Asking for public records

One of the privileges of sitting next to the newsroom's investigative reporter is that you soak up interesting tidbits on public record and meetings law.

And you also learn about videos like this. Texas Watchdog, is a not-for-profit organization that not only conducts investigations but teaches folks in Texas how to be citizen journalists  to do some of the same investigations themselves.

Here is their latest video on how to put together a database. Though they are based in Texas, the tips here are useful everywhere. The sound is patchy but worth it.

Watch live streaming video from newmediatvorg at livestream.com

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A sense of community

I usually don't get a chance to tag along on someone else's assignment but this morning I got that chance. I tagged along as my fellow education reporter Nicole Blake Johnson covered a celebration at Linear Leadership Academy. The kiddos out there increased their bench mark scores so the Grambling State University music department paid them a visit.

As the bands played, I couldn't help but notice the members of the audience, other than the kids. So many Linear Middle School alumni were in the audience.

Usually when someone tells me, the higher education reporter, about support coming from alumni it's on the collegiate level and involves money. This was the first time where middle school alumni and no money were involved. This support was about presence, about unspoken words ringing clearer than bells or music from any band.

The alums are many: Mayor Cedric Glover, Representative Patrick Williams, GSU band director Larry Pannell, Author Louise Hicks, even Principal Bill Minix. There are more I'm sure I'm missing and didn't get a chance to meet. These alums contributed to a sense of community to a school that was taken over by the state a year ago.

They represent a legacy, paying it forward and bringing back a sense of community by trading stories. Some were classmates, others were team mates. But all learned lessons.

"Learn to be a leader here, learned to be a follower here, and I learned there was nothing I could not do if I set my mind to it, right here at Linear," Glover said.

So do you need money to make an impact? That's a different discussion for a different post. But we'll keep a look out to see if today's unspoken message soaked in.

To hear some of the revelry here's some audio.

Linear Leadership Academy Musical Celebration

Icess Fernandez's Podcast

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New admission entrance requirements

The Louisiana Board of Regents have approved new statewide admission standards.

Starting in fall 2012, to attend a 4 year school in Louisiana students will have to:

1) Have taken the high school core requirement

2) CORE grade point average of 2.0 or an ACT composite of  20

3) And require no remedial or developmental classes for admission. (begins in fall 2014)

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Centenary's commencement speaker

Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva.org, the world's first peer-to-peer online microlending website, will speak at Centenary College of Louisiana's 2010 commencement ceremonies, Saturday, May 8 at 10:30 a.m.

Here's more info about Jackley: 

Jackley, a finalist for TIME's 100 Most Influential People in 2009 and an honoree for USA Networks' Character Approved Award in 2010, first saw the power and dignity of microfinance while working in East Africa with a microenterprise non-profit. Sector-agnostic about social change, Jackley has worked for public, nonprofit, and private organizations including the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, Amazon, and others.

In 2009, she began work on ProFounder, which provides new ways for small businesses in the U.S. to access start-up funding through community involvement. 

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Linwood gets new director

Vickie Carroll, director of Linwood Public Charter School

Today was a first for Linwood Public Charter School students and faculty.
Since opening in August, the Shreveport charter school has had just one director, but that changed Monday.

The school's sixth-grade academic quality controller, Vickie Carroll, replaced former Director Buck Magee, an announcement that came just weeks after both parties had been notified of the change. Read the full story in The Times.

“This is not unusual to have a startup director and then transfer to a more permanent director,” said Robert Giordano, director of public relations and startup operations for Sabis Educational Systems.

Carroll's responsibilities as director include achieving enrollment goals, ensuring achievement of target academic results and managing student discipline effectively.

"I work here every day, so I know where we need to go academically," Carroll said. "Even socially, there is a culture change that needs to take place. So, I'm aware of all those things going into it, and that makes the battle easier."

Carroll's immediate goals:
- Hire highly qualified teachers in all areas.
- Make sure the correct people are in the right place.

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This week in the legislature

Here is this week's legislative update from the Office of Governmental Affairs at the state department of education.

The following bills are scheduled for final passage on the Senate floor on Monday, April 19.

SB 309 - Lafleur - Currently, parents or guardians are notified of their responsibility to ensure their child’s participation in school after habitual absence or tardiness through a conference. The proposed law would change the notification from a conference to a letter and would require this notification to be given "on or before" the third such absence or tardiness, rather than "upon" it, as present law requires.

SBs 444, 445, 446 and 447 - Lafleur - These bills repeal education pilot programs that are outdated and no longer in existence.

SB 448 - Lafleur - Repeals the requirement that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), the Board of Regents, and postsecondary management boards develop an academic assistance program in public high schools for college-bound students unprepared for college work.

SB 492 - Nevers - Brings the governing boards of charter schools under the financial disclosure requirements of the Ethics Code.

SB 536 - Nevers - Creates the crime of simple burglary of a school. Simple burglary is the unauthorized entry of any facility with the intent to commit theft.

The following bills will be heard on Tuesday, April 20 during the House Committee on Education meeting at 9 am.

HB 251 - P. Smith - Requires the State Superintendent of Education, at a minimum, to possess at the time of appointment, the qualifications adopted by BESE to be a superintendent in a local school district. The bill also authorizes BESE to establish additional qualifications for the State Superintendent.

HB 399 - Pearson - Exempts local school boards from granting sabbatical leave requests during a fiscal year when the Legislature does not approve an increase of at least 2.75 percent in the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) formula.

HB 400 - Pearson - Exempts districts from being required to provide employees with extended sick leave during a fiscal year in which the Legislature does not approve an increase of at least 2.75 percent in the MFP formula. Present law requires districts to provide up t o 90 days of extended sick leave in each six-year period (for personal illness or illness of an immediate family member), even if an employee has no remaining regular sick leave balance.

HB 403 - Pearson - Requires BESE to broadcast all regular, special, and committee meetings over the internet and further requires all such broadcasts to be archived and made accessible for at least one year.

HB 405 - Dixon - Requires BESE to establish and adopt rules and regulations on the use of physical restraint and/or seclusion of students.

HB 425 - Hoffmann -Allows an applicant who has m et other requirements and has one year successful employment as an assistant principal in a Louisiana public school to be excluded from Praxis requirements. Currently, Louisiana waives Praxis requirements for an individual who has previously served as an out-of-state principal for at least four years and who has been successfully employed in Louisiana as a principal for at least one year. This legislation would extend this waiver to assistant principals who meet these qualifications, as well. This measure also authorizes the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE), with BESE approval, to establish and collect fees for certification services.

HB 633 - P. Smith - Increases period of paid sick leave for school support workers injured or disabled under certain circumstances.  This proposed law would increase paid sick leave from 90 days to on e calendar year.

HB 1014 - Norton - Requires local school boards to provide planning time to each teacher -- a minimum of 30 minutes for lunch each day that is duty-free and a minimum of 45 minutes daily or its weekly equivalent. These planning times and lunch periods will not result in a longer school day. Current law states that the availability of state funding for this purpose is a condition for the effectiveness of the present law. This proposed measure removes the funding requirement of present law.

HB 1029 - Hoffmann - Deletes a course on Free Enterprise as a prerequisite to high school graduation and instead requires that Free Enterprise instruction be included in Civics. Expands the Civics requirement to one full year (except students who have already taken Civics and/or Free Enterprise). Makes the same changes to TOPS and other provisions.

HB 1225 - Dixon - Requires BESE to give written reports to the Legislature about the standards and criteria used to approve alternative schools and programs. Alternative schools are schools for K-12 students who have been suspended or expelled. The bill also provides guidelines for these reports.

HB 1239 - Dixon - Requires BESE to adopt rules and regulations to address the physical abuse of public school teachers and other school employees by students. The bill mandates that records be kept of such incidents, that teachers and other school employees be provided with approp riate protective equipment, that support services are provided to victims of such abuse, and that victims are given the opportunity to switch positions to avoid the student abuser.

The following bills will be heard on Tuesday, April 20 during the House Committee on Governmental Affairs meeting at 9 am.

HB 78 - Ligi  - Transfers certain adjudications and hearings functions of the Departments of Health and Hospitals (DHH), Social Services (DSS), and Education (LDOE) to the Division of Administrative Law, except where the delegation of such functions and adjudications is specifically prohibited by federal law. Requires that DHH, DSS, and LDOE work with the Division of Administrative Law to complete the transfer to the Division of Adjudications and the personnel, equipment, furniture, and budgets related to handling such a djudications, no later than Jan. 1, 2011.

HB 665 - R. Jones  - Transfers certain adjudications and hearings functions of the Departments of Health and Hospitals (DHH), Social Services (DSS), and Education (LDOE) to the Division of Administrative Law, except where the delegation of such functions and adjudications is specifically prohibited by federal law.  Requires that DHH, DSS, and LDOE work with the Division of Administrative Law to complete the transfer to the Office of Adjudications and the personnel, equipment, furniture, and budgets related to handling such adjudications no later than Jan. 1, 2011.

HB 1006 - Harrison - Makes the Office of the State Superintendent of Education an elected, rather t han an appointed office. Calls for the State Superintendent to be elected beginning with the election of statewide elected officials in 2011 and requires that the State Superintendent shall have the qualifications and salary of statewide elected officials.

The following bills will be heard on Wednesday, April 21 during the House Committee on Education meeting at 9 am.

HB 50 - Chaney - Changes membership composition of textbook adoption committees and requires BESE to establish a new procedure for public inspection and review of textbooks under consideration for state adoption.

HB 177 - Pope - Requires the state to pay the cost of transporting students attending approved nonpublic schools.

HB 216 - Foil - Establishes the School Choice Pilot Program for certain students with exceptionalities in certain parishes, beginning with the 2010-2011 school year. Establishes program eligibility requirements for students and participating nonpublic schools. Mandates that program administration and implementation be performed by LDOE.

HB 561 - Baldone - Provides that certain educational diagnosticians, who hold a valid Louisiana teaching certificate, state educational diagnostician certification, and the Nationally Certified Educational Diagnostician (NCED) credential, are eligible to receive an annual salary supplement of $5,000 (subject to appropriation of funds).

HB 739 - Hoffmann - Pertains to employment of members of the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL) who are retired. Present law states that the salary of any retiree who is reemployed as a full-time teacher will be based on the salary schedule based on prior years of teaching service and pertinent experience. This proposed law would provide that the salary of any retiree who is first reemployed as a full-time teacher, on or after July 1, 2010, will be negotiated and agreed to in writing by the retiree and the employer.

HB 1055 - Richmond - Eliminates the Division of Adult and Family Services within LDOE and transfers the responsibility for adult and family services programs from BESE to the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS).

HB 1209 - R. Jones - Creates the Louisiana Educators Professional Practices Commission to investigate allegations of certain educator misconduct in schools. Grants the Commission authority to suspend and revoke teacher and principal certificates, subject to appeal by BESE.

The following bills are scheduled for House floor debate on Wednesday, April 21.

HB 303 - Henry - Allows students in state-approved home study programs to be eligible to participate in interscholastic athletics at high schools that are members of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association. The bill also outlines the guidelines and procedures for students seeking to participate, such as residency and consent from school pri ncipals.

The following bills are scheduled for House floor debate on Thursday, April 22.

HB 46 - Hutter - Requires public school governing authorities to provide 7th -12th grade students enrolled in Heath Education classes with age- and grade-appropriate classroom instruction relative to dating violence. Also provides guidelines for such instruction.

HB 388 - P. Smith - Current policy allows teachers to take a leave of absence of up to three years to teach at a charter school. During that three-year period, teachers would have the right to return to the district at any time. This bill removes the leave of absence provision from law.

HB 580 - P. Smith - Designates the Louisiana School for the Deaf, the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired, and the Louisiana Special Education Center as "Board Special Schools" (under the jurisdiction of BESE); authorizes such schools to share services and functions under certain conditions; and allows children with orthopedic impairments to enroll in these schools.

HB 1180 - P. Smith - Permits local public school boards to use state funds to purchase instructional technology and related hardware.

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Now wanted: teachers

Last week I wrote a blog post about the Caddo Parish School District and how they would be reaching out to the laid off teachers in Texas.

Now this is how they're going to do it. 

The district will host a job fair in their search for more teachers. On the flier they list one of the target groups: those with out-of-state licenses.

For the positions they have open, the school district will have its pick of teachers.

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Got BEEF?

Before Thursday, I had no idea what the BEEF committee did or how this group impacted education.

But when I heard that there was more than $27 million attached to it, I was interested.

For those who don't know, the Bossier Education Excellence Fund is a special fund in the state treasury and only the earned interest can be used. The other catch: it must be spent on educational programs. 

The Bossier Parish School Board voted Thursday to spend $231,311--the total interest earned in 2009-- on various programs including Junior Achievement and elementary and middle school robotics. But a drop in interest has meant less funding.

Almost $600,000 was available last year, said Debbie Hays, director of special programs for the district. Stimulus money will provide a cushion for programs like summer remediation, which will not be covered by the state this year. 

Here's a list of BEEF allocations for 2010 and a description of each program. 

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Our first podcast. Take a listen!

Well everyone...here is the world premiere of the education team's first podcast. Nicole and I interviewed each other on the stories were working on and what is sure to come.

This is our first one (second take of our first one. The first was WAY too long) and we haven't decided how often we'll do this yet. We'll let you know. Hope you enjoy.

By the way, it takes a bit for it to start playing once you press "play".

Take two of our first podcast

Icess Fernandez's Podcast

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Recruiting firm to pay teachers $1.8 million

Our friend, USA Today education reporter Greg Toppo, is reporting that UPI, the recruiting firm that brought 360 teachers from the Philippines to Louisiana has to pay $1.8 million to the teachers.

That was the decision of a judge in a complaint filed by the American Federation of Teachers who represent the teachers. The original complaint reported that the Filipino teachers were being paid exorbitant amount of money, about $16,000 a piece, for jobs in the US while the company held their visas.

Caddo has 43 teachers in the system and has been proactive in helping them through their situation, including hiring an immigration attorney to sort out their H1-B visas.

Each teacher would get about $5,000. UPI plans to appeal.

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Dear laid off Texas teachers: Come to Caddo

From Times Archives

On a hunch, I called Mary Nash Robinson, the assistant superintendent of human resources for the Caddo Parish school district when I recently read that Ft. Bend ISD near Houston laid off teachers.

The Dallas school district also laid off teachers. It seemed that while we once were asking for teachers we have an abundance of them albeit because of budgetary reasons.

Caddo is always looking for teachers. And there also seems to be not enough programs and pathways for people to become teachers. Besides the traditional programs at LSUS and Centenary, there are also alternative certification programs at both schools as well as the Louisiana Teaching Fellows program (which is similar in some way to Teach for America). There's also some talk about bringing Teach for America to Shreveport.

Caddo is looking for all kinds of teachers. Special ed, of course, but middle school teachers are needed. Lots of them. They currently have 19 positions listed but that could change as we get closer to the end of the school year.

So Caddo is reaching out to the recently laid off teachers from Texas, reminding them about their options here. However, Robinson didn't say how they were reaching out to those Texas teachers.

"We're making those teachers aware of staffing and what they need to be certified (in Louisiana)," Robinson said.

To view teaching positions in Caddo, click here

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And here comes the cuts

A short article by our capital bureau reporter Mike Hasten on our website talked about the state's Revenue Estimating Conference has said that state revenues will be down $319 million.

That means the governor will order some cuts before the end of the fiscal year ending June 30.


That also means, health care and higher education, the two institutions not protected by the state's constitution will be hit again.


Higher education had a mid year cut in December. Now with a little more than two months left in the fiscal year, school will be scrambling to cut.


So far, I've heard LSUS' plan to cut the rest of its budget by $841,312. This year, the school has been cut by $1.9 million.


I'll call BPCC and SUSLA to see what their plans are for the cuts. Although the governor has not pulled the trigger on the cuts, the indication is that, with the more than $300 million less revenue,  he may. 

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Listen to the inauguration here.

David Rowe/ Times Archives

I've been trying to work on a video/audio presentation of Centenary Prez David Rowe's inauguration ceremony but with all the stuff coming up lately, haven't had time to finish it. I will put it up once I'm done.

However, I can put up the audio of the entire speech now. Download it below.

Centenary prez inauguration

Icess Fernandez's Podcast

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Interim GSU prez: Enrollment is top priority

Grambling State University Interim President Frank G. Pogue paid a visit to The Times' editorial board today.


I usually don't cover GSU but I did want to meet the person whose responsibility was so awesome, it's overwhelming.


GSU had undergone lots of transition in its presidential leadership.  When former president Horace Johnson resigned, Pogue stepped in while the University of Louisiana system searched for a president.


But that system's board of supervisors have tabled that search while the school undergoes accreditation. 


During his visit today, Pogue shared 11 goals he has for the university.  Among the top was growing enrollment. The school has hired a marketing firm from Chicago to help with the school's image. The goal is to raise enrollment from 4,600 students to between 7,000 to 8,000 students. 


Not only will the number of students returning to class (retention) have to increase, but the number of first time, full time freshmen will also.


Now THIS is where it gets interesting.


Pogue talked about recruiting qualified college students. That means, the student will have to have a 2.0 grade point average, or a 20 ACT composite score, or be in top 5 percent of their class. The student can only be in ONE developmental class (that means scoring more than 18 on the English ACT and more than 19 on the math ACT) 


Caddo's average ACT scores in English are 20.3 and in math 19.5. However there are some schools that have scores hovering around the 15 point score. 


Pogue isn't the only college president to comment on wanting better prepared college freshmen to admit. But with that pool of students already courted by local schools, LSU, Tech, and Texas schools, GSU will have to do something out of the box.


Like open an office in Shreveport.


"We want to have an office here," he said. "I don't see a campus here but an office to have applications for admission."


Pogue said the idea was still in the planning stages but he wanted the office, staffed by alumni, to open before the Tech vs GSU  game in September. 


The office would get a piece of the campus in Shreveport, with information for anyone who wants to apply or wants to know more.


Others schools have something similar and have had varying degrees of success. 


We'll keep y'all posted when we know more about the Grambling office in Shreveport. 

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Talking about the legislative session...

Rep. Jane Smith, Times Archives

As I was doing research for this blog post, I came across an interesting bill, which sounded like it was tailor made for a certain NWLA school district.

HB 1003, from Bossier representative Jane Smith, is called the "Red Tape Reduction Act" and if passed  would give a 2 year waiver to superintendents for low performing schools. The waiver waves everything, rules, regulation, the works, giving superintendents and school district carte blanche to get the schools to improve.Of course the super would have to identify in the waiver application which laws and/or polices they would wave, what will be used instead and how the school will improve.

A bit of background on Jane Smith: she is the former Bossier Parish school district superintendent. She's also a longtime teacher and principal from that district. 

Under this bill, BESE can also can require those schools covered by the waiver to  reward highly effective teachers, professional development for those who aren't, and to fire ineffective teachers. 

BESE could also require districts implement one of these four interventions:

1) Hire new leadership and new staff for the school.

2) Convert a school to a charter or use an education management system

3) Close the school and move to student to a higher performing school

4) Hire new leadership and implement "best practices".

Most of these changes have been implemented in the Caddo school district. In fact, it was one of the first major changed implemented by Superintendent Gerald Dawkins and caused quite a stir among teachers. 

However, that's not the part that was tailor made for Caddo. It's this one:

"A district that entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the board in lieu of having certain schools taken into the Recovery School District may request a waiver for such schools. The effects and requirements of the MOU shall be suspended for the duration of the waiver. If at the termination of the waiver the school has not met its statewide accountability growth targets, the school shall be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Recovery School District."

Each low-performing school in Caddo has entered into an MOU with the state. The school with the longest MOU is Bethune Middle, a school that State Superintendent Paul Pastorek  has said publicly would be the next Caddo school to enter the RSD if it didn't approve. 

With this bill Caddo could ask for a waiver for Bethune and not have to adhere to the MOU. The district could also chose to close the school and move students to other campuses. Why do this? To avoid having another school enter the Recovery School District. 

School board members have said over and over in public meetings that they would do nearly anything to keep another school from going into the RSD. Linwood and Linear, now charter schools, were taken over last year by the state. 

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This week in the legislature

Springs means two things in Louisiana - warmer, prettier days and the beginning of the legislative session.

We apologize for being late in posting this--it's been a crazy spring already.

The Louisiana Department of Education's Office of Governmental Affairs has put together a list of bills that will be heard this week during Wednesday's House Committee on Education. We'll try to post these as we get them.

We're also try to find a similar list for higher ed.

HB 46 - Hutter - Requires public school governing authorities to provide 7th -12th grade students enrolled in Heath Education classes with age- and grade-appropriate classroom instruction relative to dating violence. Also provides guidelines for such instruction.

HB 303 - Henry - Allows students in state-approved home study programs to be eligible to participate in interscholastic athletics at high schools that are members of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association. The bill also outlines the guidelines and procedures for students seeking to participate, such as residency an d consent from school principals.

HB 388 - P. Smith - Current policy allows teachers to take a leave of absence of up to three years to teach at a charter school. During that three-year period, teachers would have the right to return to the district at any time. This bill removes the leave of absence provision from law.

HB 399 - Pearson - Exempts local school boards from granting sabbatical leave requests during a fiscal year when the Legislature does not approve an increase of at least 2.75 percent in the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) formula.

HB 400 - Pearson - Exempts districts fr om being required to provide employees with extended sick leave during a fiscal year in which the Legislature does not approve an increase of at least 2.75 percent in the MFP formula. Present law requires districts to provide up to 90 days of extended sick leave in each six-year period (for personal illness or illness of an immediate family member), even if that employee has no remaining regular sick leave balance.

HB 403 - Pearson - Requires the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to broadcast all regular, special, and committee meetings over the internet and further requires all such broadcasts to be archived and made accessible for at least one year.

HB 425 - Hoffmann -Allows an applicant who has m et other requirements and has one year successful employment as an assistant principal in a Louisiana public school to be excluded from Praxis requirements. Currently, Louisiana waives Praxis requirements for an individual who has previously served as an out-of-state principal for at least four years and who has been successfully employed in Louisiana as a principal for at least one year. This legislation would extend this waiver to assistant principals who meet these qualifications, as well. This measure also authorizes the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE), with BESE approval, to establish and collect fees for certification services.

HB 580 - P. Smith - Designates the Louisiana School for the Deaf, the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired, and the Louisiana Special Education Center as "Board Special Schools" (under the jurisdicti on of BESE); authorizes such schools to share services and functions under certain conditions; and allows children with orthopedic impairments to enroll in such schools.

HB 732 - Norton - Prohibits corporal punishment in public elementary and secondary schools.

HB 1180 - P. Smith - Permits local public school boards to use state funds to purchase instructional technology and related hardware.

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School board candidacy announcement

Lyndon B. Johnson announced his candidacy for Caddo Parish School Board District 2 Monday in front of a small group of mostly friends and family.

He briefly mentioned some of his plans for the district, which include:

-Strengthening school test scores with variable learning tactics.

-Develop workable plans for accountability for administration, teachers, students and parents.

-Promote academic excellence in reading, sciences and mathematics.

Johnson now joins Wiley College senior Jasmine Green, who also is running for District 2 in the October elections. Eursla Hardy is the current school board member who represents that district.

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Learn to play by Roberts Rules

Times Archives, Caddo Parish School Board 

If Robert were at the Caddo Parish School Board meeting on Tuesday, I don't think he would've been happy.

The current edition of Roberts Rules of Order should control the conduct of all Caddo Parish School Board business during regular meetings and special sessions, but that wasn't the case for most of the night Tuesday.

I'll admit, I don't know all the rules. I do, however, know how elected officials should conduct themselves in meetings and that there should be a certain level of respect for fellow members.

Making motions out of turn and having to constantly be reminded to stick to the topic at hand should not be.

Board President Lillian Priest: "Mrs. Phelps, Mrs. Phelps."

Board member Tammy Phelps: "I'm finished with that statement," Phelps shot back.

Later on in the meeting...

Preist: "Mrs. Phelps, are you going to speak on the motion?"

Phelps: "Yeah, we're talkin about Volunteers of Youth Justice, right?"

At one point in the meeting Phelps even reminded Finance Director Jim Lee that it was her turn to speak, not his. Everyone in the room was as surprised as he was. 

To keep things fair, Phelps wasn't the only board member out of line. Priest had to tell board member Dottie Bell to "hold up," when she made a motion out of turn. Board member Willie Burton was even reminded to speak only on the current topic.

But the issue of board members not playing by the rules didn't start Tuesday, and it won't end there either.

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It's inauguration day

B. David Rowe

So today is the day that B. David Rowe will be ceremonially installed as president of Centenary College at the Gold Dome. 

Here are the details that I know so far. The event will start with a formal academic procession. This process will start with faculty, then administrators and then officials and delegates from other colleges and universities and other visiting dignitaries. 

Expect them to be dressed up in full regalia--caps, gowns, tassels, the works. 

Board of Trustees Chairman  Ed Crawford III will read the presidential proclamation. This is a piece of paper that publicly announces Rowe as president. As some colleges I've covered, it's the actual paper board members or trustees signed when the person was hired. 

Then, William G. Anderson, former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, will bestow on Rowe the Presidential medallion. Some other colleges use a staff. This is symbolic of the president's leadership.  After that Rowe will give his inaugural address.

The address is sure to be different from his convocation address, which was hopeful and inspiring. Rowe is a good auditor and with the college going through some financial strain, it will be interesting to see how he address this and still keep it an inspiring speech.

Talking about money, the ceremony is underwritten but several local businesses. Events surrounding the inauguration have been limited to one day. Usually, it's a weeks worth of them, one after the other.

I'll try to take some pictures and post them on my twitter feed later on today.

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