Donaldsonville High to get road sign

• By ELLYN COUVILLION
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Jun 17, 2009 - Page: 5B

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GONZALES — Donaldsonville High School is on its way to getting a large, digital roadside sign, the Ascension Parish School Board decided Tuesday night.

Following a request by Superintendent Donald Songy to add the item to the meeting’s agenda, the board approved a resolution to move forward with its efforts to put the sign in place.

“We’ve been working for quite some time for a school sign for Donaldsonville High,” Songy said. 

The Coca-Cola Co. is donating the sign, and the owner of the commercial property where the sign will sit on La. 1 South has given permission for the sign to be installed there, Songy said.

Donaldsonville High School, itself, sits some distance from the highway, on Tiger Drive.

Students’ parents have asked the School Board for a sign in a spot they could easily see, to keep up with important school news, said Chad Lynch, director of planning and construction for the board, following its meeting.

The School Board will pay for putting the sign up and for its maintenance and utility costs, Songy said.

He said it’s hoped the sign would be up in time for the start of the new school year.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, the board also appointed three new assistant principals: Lynn Hathaway at Ascension Alternative School in Darrow; Twana Hilton-Pitre at St. Amant Primary School; and Kim Melancon at Donaldsonville High School.

In other business, the School Board voted, upon the recommendation of the Transportation Committee, to add to its next meeting’s agenda a request for permission to advertise for 27 full-size school buses for the new school year.

The buses, each with 72 seats, may be modified to accommodate wheelchairs, if needed, said Kennie Ridgdell, transportation coordinator with the board.

It was learned in the Transportation Committee meeting earlier Tuesday that it’s expected the 27 new buses will cost approximately $1.89 million, at about $70,000 each.

Ridgdell said the purchase of the buses will be timely — on Jan. 1, 2010, new federal environmental regulations on diesel engines will add approximately $10,000 to the cost of a bus.