13th when statewide district performance scores were released two weeks ago.

The state is about to replace its high school exit exam, which came under scrutiny today in a national report. Under existing rules, high school students have to pass the Graduation Exit Exam and meet other course requirements to earn a high school diploma.

Public school board members overwhelmingly oppose state plans to land $250 million in education aid through a federal contest, officials said Wednesday.

LAFAYETTE — Lafayette Parish school enrollment likely will remain steady for the next 10 years, demographer, Jerome McKibben told board members Wednesday. This year’s total enrollment is 29,089. In 10 years, it’s projected to be 29,124.

NEW IBERIA — Employees of Iberia Parish schools will have to endure a slight cut in this year’s supplemental pay and deferred payment.

LSU will no longer require student applicants to take the optional writing component of the standardized ACT test, university officials said Tuesday evening.

The Ascension Parish School Board on Tuesday adopted the certified election results of the system’s $100 million bond initiative, passed by parish voters Oct. 17, and authorized the sale of those bonds at Tuesday night’s regular meeting.

LAFAYETTE — Projections of the size and location of the student population that the Lafayette Parish School System may serve in the next five and 10 years will be presented to the board during its 5:30 p.m. meeting today.

LAFAYETTE — Barnes & Noble of Lafayette’s annual holiday book drive began Sunday and will continue through Jan. 1.

CLINTON — The East Feliciana Parish School Board on Tuesday set a Nov. 13 meeting to discuss possible ways of cutting this year’s spending by up to $1 million.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Xavier University in New Orleans will receive roughly $2 million a year for the next five years to develop a cancer research center. The grant is coming from the National Institutes of Health and its Research Centers in Minority Institutions.

Eighth-grader Morgan Friedmann asked Holocaust survivor Marion Blumenthal Lazan what her feelings were about the Germans in the aftermath of what happened in WorldWar II.

CROWLEY — Four supplementary employee paychecks totaling about $3.7 million were approved on Monday by the Acadia Parish School Board.

School Board approval of a proposed timeline is the next step for approximately $100 million in construction, renovations and upgrades in fast-growing Ascension Parish, school system officials said.

Up to 130 public schools, including some in Baton Rouge, could be in for a financial windfall if Louisiana is one of the winning states in the federal “Race to the Top” contest.

In education, the right small changes can pay big dividends. Earlier this year, Dorothy Brown was teaching every subject to her fourth-graders at Dalton Elementary School.

Before Friday, 17-year-old Trey Thompson had never stood in front of people to recite one of his poems. But all that changed for the Dutchtown High School student when he was one of a few students picked to read a poem he’d composed only an hour before during a writing workshop at Southern University.

Southern University and its law school are teaming up to build what school officials hope becomes the first parking garage on campus.

LAFAYETTE — The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s computer science building has been renamed in honor of James Oliver, the late professor who founded the school’s computer science program 50 years ago.

LSU is starting a new “think big” campaign challenging faculty to embrace big ideas and collaboration in research projects.

Louisiana should increase the minimum score that public schools need to avoid state takeovers and other sanctions, Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek said Thursday.

LAFAYETTE — The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is accepting bids for the construction of the Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning, university officials said Thursday.

LAFAYETTE — The H1N1 vaccine will be offered at sites within the Lafayette Parish School System on a Saturday, said Betty Alford, Lafayette Parish Schools nursing supervisor.

LSU must increase its graduation rate to 75 percent by 2018 and all other public universities in the state must hit at least a 50 percent plateau, according to a recommendation approved Tuesday by a statewide college review commission.

State education leaders plan to hold a public hearing on Nov. 5 to discuss Louisiana’s bid for up to $250 million in a federal contest.

ST. FRANCISVILLE — The West Feliciana Parish School Board voted Tuesday to go to court, if necessary, to force the Police Jury to pay what the board called delinquent fees for collecting sales taxes.

LAFAYETTE — An informational session about the University of Louisiana at Lafayette history departments study/travel program on the American West will be held at 5 p.m. today in Griffin Hall, Room 522.

School administrators met yesterday to discuss new ways to address behavioral problems at Baker Middle School. The meeting comes after two students were arrested for a fight earlier today. One of the students used a pencil as a weapon.

With public perceptions of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system on the decline, the School Board on Monday heard ideas from a Louisiana advertising firm about how to turn those perceptions around.

LSU System President John Lombardi said Monday the state must cap merit-based TOPS scholarships and not give them to the wealthy. He also said the Legislature must give up tuition authority and that the state will suffer if student enrollments are too quickly shifted into community colleges.

Public school superintendents on Monday questioned whether it is feasible for Louisiana to improve its high school graduation rate by 20 percent in the next five years.

LAFAYETTE — The University of Louisiana at Lafayette honored U.S. Reps. Charles Boustany and Charlie Melancon, as well as photographer Denis Reggie, as outstanding alumni during homecoming activities during the weekend.

A change in Louisiana law last year is forcing local school systems to pay for many new charter schools whether they like them or not.

LSU’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center is planning substantial curriculum and student-policy changes to adopt a more lenient grading system and decrease the number of course credits required for graduation.

HAMMOND — Historian Keith M. Finley told a university audience that Southern politicians could not have successfully blocked meaningful civil rights legislation for many years without cooperation and complicity of colleagues in Northern and Western states.

The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on Monday plans to discuss how best to market its offerings to a community that has in many cases turned its back on public schools.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Southeastern Louisiana University and the other schools in the University of Louisiana System will toughen their admissions standards beginning in 2011.

Citing personal reasons, Lanier Elementary School Principal Afreda Hygh resigned Friday, according to a news release.

Louisiana public-school students rank near the bottom in math achievement, according to a federal report. The results mean fourth-graders are 48th in the U.S. in math and eighth-graders are 45th, said Scott Norton, assistant superintendent for the state Department of Education.

An estimated 2,000 middle and elementary school students descended upon a coastal wonderland Thursday inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, where “please touch” zones enticed many to pet a live ball python, an alligator, snapping turtle and other creatures.

Louisiana ranks 47th in the nation in its public high school graduation rate, the U.S. Department of Education says. In addition, the state has the highest percentage in the nation among ninth-graders who quit school, the report says.

PORT ALLEN — West Baton Rouge Parish school performance scores increased by 4.1 points last year, Superintendent David Corona told School Board members Wednesday night.

The state is closing a Greenwell Springs outpatient treatment program for emotionally disturbed children who have trouble functioning in schools. The “Evolutions” program serves students within a seven-parish area from elementary through high school.

LAFAYETTE — Late Wednesday night, the Lafayette Parish School Board voted to uphold the termination of tenured teacher Jude Fero.

A teacher at Baker Middle school says she received a threatening letter from a student.

The desires to increase tuition and to cap the merit-based TOPS program highlighted discussions Wednesday as the state’s college leaders began discussing anticipated state budget cuts in the 2010-2011 school year and beyond.

LAFAYETTE — The school district’s top teachers were honored during Wednesday’s School Board meeting. The teachers were selected by their respective schools in February.

LAFAYETTE — N.P. Moss Middle School would be the most logical location to phase in the Lafayette Parish school system’s proposed new career and technical high school by next fall, said a member of the school system’s master planning team Wednesday.

LAFAYETTE — The University of Louisiana at Lafayette celebrates homecoming this week with a full schedule that leads up to Saturday’s 4 p.m. game against Florida Atlantic University.

PLAQUEMINE — State District Judge Robin Free ruled in favor of the Iberville Parish School Board on Tuesday, rejecting claims in a lawsuit that state laws were violated in advance of the board’s 8-7 vote April 21 to close North Iberville High School.

The state needs to produce an additional 6,900 public high school graduates over current levels in the next five years to meet its lofty graduation goal, a top official said Tuesday.

The Southern University System’s 19th annual Radiothon began Friday and has resulted in more than $82,000 in donations so far.

Ascension Parish School Superintendent Donald Songy officially informed the School Board on Tuesday night the district had climbed from 10th to fourth in statewide school rankings.

Current budget projections show the state’s higher education budget being axed by nearly 60 percent — about $635 million — by 2012, according to an LSU “roundtable” discussion Monday on colleges’ funding woes.

A member of the state’s top school board wants to make drastic changes in how officials use a fund that has provided about $700 million to schools.

BRUSLY — In the spring, when the bulk of the school year has come and gone and students start counting down the days until summer break, there is a danger their attention to their studies will tail off.

DENHAM SPRINGS — Even though Nick Canterbury is not a designated teacher’s helper, the Lewis Vincent Elementary School first-grader helps other students usethe computer during class, teacher Linda Miller confided to Nick’s mother.

The White House’s new head of historically black college initiatives had a “very frank” dialogue Friday at Southern University about the many challenges and self-inflicted problems of the nation’s black higher education institutions.

John Dilworth said Friday he has spent his first 100 days getting a handle on the school district’s needs — working with teachers, visiting with students and meeting their parents — in order to galvanize the community and increase involvement.

LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish School System will administer the former Graduation Exit Exam on Oct. 26-30 to anyone who needs to complete diploma requirements.

ABBEVILLE — The Vermilion Parish School Board voted Thursday to table a move to require all parish high schools to dismiss students at 12:30 p.m. before holding homecoming parades because of the liability to the school district.

GREENSBURG — The St. Helena School Board took no action Thursday on the Pine Grove Charter School’s request to use School Board facilities for its planned fall 2010 opening.

Schools Superintendent John Dilworth and his staff plan to have a recommendation ready by December as they re-examine a proposal to create a pair of charter high schools in downtown Baton Rouge, he said in a memo.

Without discussion Thursday, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board gave recently retired Superintendent Charlotte Placide an $8,369 bonus for her performance during her fifth and final year as superintendent.

ST. FRANCISVILLE — West Feliciana Parish school system officials and students celebrated the parish’s second-highest state performance ranking announced Tuesday, but the celebration wasn’t long, the superintendent said Thursday.

Of all the factors that put children in the “pipeline to prison,” dropping out of high school is the biggest, a policy director for the national Children’s Defense Fund said Wednesday.

CARENCRO — High-speed fiber optic technology offers a new frontier in computing. Among the explorers: students at Carencro High School’s Academy of Information Technology.

The Evangeline Parish School Board seems to be making headway in its effort to spare Ville Platte High School from forced closure in the parish’s long-running desegregation case.

University faculty are considering a vote of “no confidence” in Southern University System interim President Kassie Freeman. Southern Faculty Senate President Sudhir Trivedi has placed the possible no-confidence vote on the Faculty Senate’s Friday meeting agenda.

State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek said Wednesday he plans to offer financial incentives to trim the work force at the state Department of Education.

Angered by the application process, a state panel voted Tuesday to try to return a proposal for a new charter high school in downtown to the East Baton Parish School Board.

While short of Louisiana’s decade-long goal, public school students showed their biggest gain in four years on the annual snapshot of student performance released Tuesday. “No matter how you slice this data, this data looks good,” state Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek told reporters.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced the names of 15 Acadiana-area students among the 16,000 semifinalists nationwide in its 55th annual scholarship program.

While short of the state's goal, public school students showed their biggest gain in four years on the annual snapshot of student performance. "No matter how you slice this data this data looks good," state Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek told reporters.

School officials in Baker says they didn't know about a BB gun in their school, but they say that won't happen again. A student brought a BB gun to school on two separate occasions. The first time a student was shot, and the second time a coach was shot in the neck. According to police, the school's assistant principal knew about the coach's shooting but failed to notify anybody. That's against the law. The teacher won't take any legal heat because the school board eventually found out about it in time to make the 72-hour window of notification. However, Baker's school superintendent Estes Taplin says that won't be tolerated in the future. School administrators spent Monday in meetings going over policy and informing all staff members that incidents, like a shooting, must be reported immediately to the school board and to the police.

About the only time that state policymakers talk about high school students earning early college credit is when Louisiana shows up near the bottom of another ranking. It happened again last week.

The vote on a proposal to build a new charter school in downtown Baton Rouge will be delayed until December, officials said Monday.

In Ascension School Superintendent Donald Songy’s mind, Saturday’s property tax extension, if it passes, is just the beginning of what likely will be a 20-year plan to anticipate the growing population of the parish, and the corresponding growth in Ascension Public schools’ student population.

LSU System President John Lombardi received a two-year contract extension Friday from the school’s board of supervisors. Lombardi’s $601,000 annual pay package, which took effect in 2007, will remain the same.

GREENSBURG — St. Helena School Board President Elijah Harvey Jr. canceled the board’s regular meeting Thursday for lack of a quorum and rescheduled the session for 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15.

LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish School System received low feedback on a survey designed to help staff make a decision whether to offer the H1N1 vaccine at public schools.

LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish School System is partnering with local governments to help alleviate traffic congestion near some of its schools.

Southern University has been awarded a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to establish the “Next Generation Composites Crest Center,” called NextGenC3, on the university’s campus.

C-SPAN plans to visit Baton Rouge next week to talk to students and teachers about the TV channel’s upcoming student documentary competition as well as the channel’s public affairs coverage.

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