2theadvocate.com | Education — Baton Rouge, LA
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Saturday, November 21, 2009

EDUCATION

LAFAYETTE — Space is still available in Lafayette Parish’s new eCampus program. The digital school began last week with 15 students, and as of Friday four more had applied, said Jarrett Coutee, the Lafayette Parish eCampus director. The goal is to enroll 75 to 100 students.

Organizers of two technology-focused high schools proposed for downtown urged a surprisingly cordial East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on Thursday to reverse its August denial of their proposal. Board members discussed the proposal Thursday but plans to vote yes or no at a special meeting Dec. 3.

LSU System President John Lombardi is satirically proposing a federal bailout for higher education nationwide. In presenting “The Higher Education Foundations Act,” Lombardi contends the federal government should fund each public college to the tune of $5,000 per full-time student — half the baseline cost to educate an undergraduate per year — to maintain the quality of the nation’s colleges.

After years of steep declines, enrollment in Louisiana public schools is expected to show modest growth in the next five years, officials said Wednesday. Big gainers are expected to include the Ascension, Livingston, Zachary and Central school districts, figures show.

LAFAYETTE — School Board members on Wednesday night went over a nonprofit’s proposal to open a charter school, but after an hour and a half, decided against moving the proposal forward. Outreach Community Development Corp.’s application to open a Type 1 charter school was introduced to the board at its regular meeting Wednesday.

LAFAYETTE — Tough decisions await the public and School Board on how to best address the Lafayette Parish public school system’s failing physical plants. There’s at least $408 million in deferred maintenance within the school district’s 46 facilities. Some fixes would be easier than others.

VILLE PLATTE — The freshman class of Pine Prairie was the center of attention at Wednesday’s meeting of the Evangeline Parish School Board. Pine Prairie High School Acting Principal Barbara Lee and members of her staff made a presentation of the school’s new 9th Grade Academy program to prepare freshman and parents for the high school experience.

The state is paying twice for the education of students who go into the juvenile justice system, state officials said Wednesday. It’s a matter of money following students, said Barry Erwin, chairman of an advisory committee that brought the recommendation to the Commission on Streamlining Government.

The state’s public colleges — especially regional universities — may have their academic degree programs scaled back, based on recommendations approved Tuesday by a state higher education review panel.

AMITE — The Tangipahoa Parish School Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to fill two administrator slots, acting a week after a federal court decision ordering the SchoolBoard to hire black applicants.

Every public school in Ascension Parish now has a seven-member team trained to respond to medical emergencies on campus, an official told the School Board Tuesday.

NEW IBERIA — The Louisiana Technical College Teche Area campus in New Iberia is offering a tuition-free heavy equipment operator program starting Nov.30.

The state Department of Education weathered criticism Monday for delays in paying a salary supplement for school workers who receive national certification.

The H1N1 flu vaccine will be administered at Southern University from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today through Wednesday, a university spokesman said Sunday in a news release.

A. P. Tureaud Jr. has lived for six decades with the memory of LSU students beating on his dormitory door all night and professors refusing to acknowledge his presence in their classrooms or to even touch his homework papers.

LAFAYETTE — Students of Episcopal School of Acadiana’s Lower School helped break ground on their future school site during a ceremony Thursday. The students will move onto their new campus next fall.

ZACHARY — After bids came in lower than anticipated for four major projects under way in the Zachary Community School District, the School Board voted Thursday to reduce the project budgets to free up money for a high school ninth-grade academy.

CENTERVILLE — The St. Mary Parish School Board on Thursday revised its school bus safety policy to address accidents, traffic violations and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Gov. Bobby Jindal touted the pressing need to improve the state’s high school and college graduation rates Thursday at a United Negro College Fund luncheon in Baton Rouge. Although it was the second UNCF Louisiana Governor’s Luncheon ever held, Thursday was Jindal’s first time attending. Last year, his wife, Supriya, filled in for him as he dealt with the aftermaths of hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

LSU on Thursday named Doris Carver as the interim vice chancellor of research and economic development beginning Jan. 1 to replace Brooks Keel. The current vice chancellor, Keel, is taking over as president of Georgia Southern University at the beginning of 2010.

Teacher pay incentives can improve student achievement and keep teachers in the profession, a Texas educator said Thursday. However, any such plan needs to help teachers improve their instructional methods, not just boost their bank accounts, said Tammy Kreuz, director of Educator Quality Initiatives for the University of Texas System.

Louisiana’s superintendent of public schools and a Senate leader disagree whether it is feasible for the state to raise its public high school graduation rate by 20 percent in the next five years. Under a law approved earlier this year, the state is supposed to raise its graduation figure from 66.6 percent to 80 percent by 2014, which would be a 20 percent gain.

LAFAYETTE — Superintendent Burnell Lemoine has a new cadre of advisers — students. A districtwide student advisory council was recently selected by area middle and high school principals.

PORT ALLEN — West Baton Rouge Parish School Board members approved new policies Tuesday night to regulate electronic communications between teachers and students.

Public high school students who pursue a “career diploma” should be required to pass the same exit exam as other students, a key education advisory panel said Monday.

LAFAYETTE — The second round of community dialogues that will shape the school district’s master plan will be held today and Thursday.

What would Southern University and the Scotlandville community look like if the area was managed as a healthy urban forest ecosystem?

KAPLAN — Jennifer Mire’s son, Louis, is in love. With school. His mom didn’t think it was possible. She credits changes at her son’s school, Rene A. Rost Middle, with her son’s improved performance.

A study on how to launch Louisiana’s first online charter schools is off to a rocky start amid controversy over the panel doing the review and access to its meetings.

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.

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.

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