What else is on the Caddo agenda?

The Caddo Parish School Board is meeting tomorrow and they have some interesting items on the agenda. Among them is an application for a type II charter.

But there are some other items that are of interest. The district's five goals will be unveiled to the public, even though we've already reported them. Those goals are:

Academic achievement
Facilities study
Improve internal and external communications and marketing
Improve fiscal health and accountability
Strategic plan 3 to 5 years that drives the future

These are the same goals that were developed during the board's retreat earlier this month.

Also on the agenda, is an item about the contract with the charter schools. Remember when the school district did not draw bus routes for more than 500 charter school students days before school began? Well, Caddo's role in driving charter students to and from school is part of a contract the district has with the Recovery School District. The RSD enters into the contract on the charter schools' behalf. 

There isn't a PDF attached to this agenda item so we won't know until tomorrow what services the district is supplying or how much the charter schools are paying.  Regardless, it's all tax payer money.

Welcome back Southern Shreveport!

Students at Southern University-Shreveport went back to school today.

The school, which lauched a new twitter feed this summer , welcomed students back with a tweet:

@sushreveport: is welcoming students to the fastest growing 2-year institution in Northern Louisiana. All the best to our Students, Faculty and Staff in the upcoming Fall Semester

Are they the fastest growing in NWLA? Considering how much the school's enrollment increased last year, I wouldn't doubt it. Last semester, the college saw it's highest enrollment ever. From the story I wrote in Feb 2009:

The university saw a jump in the number of continuing education students from 1,472 this time last year to 1,530. The number of new students increased from 96 this time last year to 151 this year.

But they may have some competition. During recent conversations with BPCC Chancellor Jim Henderson and LTC-Shreveport/Bossier City Dean Angie Rymer, the number of students enrolled has grown.  So much so that both educational leaders mentioned a tighter squeeze at their campuses this year. Henderson mentioned it on his Twitter feed.

As of this morning BPCC enrollment is pacing 20+% ahead of last year. Expanding access to students on display...

9:53 AM Aug 19th from web
We'll have to wait until the 14th class day to see how enrollment has grown. But it will be interesting to see how many more students are in college this year compared to last year and whether the area will still be third in the state for college student enrollment.  

Stay tuned.

Memorial Service for Centenary dean

Centenary College will have a memorial service for David Womack at 11 a.m. Thursday at Brown Memorial Chapel.

The dean of students died Saturday at age 49. Womack had been at Centenary since September 2008 and was responsible for the oversight of the departments of Career Services, Student Life programs and activities, Fitness Center operations, Residence Life, Health Services and College Counseling.

Womack is survived by his wife Elizabeth Henning, and his three children, Tyler, Mason and Landon.

In lieu of flowers and in memory of Womack, the family has requested donations be made to the National Autism Association, 1330 W. Schatz Lane, Nixa, Mo., or call 877‐622‐2884.

Another charter school? Maybe.

For those that haven't been following k-12 education in Northwest Louisiana, the Caddo Parish School District had two of it's schools taken over by the state. In Louisiana, it's called the Recovery School District.

The schools, formerly Linear and Linwood Middle Schools, are now charter schools with its own governing board that answers to the Recovery School District.

But there is a group who wants to open a new K-5 (elementary) charter school which will be different from Shreveport's current schools.

Eddie Jean Cheatham, executive director of New Life Leadership Foundation, has applied for a Type 2 Charter. This charter would not be part of the Recovery School District and would be a seperate school. Based on a quick search on the state's education department website, type two charters are set up between the company or group and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Here's Cheatham's proposal. The Caddo Parish School Board will discuss this tomorrow during its executive commitee meeting.

Six schools get off the academically unacceptable list

The Caddo Parish School District has lots to celebrate about. Six of the schools that were on the state's academically acceptable list are now officially off of it.

The info came late into the office last Friday and it wasn't until this morning that we heard word about it.

Here's the list of the six schools:

Barret Elementary School
Caddo Heights Elementary School
Central Elementary School
Ingersoll Elementary School
Oak Park Elementary School
Midway Professional Development Center

These schools, some who are on the Superintendent's Target Schools (STS), scored high enough on the state exam to get off of it.

Here are the schools on the STS list:

Woodlawn Leadership Academy (high school)
Green Oaks Performing Arts (high school)
Fair Park College Preparatory Academy (high school)
Booker T. Washington New Technology High School
J.S. Clark MicroSociety Academy (middle school)
Bethune Math/Science Technology (middle school)
Oak Park MicroSociety Elementary
Caddo Heights Math/Science Elementary
Barret Paideia Academy

I'm working on this story now and what this means for the other schools still on the list.

Blogging education: a trial

Hello all and welcome to the first entry of Conferred: An Education Blog.

I'm an education reporter at The (Shreveport) Times in Louisiana in charge of covering k-12 and higher education. I started this blog as a clearinghouse for all the education news in the area. And trust me there is lots. Please bear with us as we try to figure it all out.

Thanks for stopping by!


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