School Officials Host Large Crowd

School Officials Host Large Crowd

BOBBY ARDOIN

Editor/Consulting Writer

Nearly every seat in the St. Landry Parish School Resource Center was filled Thursday night as district officials conducted an initial public meeting to discuss possible closing,combining or reconstituting several campuses.

Superintendent Milton Batiste III directed the narrative for the two-hour public event, which included extensive questions and comments from those attending.

Batiste emphasized several times that parish school officials and elected board members have not arrived at any conclusions about the ultimate fates for any of the 35 campus sites maintained by the District.

“Right now there are probably 1,000 ideas floating around,” Batiste said.

It is evident however from information provided at the meeting that since 2018-19, the District has lost over 1,300 students, which has caused a drastic decrease in the amount of state funding required over that time to operate the large number of school buildings in a primarily rural parish.

State revenues are based on a per-student revenue formula for each public school district.

Batiste noted that currently St. Landry receives at least $9,000 annually for each counted student.

Schools In Question

The biggest push back from audience members came from those rejecting any attempts to close Washington and Grand Coteau elementary schools.

Board members representing the geographic zones of each school recommended during an October board retreat that it might be more feasible to send students now attending the Grand Coteau and Washington sites elsewhere due to continued enrollment declines.

Also mentioned by board members at the retreat was combining two Opelousas middle schools and closing another elementary campus.

In Eunice there is a chance that one elementary campus could be used for other academic purposes.

Personal Director Kellie Rabalais said no teaching positions are expected to be affected if any actions concerning the campuses are taken.

Some Comments

Willie Singleton Guillory, who represents the parish Federation of Teachers organization, said it’s obvious that financially the school district cannot sustain viable operations for so many school campuses.

Guillory also recognized those opposing closures are passionate about campuses remaining open.

“Some (campuses) will close.That has to happen unless you don’t want a St. Landry Parish School System period,” Guillory added.

One lady who did not identify herself promised that those against Washington remaining open will face a vigorous battle against closure.

“We are fighting for our school. We are not a village. We are a town and our town needs our school,” she said.

A woman who identified herself as Danielle, said Grand Coteau is operated by a supportive staff and principal, something that she said should be considered when contemplating closing the campus.

Rod Sias added that St. Landry has been victimized by urbanization.

Sias pointed out that some parents are transporting their children to nearby parishes, even though the families might live inside the borders of St. Landry.

In a separate series of comments, Sias said the parish is operating too many schools and criticized voters for not supporting two 2022 bond issues which would have financed the construction of new campuses in the Opelousas area.

Batiste Comments

Batiste said St. Landry property tax millages for school revenue  are among the lowest of any parish statewide.

The financial considerations combined with the downward spiral in student numbers, Batiste mentioned that it’s apparent some type of board action will be needed to grapple with those issues.

Batiste deflected the question of whether it would be appropriate to combine Port Barre and North Central.

The distance between both campuses make it infeasible to consider that idea at this time. It would make more economic sense, said Batiste, to build a new facility between the two schools.

Batiste said since the meeting was live streamed, the public will have more opportunities to state their positions on the school board website