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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Caddo district's service contract with charters

The Caddo Parish School Board discussed the service contract with the charter schools -- Linwood and Linear -- last night.

The details of the contract wasn't in my story this morning since it really deserves it's own space. 

The contract (which you can see by clicking here) has some interesting details on how much the district will charge the Recovery School District, which is entering into the contract on the charter's behalf.

But first some background: The charter operators and respective governing boards moved into the school buildings July 1. That is the official day the RSD said they could move in and it's also the day listed on the contracts as the effect date.

The charter groups at Linear and Linwood can choose to have the district supply services such as transportation and food. Or they can choose to go another route. If they did, the contracts are negociated through the RSD.

So this is what's in the contract:

• Food service. The district is charging $1.90 for breakfast and $3.80 for lunch. According to the contract, the prices include "mailing, printing, and processing of student meal applications, assistance in application for free and reduced price meals; provision of at-risk student information for  E-rate Title I, and other grants," among other services.  The district charges its student $1 for breakfast and $1.75 for lunch. For students on free or reduced meal plans, the district charges its students 30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch.
• Maintenance. The district is charging $131.309 for a head custodian, assistant custodian and three sweepers. The cost is subject to pay increases. Also under maintenance is $3,000 for an energy manager, $400 for fire alarm inspections, and $3,500 for lawn care.
• Utilities are estimated to be $102,000
• Special education Evaluations. $55/hr for pre-referrals, $600 for inital evaluations, and $350 for re-evaluations.

Here's the link again to see the entire contract.

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What am I working on today?

Today I'm finding out the district's response to swine flu or how they'll respond to it.

A district official gave me a flier that will be distributed to students very soon (within the week) on how to avoid getting the flu.

Here's a link to the flier.

I can't give you anymore details. You'll just have to wait for the story to print in this weekend's The Times.

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On the agenda: Caddo school board meeting

The Caddo Parish School Board is Tuesday and there are lots of items to hear about.

Here's the Cliff Notes version complete with links.

Item 1) How the impact of the minimum wage increase will effect Caddo Parish employees.

The minimum wage increases classified pay for example: subs in nine schools will get paid from $50 to $75. Here's what's in the board packet.

Item 2.) Discussion and vote on the request for a type II charter.

We've written about this before on the blog and we wrote a story about it in the paper. The short verison:
The charter application is being submitted by Eddie Cheathem who wants to open a K-5 school with a $3.5 million budget.

Item 3) Rename Math/Science Middle School to the M. J. Moore Math/Science Middle School, Moore was the Linwood principal who died in Feb.

Item 4) Approval of the contracts for the charter schools. Some of the services the district is providing are buses and lunch services.

We haven't gotten the contract yet though we've asked for it. We'll ask for it again and report back.

School board meeting is at 4:30 Tuesday at the district's offices, 1961 Midway.

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Teachers and $200

Today's story about teachers, the district, and the $200 allotment had some interesting features and additions that you can't find or see easily on our site. So I thought I'd show them to you here since they are an important part of the story.

Here's a link to the Aug. 18 Caddo Parish School Board meeting. It was during this meeting that the school board members approved the item, allowing the district to give teachers $200 purchasing cards at School Aids.

The district will spend $600,000 to give teachers cards from this store.

Here's a link to the copy of the bid on a website called BidSync.

And here's another link to the bid's sign off. This was part of the school board's meeting packet for that day. District officials usually write a paragraph about the outcome of a bid or what they recommend. That memo is usually initaled by all the people involved.

The final link was to a Google map showing the locations of the businesses involved and the school board office. If you click on the dots, more information will pop up including address and phone number.

View Educational supplies in a larger map

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The 29 Schools

Earlier on this blog I wrote more about Tuesday night's Caddo Parish School Board meeting and the 29 unnamed schools that will be getting additional attention this year in the district's corrective action plan.

The additional attention is because these schools had more than 15 percent suspension rates.

Here's where all these schools are located. Click on the link below the map for a larger view:

View Caddo Parish schools needing additional CAP hel in a larger map

Here are the 29 schools:

Atkins Elementary
Barret Elementary
Caddo Heights Elementary
Midway Elementary
Queensborough Elementary
Westwood Elementary
Turner Elementary/Middle School
Vivian Elementary/Middle School
Bethune Middle Academy
D. Bickham Middle School
Broadmoor Middle Lab
Caddo Math and Science Middle Academy (formerly Linear Middle)
Caddo Middle Career and Technology School
J.S. Clark Middle School
Newton Smith Middle School
Ridgewood Middle School
Youree Drive Middle School
Fair Park High School
Green Oaks High School
Huntington High School
North Cadoo High School
Northwood High School
Southwood High School
Booker T. Washington High School
Woodlawn High School
Alexander Learning Center
Hamilton Terrace Learning Center
Hosston Alternative
Academic Recovery and Career Discovery Center (formerly Oak Terrace Alternative)

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More stuff from the school board meeting

Yesterday's Caddo school board meeting was one of those times when there was more meeting than space in the paper to write about it.

Thank goodness for blogs.

Some items that didn't make it into today's story. includes the number of visits the 20-team consultants would be making. They'll visit 77 times through out the year but they won't all come at once. They'll stagger their visits working with the 29 schools with suspension rates over 15 percent.

The names of those 29 schools were not made available last night but we'll ask the district for the list and their suspension rates.

Robert March, the consultant hired for the Corrective Action Plan, talked about how the suspensions were categorized and among the most cited is disrespect. That could mean several things -- dress code violations, talking back to the teacher, etc.

The CAP came about after six parents with help from the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed a complaint with the state department of education in 2006. Here is the original complaint and the original settlement agreement.

This year, the district will have to pay March over $700,000 to execute the plan within the district. Here's a copy of March's contract.

To read a play by play of yesterday's meeting, click here.

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More local students pass state exam to be promoted to the next grade

Just got some info from the state's Department of Education -- 82 percent of Caddo's fourth grade students and 70 percent of eighth grade students who took the state exams in the spring and/or summer passed it.  That means they were promoted to the next grade.

Of the students tested in the summer, 15 percent of fourth graders tested at the basic level or above in English Language Arts and 12 percent in math

Eighth grade summer testers: 10 percent tested at the basic level or above in English Language Arts and 11 percent in math

High school summer testers: 8 percent in English Language Arts, 11 percent in math, 3 percent in Science, 4 percent in Social Studies.

To see the numbers or to see how other districts around the state did, here's the spreadsheets.

Promotional standards report

All testers - raw numbers

All testers - percentage

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What is the president going to say?

Pres. Obama will address the nation's students today in a televised speech. But the speech will be delivered among controversy.

Superintendent Gerald Dawkins asked the district principals to allow students to watch the address. Parents of Caddo district students can opt-out of that.

In Bossier Parish, teachers will decide whether to have students watch the speech.

To read the president's speech click here. The speech begins at 11 a.m.
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Caddo School Board and the Corrective Action Plan

The Caddo School Board will have a special called meeting on Tuesday. The topic: the Corrective Action Plan.

I'm still doing some reporting to understand it fully since this was before my time. Here's what I know so far:

The purpose of the meeting is to hear an update from Robert March, a nationally certified school psychologist based in Colorado and to take action on the Corrective Action Plan and Budget for 2009-10 and on his interim contract. March is the consultant hired to look at creating an improvement plan for services offered to emotionally and behaviorally disturbed students as part of a 2006 settlement agreement with the state education department.

The Corrective Action Plan, its budget, and March's contract is extensive. From what I've read so far, the district will have to pay Dr. March $736,750 this year for his services. What do said services include? Here's the list:

• On/off site consultation. $198,000 total for on site, $82,500 for offsite
• $96,250 for travel
• $54,000 for data analysis
• $306,000 for enrollment in online professional development

Whenever the topic of the corrective action plan and Dr. March comes up, the board isn't happy.  The last time Dr March visited the board, there was hostility and lots of unanswered questions. We'll see what happens on Tuesday.

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Charter school application

Hello all! Here are the links I promised with the charter school application

Letter of Intent

Type 2 Charter Application

Budget

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Caddo students to watch president's address

Students in the Caddo Parish School District will be watching Pres. Barack Obama’s Back-to-School Speech to America’s Students at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
The activity comes at the request of Superintendent Gerald Dawkins, according to a press release. Principals received a memo from Dawkins asking them to develop a plan for student to watch the speech.

Plans are also being developed for student whose parents opt out of the activity. Parents will receive a letter from their child’s school. Those choosing to opt out will have to return the letter by Sept. 8.

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Womack given posthumous title

President B. David Rowe today conferred the title of Vice President and Dean of Student Life upon David L. Womack posthumously.
The title was awarded during a gathering of family, friends and community members following a memorial service celebrating the life of Dean Womack who died suddenly on Saturday, August 29.

Reading from a letter written to the family, Rowe acknowledged the impact Dean Womack had in the short year he was at the College.

“Because of his year of exceptional service, his legacy will be long-lasting,” said Rowe.

According to research conducted by archivist Chris Brown, and Dr. Lee Morgan, author of Centenary College of Louisiana 1825-2000: The Biography of an American Academy, Womack already holds the distinction of being the first African American to serve at the senior level of leadership for the institution.

Womack held the position of Dean of Students and had been at Centenary since September 2008. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth Henning, and his four children, Donovan, Tyler, Mason and Landon.

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Charter Schools Conference in New Orleans next week

The 2nd Annual Louisiana Charter Schools Conference will be September 11-12th in New Orleans at the Hampton Inn & Suites across from the convention center.

From the press release:
The two day event features breakout sessions, networking events, as well as many high profile speakers including:

Dr. Howard Fuller, Board Chair, Black Alliance for Educational Options
Supriya Jindal, First Lady, State of Louisiana
Paul Pastorek, Superintendent, Louisiana Department of Education
Chas Roemer, BESE Member, 6th District
Dr. Yvonne Chan, Founder of the 1st Turnaround School in the nation and veteran educator
Julio Melera, Motivational Speaker and author

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