The St. Landry Parish School Board meets today to discuss a number of items, including the reconfiguration of several schools and the child nutrition program.
On the agenda for the board's Committee of the Whole, which meets at 3 p.m., is a "discussion of child nutrition program." Recently several photos circulated on social media, purporting to reflect meals served to children in the parish. The superintendent told us that balanced meals are offered to students, but the children make their own decisions about which items to put on their meal trays. The agenda doesn't give any details about this discussion; it just lists a discussion about the food program.
The proposed grade re-configurations would affect Highland, East, Eunice, Glendale and Washington elementary schools, as well as the Eunice Head Start Center. Basically, this proposal would move all pre-k children from East, Eunice and Glendale to Highland Elementary, which would be converted to an early learning center for four-year-olds. It would move the four-year-olds at the head start center to that early learning facility, and also would change Washington Elementary from Pre-K through 8 to Pre-K through 5.
Here are the proposals:
- Reconfigure the grade structure at Highland Elementary from Pre-Kindergarten through 4th grade to an Early Learning Center which will be composed of Pre-Kindergarten and 4-year old Head Start students beginning at the start of the 2021-2022 school year.
- Reconfigure the grade structure at East Elementary from Pre-Kindergarten through 4th grade to Kindergarten through 4th grade beginning at the start of the 2021-2022 school year.
- Reconfigure the grade structure at Eunice Elementary from Pre-Kindergarten through 4th grade to Kindergarten through 4th grade beginning at the start of the 2021-2022 school year.
- Reconfigure the grade structure at Glendale Elementary from Pre-Kindergarten through 4th grade to Kindergarten through 4th grade beginning at the start of the 2021-2022 school year.
- Move the 4-year old students from Eunice Head Start Center to Highland Elementary beginning at the start of the 2021-2022 school year.
- Reconfigure the grade structure at Washington Elementary from Pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade to Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade beginning at the start of the 2021-2022 school year.
Also on the agenda for the Committee of the Whole are changes to the school calendar necessitated by the recent ice storm.
The changes would remove early-dismissal days scheduled for March 15 and May 27 and 28. It would add two staff development days, on June 1 and 2. To see the original calendar, click here. To see the proposed calendar, click here.
Those two items also are on the regular board meeting agenda, which starts at 5 p.m.
The committee is scheduled to hear presentations from Head Start on the status of the program, and a review of the financial statements.
And, they'll review three proposed calendars for the 2021-22 school year. The calendars have slight differences, including the first day of school. One starts on August 18, one on August 23 and the third on August 25. You can see them here, here and here.
You can see all the board's agendas, along with any documents attached to agenda items, through the Board Docs platform. Just go here, and pick the meeting you want to see, then click on "agenda." You will see little document icons on agenda items if there is documentation attached. Just click on that icon and the document will appear for you.
