During Wednesday night’s meeting of the Lafayette Parish School Board, in an 8-1 vote, the board eliminated all 12 proposed calendars for the 2019-20 school year except for 5-A and 1-A. An approval of the calendar is said to take place next month.
The school board also voted in favor to express days in instructional minutes.
2019-2020 District Calendar Proposal 1-A
2019-2020 District Calendar Proposal 5-A
“We will propose a number of calendars, and we will likely push it out to employee groups, parents, and what not, and we will bring this back to the board in January for consideration,” Superintendent Don Aguillard said.
Gracie Cassidy, an LPSS student, says she has looked closely at the options and would prefer the option with more instructional time.
“Honestly, I would want them to choose proposal 1-A. We get those four extra instructional days, and that could really help us before the LEAP happens,” Cassidy said.
Another agenda item was to discuss the growing population of Southside High School. The school board discussed some options for the school and will discuss them further during their January meeting.
One option is to provide the school with six additional temporary classrooms, which would be three temporary buildings. The funding would come from Southside High’s construction fund provided by the USDA.
Another option would be to consider a spot rezoning, which would return 200-250 students to Comeaux High School.
The third option would be a combination of the first two options.
Aguillard predicts the Southside student body will increase to 2,000 students.
“It was basically an informational item, so we can come to a conclusion or at least get the data to figure out how many kids are going to be there, what will be the total population, what would the various options of building an additional wing or putting butler buildings. Just looking at the various options just so we can get the information to start digesting it,” said school board member Dr. Tehmi Chaisson.
Another significant item on the agenda was the renaming of N.P. Moss Preparatory School. In an 8-1 vote, N.P. Moss has been renamed Dr. Rapheal A. Baranco Elementary School.
Baranco was a longtime school board member and civic leader.
