SLBSB Faces Opelousas Issues
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
Multiple decisions involving several Opelousas public schools await St. Landry Parish school board members who will be tasked with immediately changing the educational makeup of several city and elementary and secondary facilities.
Problems such as whether to acquire the St. Landry Charter School property, purchase a building used for Bio-Med instruction behind Opelousas High, select an extra principal that facilitates the Opelousas Junior High merger, redesign student learning at OJHS and change current student zoning at OHS and Northwest High await board decisions.
Those dilemmas were discussed by a series of Board committees on Tuesday night and each item could be decided if they are placed on the April 9 regular meeting agenda.
St. Landry Charter
Superintendent Milton Batiste III says there is a possibility that the charter school which opened in 2021, will allow the District to acquire the 10-acre school site without a cost.
“We could obtain use of the campus to allow it to be used for educational purposes,” Batiste told a Building, Lands And Sites Committee.
Batiste suggested that he and board members tour the school site, which was thoroughly renovated in 2022.
St. Landry Charter voted in December to cease operation after state education officials reviewed the schoolwide academic performance scores over the past few years.
OHS-Northwest Zoning
The Board will determine attendance zoning for both schools after receiving more information from demographer Mike Hefner, Batiste said.
Bastite said students from Westgate subdivision located between Opelousas and the Northwest campus, now attend OJHS in seventh and eight grades, but in ninth grade they have been zoned for Northwest.
Since all students normally zoned for OJHS will begin attending Opelousas High in August, Batiste said the Board must make a decision about the Westgate students.
Should the Westgate students go to Lawtell High, which feeds Northwest, or should they move to Opelousas High? Bastite said.
Two Principals At OHS
Batiste told the Personnel Committee that he would like to see a principal and another senior administrator placed at OHS in August in order to assist with the transition of the OJHS students.
Greg Campbell is receiving supplementary compensation for his employment as OHS principal and zone educational leader.
Sherika Guidry-Simon is currently the OJHS principal.
Board member Joyce Haynes said that a second principal at OHS is an idea that should be approved..
“We are trying to do something different. Dr. Simon wants to continue working with these kids and continue her plan. LSUE has agreed to help us in any way they can. These (OJHS) kids have suffered enough,” Haynes said.
Raymond Cassimere, another board member, disagreed with the two-principal concept.
“Two heads cannot run an effective school. These kids need to be treated as one (school). If they (OHS) get another person, that person should be under the direction of a principal,” said Cassimere, a former OHS principal.
What To Do About OJHS
Batiste wants to move the Creswell Middle School students in grades 5-6 to OJHS, once that campus is vacated by the OHS-OJHS transition.
OJHS, Batiste said, can provide more academic and physical space for the fifth and sixth graders in addition to giving the students access to a gymnasium and an outdoor track.
Rod Sias, who spoke on several issues at the meeting, proposed sending all Opelousas students in grades one through six to the OJHS campus.
Board member Mary Ellen Donatto suggested redesigning Park Vista Elementary into a pre-kindergarten through second grade early learning facility.
“Maybe when people see what we are doing (with an early learning center) they might come back to the public schools,” said Donatto.
Purchasing The Bio-Med Facility
The Board is also faced with a decision to purchase the Bio-Med building behind the OHS campus from the State Treasury Department at a cost of $375,000.
Not included in that proposed purchase however is a prospective $1 million estimate for replacing a roof on the building.
The District has managed to retain occupancy of the building for the last decade through a state lease agreement which includes District maintenance of the facility and property.
Board member Renee Aymond said she doesn’t feel there is a need to purchase the building, while board member Tiffany Nolan said the District already oversees too many properties.
Batiste said the building could be used to sustain the overflow anticipated by the arrival of about 250 OJHS students in August.
Board member Hazel Sias noted that the seventh and eighth graders that will be moving to OHS, could be incorporated into the OHS Bio-Med program which needs to be reestablished at the school.
