E. Feliciana School Board rejects consolidation plan
By JAMES MINTON
Advocate Baker - Zachary bureau
Published: Jan 6, 2010 - Page: 5B
SLAUGHTER — The East Feliciana Parish School Board turned down a consolidation plan offered by the superintendent Tuesday in response to a request from the majority of the board last month.
Members Leon “Sonny” Franklin, board President J. Curtis Jelks, Tony Rouchon and Matthew Peterson voted to accept Superintendent Douglas Beauchamp’s proposal.
Mitch Harrell, Willie M. Jackson, Richard Terrell, Beth Dawson, Oliver Wingfield, Clay Barksdale and Michael Bradford voted against the idea.
Board member Henry C. Howell was absent.
A year ago, a majority voted to table a plan that Beauchamp presented in several meetings around the parish, often before hostile crowds.
The earlier plan called for consolidating Clinton and Jackson high schools on the Jackson campus and consolidating the communities’ middle schools at Clinton High School.
Beauchamp’s new proposal — which was to consolidate the high schools in Clinton and the middle schools in Jackson, along with a ninth-grade academy — was couched in terms of an overall school-improvement plan.
Jackson, however, said the “school reform initiatives” in the document are steps administrators should have implemented years ago.
Rouchon responded that Beauchamp’s initiatives are being pushed in the school system.
Bradford, the most vocal opponent of consolidation, said the only difference between the two plans is that the new one “brings the high school from Jackson to Clinton, instead of from Clinton to Jackson.”
Responding to requests from Bradford last month, Beauchamp reported that organizers of a proposed charter school for seventh through 12th grades in Slaughter will have a meeting with U.S. District Judge James Brady on Jan. 14 to discuss how the proposed school would affect the parish’s long-standing desegregation order.
Beauchamp said the state Education Department has not responded to a request for information on how a charter school would affect the parish’s state finances.
Beauchamp also told Bradford he is not advocating trying to persuade voters to increase taxes to weather the board’s financial crisis.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Looking For Savings
School Board looks for savings
By JAMES MINTON
Advocate Baker - Zachary bureau
Published: Dec 2, 2009 - Page: 5B
CLINTON — The East Feliciana Parish School Board doesn’t have enough money to pay its bills, and a board member suggested Tuesday the first place to begin budget-cutting is in the board room.
Superintendent Douglas Beauchamp said the board is counting on federal stimulus funds and budget cuts to weather a $1.2 million deficit this year, but funds are not immediately available for a “large number” of unpaid bills .
Member Matthew Peterson called for the board to cut its salaries, reduce the board from 12 to nine members and consolidate Jackson and Clinton high schools to save money.
The consolidation proposal, which was dropped last year, again drew opposition from Clinton member Michael Bradford, who claimed that any savings realized would be “pipelined directly to Slaughter,” where community activists are trying to form a charter school.
The board referred cutting members’ salaries to the Policy Committee, although Bradford, Peterson and board President J. Curtis Jelks said they are donating some of their salaries to the schools.
The board budgeted $80,000 for salaries this fiscal year.
Assistant District Attorney Mike Hughes said the board cannot reduce its membership until after population figures from the 2010 federal census are available.
“We have a School Board member for every 185 students. We’re top heavy in administrators, but the first place where we’re top heavy is in this room,” Peterson said in arguing for adoption of the Police Jury’s nine-member districting plan.
As for consolidating the high schools, Peterson said the only difference between East Feliciana and West Feliciana’s school systems “is what they did in the 1970s,” referring to West Feliciana and its one consolidated high school. The district has ranked second in the state for academic performance the past four years.
After a lengthy discussion, members Beth Dawson, Leon Franklin, Tony Rouchon, Peterson and Jelks advanced a motion to ask Beauchamp to submit a consolidation plan at the January meeting.
Bradford and Willie M. Jackson voted against the motion, Richard Terrell abstained and members Mitch Harrell, Oliver Wingfield and Henry Howell were absent. Member Clay Barksdale, a volunteer fire chief, was called from the meeting for an emergency before the vote.
By JAMES MINTON
Advocate Baker - Zachary bureau
Published: Dec 2, 2009 - Page: 5B
CLINTON — The East Feliciana Parish School Board doesn’t have enough money to pay its bills, and a board member suggested Tuesday the first place to begin budget-cutting is in the board room.
Superintendent Douglas Beauchamp said the board is counting on federal stimulus funds and budget cuts to weather a $1.2 million deficit this year, but funds are not immediately available for a “large number” of unpaid bills .
Member Matthew Peterson called for the board to cut its salaries, reduce the board from 12 to nine members and consolidate Jackson and Clinton high schools to save money.
The consolidation proposal, which was dropped last year, again drew opposition from Clinton member Michael Bradford, who claimed that any savings realized would be “pipelined directly to Slaughter,” where community activists are trying to form a charter school.
The board referred cutting members’ salaries to the Policy Committee, although Bradford, Peterson and board President J. Curtis Jelks said they are donating some of their salaries to the schools.
The board budgeted $80,000 for salaries this fiscal year.
Assistant District Attorney Mike Hughes said the board cannot reduce its membership until after population figures from the 2010 federal census are available.
“We have a School Board member for every 185 students. We’re top heavy in administrators, but the first place where we’re top heavy is in this room,” Peterson said in arguing for adoption of the Police Jury’s nine-member districting plan.
As for consolidating the high schools, Peterson said the only difference between East Feliciana and West Feliciana’s school systems “is what they did in the 1970s,” referring to West Feliciana and its one consolidated high school. The district has ranked second in the state for academic performance the past four years.
After a lengthy discussion, members Beth Dawson, Leon Franklin, Tony Rouchon, Peterson and Jelks advanced a motion to ask Beauchamp to submit a consolidation plan at the January meeting.
Bradford and Willie M. Jackson voted against the motion, Richard Terrell abstained and members Mitch Harrell, Oliver Wingfield and Henry Howell were absent. Member Clay Barksdale, a volunteer fire chief, was called from the meeting for an emergency before the vote.
CLICK HERE to read the complete the full case study from the NSF-Supported Delta Rural Systemic Initiative. This is the report that used our school system as a model - not because it was a positive model, but because it was consistently among the worst of the worst.
The study shed light on areas to be improved and gave interesting input, very little of which seems to have been put in place. Please take time to review this study.
HERE IS A SITE WHERE WE CAN AIR OUR COLLECTIVE FRUSTRATION & ANGER OVER WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO THE EAST FELICIANA PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM OVER THE YEARS. SYSTEMIC RACISM & CLASSISM HAS TAKEN ROOT & HAS ALLOWED SEVERAL AREA PRIVATE SCHOOLS TO RUIN OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM FROM THE TIME OF INTEGRATION TO MODERN DAY. WE, THE ALUMNI, FRIENDS & FAMILY OF THE EAST FELICIANA PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, HEREBY DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY & ACTION FROM ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES & RESPONSIBILITY FROM PARENTS & OTHERS CLOSE TO OUR CHILDREN. WE WILL NO LONGER STAND IDLY BY WHILE THE POWERS THAT BE TREAT OUR CHILDREN AS SECOND CLASS CITIZENS, THEREBY RENDERING OUR PARISH AS HELPLESS AS A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY. PLEASE JOIN OUR FIGHT TO TAKE BACK OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM FROM THOSE WHO SHOULD HAVE A VESTED INTEREST, BUT FEEL THAT THEY DON'T BECAUSE IT DOES NOT DIRECTLY AFFECT THEM AT THE PRESENT TIME.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
