Still in Limbo

The mounting uncertainty surrounding more than a dozen paraprofessional (para) positions in the parish remains in limbo after Wednesday night’s Evangeline Parish School Board meeting.
At an executive committee meeting that was held on June 29th, the committee, which consists of board members Mike Fontenot, Arthur Savoy, Wanda Skinner, and Darren Vidrine, had decided on cutting 16 paras from the regular schools’ special education classes across the parish, as well as an additional four from James Stephens Montessori School.
Upon the recommendation of Superintendent Toni Hamlin, the executive committee was looking into cutting paras from the special education classes because of over-staffing in these class rooms.
The number of paras needed in this area is lower now due to the fact that students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP) has dropped from more than 800 to 666 students.
During the school board’s July 6th meeting, board members were presented with the opportunity to approve the action of the executive committee, but instead, this issue was sent right back to the committee for more discussion for a second time.
At the meeting, Skinner made a motion to “send this back to executive for clarification,” which was seconded by Savoy.
Not all board members were on board with this though. Opposing the motion was Lonnie Sonnier, Peggy Forman and Nancy Hamlin, while the remaining board members were in favor sending this back to the executive committee.
Discussion over the cutting paras began back in May, when the board began looking at ways to balance their current deficit budget, and those discussions will continue. A budget must be adopted by the board by September 30, 2016, therefore a decision on this matter will have to be made soon.
No date has been set yet for the executive committee’s next meeting. The first instructional day for parish students is August 10th, while teachers start on August 8th.
To close out the meeting, the superintendent shared good news with the board concerning Louisiana’s growth in education over the past year.
Hamlin said, “Louisiana’s fourth grade students have achieved the highest growth among all states on the 2015 NAEP (National Assessment Governing Board) reading test and the second highest growth in math. In 2013, Louisiana’s low-income fourth-grade readers trailed low-income students nationwide in reading at proficient levels by five percent, but as of 2015 there is no gap.”
Among that great achievement, Hamlin also informed the board that “the Louisiana class of 2015 showed greater improvement on the ACT (American College Testing) than did any senior class in states using the ACT as their state test.”
Louisiana’s class of 2015 Advanced Placement results also showed greater annual improvement than any state other than Massachusetts. For this achievement, Hamlin gave credit to the secondary principals.
Hamlin said, “I have to give credit to the way our principals at the secondary level have embraced common core and the way they are prepping our students for the ACT. We want to commend all of our educators and students for this growth in 2015.”
Other items approved at the meeting were:
Low bid from Borden’s Dairy Milk Products for 2016-2017 fiscal year milk/milk products.
Low bid from Bimbo Bakeries USE, Inc. for bread for 2016-2017 fiscal year.
Community based education program for students with disabilities.
Payment of $10,762.60 to Rapides Parish School Board for services provided to Evangeline Parish students using general funds.
Payment of $13,409.75 to ACT/Workkeys/Explore for ACT and Workkeys tests and certificates using general funds.
Payment of $13,441.36 to Modern Technologies for Chataignier Elementary School computer lab using Title I school wide funds.
Payment of $6,743.68 to Modern Technologies for a mini-computer lab at Chataignier Elementary School using Title I school wide funds.
Payment of $10,660.05 to Heartland for annual renewal of MSF system using school food service funds.