Residents voice concerns over loss of paraprofessionals at JSM

The flyer for Thursday’s night meeting said to PLEASE BE THERE and members of the Ville Platte community apparently took notice.
Parents and grandparents of James Stephens Montessori School students, JSM teachers, and community leaders held a town hall meeting at the MLK Center in Ville Platte on Thursday night. The topic of discussion for the event was the proposed decision by the Evangeline Parish School Board to eliminate paraprofessional positions in special education throughout the parish, including at JSM, as a solution to budget issues.
That plan has many in the community asking questions.
Selena Edwards, who is a parent of a special needs student at JSM, said “Once the aids are taken away, where does that leave her? It really makes a difference to me.”
Added JSM teacher assistant Donna Robert, “Really and truly we are an A school. Everybody in the community is asking ‘why are they touching an A school?’”
Proposed cuts to the parish’s paraprofessionals have been discussed at EPSB board meetings since late May. This past Wednesday night, the EPSB Executive Committee met again and approved a plan of removing 16 paraprofessionals from the special-ed department from across the parish, with an additional four paras removed from JSM’s third and fourth grade classes.
In that most recent plan, no paras will be cut from JSM’s combined classrooms for pre-kindergarten-kindergarten or first-second grades.
JSM teacher Danica Prudhomme, who has been working at the school since 2009, stated that those paras are crucial to the continued success of the school.
“I have always heard ‘you work at Montessori that’s where all those smart kids are.’ I always say yes we do and that’s because the kids in our classrooms are smart because they are being pushed by our teachers and by their parents. They are expected to reach for higher goals. Without assistants sitting next to us it doesn’t happen.”
Passion for the school and its teachers was on full display as individual after individual walked to the podium and addressed the crowd of more than 60 people.
“Everyone is calling this a school,” said JSM parent Joey Fontenot. “This isn’t a school, it is a family. They take kids that wouldn’t have a chance at a regular school and give them a spark to learn. We got kids at this school that want to learn. My little boy wanted to go back a grade when he found out that they were going to have a fifth grade.”
Added Susie Soileau, “From what I have experienced with my grandson who is entering the third grade, I can’t explain to you how happy he is about school and how excited he is about the upcoming school year. I am proud of this school and these teachers.”
Rufus Serie questioned why would the EPSB resort to cutting positions, especially considering that some of the board are former educators.
“All of these individuals that are making these decisions started off as teachers,” Serie said. “So how are you going to go against them when they are doing the same thing that you did years ago?”
Serie went on to state, “All of the money that you are worrying about saving comes at a cost. You are trying to doom the lives of these children.”
Serie further went on to tell the crowd that they should be more involved by attending EPSB meetings and making their voice heard with possible protest or pickets, similar to what Sacred Heart School parents did last year which resulted in the Diocese of Lafayette forming a committee that eventually replaced the school’s principal.
Sacred Heart though is a private school and not under the direction of EPSB.
“Whenever you start shutting down education here then Baton Rouge comes here and starts asking questions,” Rufus said. “They come here and maybe do an audit.”
Ville Platte City Councilman Rev. Freddie Jack meanwhile provided those disgruntled residents in attendance with a more reserved approach to resolving the issues with the proposed budget cuts.
“Everything is about how we approach a situation,” Jack said. “I would suggest to you that a two to three person committee be formed for every school board member. Then that committee discuss with that district’s school board member about the concerns and grievances the committee has.
“They are elected officials,” Jack added. “They came to you when they wanted your votes. So they can make time for you now.”