Wednesday, May 14, 2008
EDUCATION
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The East Baton Rouge Parish school system announced the 2008-2009 Teachers of the Year on Tuesday, honoring a special-needs pre-school teacher, a 33-year teaching veteran and a high school Spanish teacher.
The winners were announced at a banquet sponsored by the nonprofit group Volunteers In Public Schools and Neighbors Federal Credit Union.
OPELOUSAS — A proposed school reorganization plan to help resolve desegregation issues in St. Landry Parish is scheduled to be made public today at a special School Board meeting. LIVINGSTON — Livingston Parish public schools continue to struggle to break through a plateau in scores at the upper-middle and high-school levels on state standardized tests. State educators approved two new ways Tuesday for public school eighth-graders to get around a test required for promotion. A third exception failed on a 5-5 vote. It may be debated again Thursday during a meeting of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. LIVINGSTON — The three candidates vying to be the next superintendent of Livingston Parish public schools agreed Tuesday they would communicate and work with School Board members, staff and the public if appointed to the job. Public-school eighth-graders would be given new ways to get around a key state test required for promotion under a plan recommended to the state’s top school board. Tara High School students, teachers and parents protested Monday night an April 21 East Baton Rouge Parish School Board vote to alter school attendance zones, which would send between 44 and 56 Tara students to Woodlawn High. The Southeastern Louisiana University and University of Louisiana at Monroe presidents are among the top six applicants to become the head of the state’s largest university system, an advisory panel decided Monday. Want a biscuit cutter starting at $40? How about some vintage rolling pins now at $25? Or maybe a large food chopper for $300? Until recently, you would have heard about such sales for obsolete school food service equipment only at a government auction. But increasingly, these auctions are migrating to the Internet. The recent announcement that Advance Baton Rouge and LSU plan to open two new, small “autonomous” high schools by fall 2009 took top leaders of East Baton Rouge Parish’s school system by surprise and further stressed the already tense relations between the school system and Advance Baton Rouge. PINEVILLE — Gov. Bobby Jindal urged graduates at two universities to dream big and travel the world — but come back to Louisiana. School lunch menus for East Baton Rouge Parish public schools and Catholic schools for May 12-16: Public school fifth-graders in Louisiana fared best compared to their peers nationally and sixth-graders worst in a test of math, English and other skills, state educators said Friday. GREENSBURG — St. Helena Parish public school students lost ground or achieved only minimum gains in the state’s most recent LEAP and the iLEAP tests, officials said. The youngest students taking Louisiana's standardized tests did worse in three out of four subjects than they did last year, and only fifth- and ninth-graders did better in every subject, results released Friday showed. State education officials have chosen three consultants to recommend changes at the Louisiana School for the Deaf following the arrests of five people over a five-month period on sex-related charges. LAFAYETTE — The leader of the N.P. Moss Middle School parents’ group said Thursday that she and her fellow parents are comfortable with the way the school system is handling repairs and reoccupation of the school. Fifty-seven percent of fourth-graders in a magnet school program at Hammond Eastside Upper School scored at top levels in the 2008 LEAP English section, the school’s principal said. LIVINGSTON — The Livingston Parish School Board will interview candidates competing to become the school system’s next superintendent starting at 2 p.m. Tuesday. DARROW — Faced with an impending deadline to start construction, school officials are investigating a different location for a primary school in southern Ascension Parish. The private company providing custodial services for Baton Rouge public schools is having its day managers work more night shifts to head off complaints about poor quality upkeep in some schools. LAFAYETTE — Lafayette Parish School Superintendent Burnell Lemoine on Wednesday announced that N.P. Moss Middle School will partially reopen in the fall. BAKER — The Baker School Board agreed Tuesday to contract with a California firm to assist teachers in preparing for next year’s state accountability tests. NEW IBERIA — The Iberia Parish School Board spent its time celebrating both academic and athletic achievements during its regular Wednesday night meeting. Fourth- and eighth-graders did slightly better this year on a state test required for promotion but major challenges remain, educators said Tuesday. The test, which is called LEAP, is designed to make sure public school students master basic skills in math and English before they move to the next grade. Just completing its first year of independence, the new Central Community school system appears to be taking its academic place among the higher-performing school districts in Louisiana. LAFAYETTE — The newly named leader of the group working on recommendations for future construction and maintenance of Lafayette Parish public schools has already established a reputation with the school system central office staff. A panel created to find Superintendent Charlotte Placide’s replacement before she leaves in July 2009 is recommending that school leaders hear proposals from search firms next month to see if that’s the way the school system wants to go. Fourth- and eighth-graders in Louisiana public schools showed "marked improvement" this spring in scores on standardized tests that are required for promotion to the next grade, state education officials said Tuesday. CENTRAL — Voters will decide July 19 whether they should pay higher sales and property taxes to build a near-$100 million educational complex to handle an expected wave of new students. DENHAM SPRINGS — Two top Livingston Parish public school administrators and a Dillard University program director have applied to be the next superintendent of Livingston Parish schools, records show. A noted educator who specializes in the education of black students told an Istrouma High School audience that too often teachers in Baton Rouge don’t really teach at all, and black children, especially males, suffer. NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Public school districts around Louisiana learn Tuesday how their students did on the standardized tests that fourth- and eighth-graders must pass to be promoted and that high-schoolers must pass to graduate. Johnny Mann remembers as a young child being bored in school and not being a very good student. But he has seen the antidote and wants every school to have it: interactive whiteboards. When Marcus Smallwood arrived at Prescott Middle School in August to teach sixth-grade math, 94 percent of his students were performing below grade level. The bulk of his more than 30 students came from one elementary school; they spent fifth grade taught by a succession of substitute teachers. The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education supported “compromises” on Friday to water down legislation that critics contend could allow for teaching creationism in schools. Although state leaders won’t decide until May 15 who will operate four public schools in Baton Rouge and one in Morganza, one of the groups seeking the keys to three of those schools is not waiting until then to recruit teachers and principals. For author and education advocate John Corcoran, the key to literacy is simple: Those who can read and write must teach those who can’t — no matter their age. About 50 parents and teachers from Tara High went to the school’s auditorium Thursday night to discuss how they’re going to persuade the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board to rescind planned changes to Tara’s attendance zone. After just two years, two former high school teachers are on the verge of more than doubling the small staff of their young nonprofit, a change that also would have them counseling about 2,000 high school seniors -– almost every senior in East Baton Rouge Parish. LAFAYETTE — No one is talking bids, contracts or real dollars yet, but officials with the Lafayette Parish school system have begun to speak with increasing interest about using pre-fabricated concrete buildings to cut dependence on the growing number of portable buildings on school campuses. ZACHARY — School officials gave the public a report Thursday on the Zachary Community School Board’s use of bond issue money for construction projects. Attorneys for the Central and East Baton Rouge Parish school systems met at a Louisiana appellate court Wednesday to argue two lawsuits involving millions in disputed taxes. OPELOUSAS — A proposed school reorganization plan for St. Landry Parish will not be made public today because the U.S. Justice Department delivered incomplete documents outlining the plan. Dozens of parents of gifted-and-talented children in the East Baton Rouge Parish school system urged the School Board on Tuesday to not do harm to the programs where their children go to schools, but rather to recruit more students to bolster them. Superintendent Charlotte Placide is proposing to expand the gifted program at Parkview Elementary School this fall, but is suggesting no changes when it comes to magnet programs. Five semifinalists vying to become Southern University’s next chancellor toured the campus Monday and gave presentations at each of the academic colleges. LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish community group organized to recommend a course for the future of school construction and maintenance is aiming for a midsummer report to the School Board. School lunch menus for East Baton Rouge Parish public and Catholic schools for the week of April 28 to May 2: LAFAYETTE — The citizens’ group attempting to map out a course for funding and repairing the Lafayette Parish school system’s aging buildings and equipment is set to pull together some of its findings at a Monday meeting. |
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