The Allen Parish School Board’s summer months are being utilized to prepare for the upcoming school year, and Superintendent Kent Reed and staff updated the board on several projects at its June meeting.
Bridget Craft, supervisor for personnel and school improvement, informed the board two positions would be created in regards to the state’s new literacy initiative and salaries and benefits would be funded through the state for at least two years.
“We’re going to implement our literacy plan and incorporate the family into that,” Craft told the board. She said she was excited about moving forward.
Based on school subgroup information, a literacy coach would be hired for Kinder Middle School. The parish would also hire a literacy innovative coordinator, who would work with Oakdale Elementary and Oakdale Middle schools, as well as develop partnerships to incorporate families into the program. The goal is to ensure every child can read at their grade level. She said schools use to teach things like phonics, and they have gotten away from these techniques. She said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley is asking districts to return to these teaching techniques. She said once in place, the parish’s coordinator would work on partnering with families to promote reading nights and other events with activities and games to share with family members to assist in improving reading skills.
The board amended the agenda to allow the hiring of a literacy coach and literacy innovative coordinator and approved the action.
Kenney Courville, supervisor for CW&A, transportation and special services, announced the district would partner with District Attorney Joe Greene this fall to meet with all junior high and high school students to discuss issues like bullying, sexting (or “sex texting”), indecent pictures on cell phones, truancy, vaping, etc. One of the sessions will be recorded and added to the board’s website, so parents can watch the discussions. Courville said they were looking at discipline issues and working on educating students through this program.
Reed added the district would use the JCALL system to notify parents when the video would be added to the website.
Courville said the parish’s custodial staff attended a workshop on June 10, for asbestos handling, training, etc. He commended the custodial staff for keeping schools clean inside and outside.
“We thank all of them. They do a fantastic job, and I’m recognizing them for that,” Courville said.
Carolyn Manuel asked if the schools would have to be continually disinfected when the new school year opened.
Courville and Reed explained the state’s Back to School Plan would be released on July 1, with mandates for the new school year. Courville added the district’s goal was to buy things they needed for the virus that could be utilized after the virus was gone. Reed added he believed sanitizing the schools would be a good daily habit that needed to be continued by the district.
Michelle Wagnon, early childhood coordinator, gave an update on the parish’s pre-K program. She said they would add a class to Elizabeth, which had two classes and then dropped to one class but grew again to add a second class. This would require a teacher and paraprofessional to be added to the staff. She said for the first time, Reeves would add an additional class for 10 students and would only require a teacher.
On the topic of virtual learning for the 2021-2022 school year, Reed said parents and guardians would have to apply for virtual learning for their students. Appropriate paperwork would have to be turned into his office by July 15. He expected to make a decision and notify parents by August 1, if their students would meet the parish’s virtual plan. He said he would consider grades, attendance, test scores, etc. to see if the student was capable of performing in a virtual educational setting. He said the parish may attract some home school students to return to the parish’s virtual educational setting.
Reed also gave an update on the recent three-day training of school leaders for the parish’s NIET (National Institute for Excellence in Teaching) program, which trains educators to utilize tools to “leverage instructional expertise, make data-driven decisions, create collaborative partnerships and advocate for the profession.” He said the parish would now use the Teacher Evaluation Rubric tool to evaluate teachers.
At the next meeting, Reed said the board would receive an update on construction projects in the parish and the instructional plan for the 2021-2022 school year.
Reed welcomed Pam Johnson, principal of Oakdale Middle; Edith Manuel, assistant principal of Oberlin Elementary; Larry Alexander, assistant principal of Kinder High; and Jamie Fontenot, Title One coordinator.
The board voted to add to the agenda four positions authorizing the superintendent to advertise for the positions of Oberlin High principal, Oberlin Elementary principal, Oakdale High assistant principal and part-time food tech for the Oberlin schools. (Earlier in this story, the board approved new positions for the literacy area.) Also on the agenda were the positions of bus driver for Fairview High School, bus driver for Oakdale schools, bus driver for Kinder High School, special education para for Oakdale High School and special education para for Elizabeth High School. All positions were approved for advertisement.
In other business, the board:
•Adopted a resolution authorizing the superintendent to execute a contract between the Rapides Foundation and the school board to participate in the Healthy Behaviors Incentive Grant and for the Effective Schools Grant, both for the 2021-2022 school year.
•Authorized the superintendent to advertise for an official journal for the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
•Authorize the superintendent to begin an exploration of costs to build a parish track in Oberlin for all parish schools to utilize.
•Recognized the Oberlin high School FBLA state winners and the Fairview High School Girls’ Basketball Teams for 2019-20 and 2020-21 Class B State Champions.
