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Saturday, July 5, 2008

EDUCATION

Tara zone changes protested

  • By STEVEN WARD
  • Advocate staff writer
  • Published: May 13, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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 message was clear: Don’t move any Tara students.

Tara families and staff fired off a list of questions and anti-zone change comments at Superintendent Charlotte Placide and School Board President Jerry Arbour, the Tara area School Board member who attended Monday’s gathering.

Placide told the crowd of about 100 people that she and the School Board would consider the issues brought up most often Monday, including providing buses for the 12 Tara seniors who can stay at the school and adding advancement placement courses at Woodlawn.

Besides plucking students out of a high school they consider home, the main objection to the attendance zone change by teachers and parents is the possible loss of teachers, advanced placement courses and programs as a result of a reduction in student population.

The majority of teachers and parents who spoke at Monday’s meeting also wanted to know why the School Board voted on the matter so quickly without input from the public. About 50 parents and teachers from Tara High met May 1 to discuss how to persuade Placide and the School Board to rescind the April 21 vote.

Placide said Monday that as soon as the attendance zone plan was created, she e-mailed a copy to every School Board member and every principal in the system and she did not receive any negative feedback. She also said plans for the April 21 School Board vote — on the meeting agenda — were posted at the school’s Web site.

Parent Mark Menou asked Placide at the end of Monday’s meeting if she and the School Board would put an item on Thursday night’s meeting agenda to delay the Tara zoning changes.

Placide only said that she and the School Board will take all the issues under serious consideration.

About 20 Tara students, wearing T-shirts that said, “Save Tara” on the front and “I’m a Tara Trojan, not an EBR statistic” on the back, lined Tara Boulevard holding protest signs before the meeting. Students also stood outside the school, the site of the meeting, with those same signs and signs that said, “Save Tara” and “Tara is my school of choice.”

The School Board voted unanimously last month to shift attendance zones at 18 schools to align feeder patterns, create shorter bus rides and allow students to attend schools closer to their homes.

Under the plan, 44 students would go from Tara to Woodlawn, Placide said Monday.

Twelve students not counted in the 44 whom Placide said would be affected will be seniors when the plan goes into effect in August and will have the option of staying at Tara, said Chris Trahan, a school system spokesman.


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Chris
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
7:53 AM

This case demonstrates to me exactly why I moved out of the EBR system to Ascension. Why would EBR school board remove students from a school (Tara) with a specific college prep progam to a school which will not serve the needs of the students. I thought the main goal of the EBR board was to prepare students to have the skills to compete in the world 5 to 10 years from now.
Mama Teekel
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
9:53 AM

I commend the audience at the meeting last night. Even with the high emotional involvement of those there, there were no outbursts. Everyone who spoke was self-controlled, even if they were only voicing opinions and not offering solutions. I was relieved to hear that the number of students who are targeted to move has dropped. I still feel that the current students deserve the option of choosing whether to go or stay. A comment was made last night that most of the attention seemed to be on extra-curricular activities, not on academics. I don't know if the person hadn't been paying attention earlier, but a good 75% of the conversation to that point had dealt with grades, AP classes and the lack of same at other schools, etc. Most people don't realize that JROTC is also an academic course that encompasses leadership training, history and civics and the kids are tested just like in any other course. I may have only one son at the school now, but I am proud to claim many more of the students as "my kids" after getting to know them over the years. My husband and I just chaperoned two trips out of state for the JROTC, and I am proud to report that there were NO problems with kids on either of those trips. We also chaperone the band and help them at football games and parades. Those kids are creative and excitable, but well-behaved for us and we look forward to football season all year just to be around them.
Mrs. LeBlanc-Smith
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
1:08 PM

The P.T.O. worked hard to gather students and parents for this meeting. By creating this meeting, we proved that effective communication can get results. We wanted to be heard and I believe we were. Whether we will be seriously considered in future decisions regarding our school zone, remains to be seen. Whether students and parents are considered in any decision regarding their "school of choice"--one can only hope. We are Tara Proud and we'd like to stay Tara Strong because right is always right, even when it unpopular and not easy--especially when it is not easy.
Concerned parent
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
3:27 PM

The information presented at the meeting is in contrast to the initial rezoning plan, which would have moved 218 students (26% of the school) out of Tara. Apparently the decision to move 90 to Capital was repealed by the board, but how the final number was obtained as reported here is still not clear to Tara parents and students. Another concern raised by parents was the apparent rush by the board to implement this now as opposed to phasing in the changes over a period of a couple of years. If the school board sees our children as merely a "very small number" of kids being impacted, then why is there such a rush for this to happen? There's simply no reason this couldn't begin with the set of students who currently haven't started high school. These types of decisions do indeed reflect the reasons so many concerned parents either move out of EBR zone or place their children in private schools in the area. Unfortuantely, this isn't an option for everyone. Therefore, we hang in there and keep moving forward while trying to hold the board accountable for their decisions. Of course, I'm sure no one on the board rezond their home or their child.
Fighting for Tara
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
4:27 AM

That's because hardly any of them actually have kids in the public school system.
Rand McNally
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
5:21 AM

Has anyone looked at the map of the Tara district? And the changes? If the goal is neighborhood schools, this plan isn't the solution. It may be difficult to draw district lines considering where high schools are build and students live, but it can be done. Seems like our superintended wanted to bring children from private schools back to the public schools. The current proposal will do just the opposite. Maybe they'll see that soon, hopefully before it is too late.
Tara parent
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
9:15 AM

I was unable to attend to meeting Monday, but I have kept up with the situation. I just don't understand the "pocket area" that has been rezoned for Woodlawn. If you are really concerned about neighbor hood school zones, then this "pocket area makes no sense to me. Every time public school children leave because of changing district lines, they don't come back. We need to keep our students, not give them reason to leave.
Tara Teacher
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
11:51 AM

Monday's meeting was well presented with parents, students, and teachers all voicing their concerns over the recent district change that the school board rushed through. I attended the meeting and watched Placide. Whenever she thought she wasn't being watched, she was flipping through papers, chatting with Jerry Arbour and laughing. I imagine she was laughing at us. She made a note of saying that all concerns were heard and that they will be talked about in upcoming meetings. Well, here is the agenda for the next meeting. http://schoolboard.ebrschools.org/explore.cfm/meetingagenda/ As of Wednesday morning, it was obvious that no mention had been made in the agenda with regards to the zone change. The school board obviously does not care what its constituents think or about how these students will be affected. Heaven knows what their agenda is, but they definitely have one. There is a mention of Tara High's JROTC program on the agenda. They'll be recieving the superintendant's trophy. I think it would be a nice touch if they all wore their "Save Tara" shirts for the presentation.
Mama Teekel
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
12:02 PM

I also looked at the agenda for tomorrow's meeting. I tend to be an optimistic person and hope that they failed to update the agenda as it is the same as it was last week. There is a line listed as Unfinished Business, and I assume the zone changes will be discussed under that. There are so many things listed to be covered, though, that I really doubt our issues and concerns will be given the attention needed. At the bottom of the agenda a discussion of a student's expulsion is listed, but I don't see our cadet Kimberly mentioned as needing attention. Placide stated in the meeting that they would consider her situation in the School Board meeting.
Common Sense
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
4:37 PM

My biggest concern over this redistricting is still that more than 200 students are being moved to AUS, academically unacceptable schools. Apparently they are not unacceptable to the school board, just the rest of the free world.
Tara Teacher
Thursday, May 15, 2008
5:07 AM

I wish I could be optimistic. I also sincerely hope that I am proven wrong tonight and that the board will discuss the re-zoning problem. However, I don't actually think I'm wrong. My gut tells me that Placide was doodling on her note pad Monday night (in between laughing with Arbour over who knows what) and that she was lying through her teeth when she said she'd look into it. We still need to send them plenty of e-mails to let them know how we feel.
retiring from Tara
Thursday, May 15, 2008
11:59 AM

The School Board and Mrs. Placidec an and will change any action they have takeif they don't have a hidden agenda. They will "hear" objections any time, but they "listen" when it suits them. Were principals asked to be present with the committee who drafted thes changes. Did they look at an actual MAP as they created these "neighborhood school" districts? It seems as though they were looking at a map of the known universe. Our Tara district strongly resembles the Crab Nebulae. We are being thrown a bone, however. Tara will undergo extensive renovations this summer...renovations that have been sorely needed for years. Teachers are busily packing up entire classrooms so that belongings can be stored and workmen get room to replace floors, ceilings and paint walls. Most of my colleagues would rather forego these renovations if we could keep our rising freshmen for whom we have been preparing since May of 2007. Our Freshman Academy grant is based on the numbers of students we expected until the derailment of April 21. Did the Board just rubber-stamp the uninformed re-drawing of our attendance zone? Did our zone's Board Member, Mr. Jerry Arbour (Board president, by the way) know anything about the prestigious grant we received? How do you justify re-districting the TARGET beneficiaries of the splendid opportunity that has been the dream of our freshmen classes' visionary teachers? More people were in attendance at the "monument"-al meeting of the previous regular board meeting than were present at the poorly publicized Monday night re-zoning plotting meeting. While it is accurate that Mrs. Placide advertised the latter in advance, but the publicity wasn't effective. (Or WAS it?) With an issue so relevant at hand, i find it strange that the Supt. was explicit about the feedback she DIDN'T receive. It was INPUT she should have asked for.
Mama Teekel
Thursday, May 15, 2008
4:00 PM

If the superintendent doesn't appropriately publicize these kinds of issues, shouldn't our representatives take care of that? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong; I have no clue about what their procedures are, but we elected these people. Aren't they supposed to represent our wishes just like any other elected officials? I will definitely not vote for Mr. Arbour again unless no one else runs against him. Why didn't Mrs. Placide implement the telephone notification system? Why didn't she get herself on one of the morning TV or radio talk shows? On the email to the principals, did she mark it as high priority? When she didn't get "feedback" why didn't she delay the meeting or make a few calls to the more outspoken principals who normally give her all the feedback she can handle? At the meeting Monday it sounded as if she had sent the email late in the afternoon - on a Friday after school had let out. Personally, if I had sent an important message out and gotten such little feedback, I would have wanted to know why and begun making phone calls.
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