Allen Parish Superintendent Kent Reed shared a wealth of information with the board at Monday’s meeting during his report on new programs and construction projects underway in the district.
The board also saw a presentation on drones, a new class introduced at Kinder High School this year. Kyle Huval, along with his principal Melody LaFleur, was in attendance with two students, Trevor Buckley and Damarion Richard, both juniors.
Huval took the challenge to attend a training session at Walker High School to become certified to teach the class. He said the test is very hard and explained 80 percent of the test deals with FFA regulations.
Buckley showed a video taken of the Kinder campus with a drone, and Richard flew the drone inside of the school board office to demonstrate the skills they are learning in class.
Huval gave a description of how the drones are used along with tools like programming, cameras, etc. He said drones are being used in a variety of ways today in farming, pipelining, surveying, etc. He said it costs to take the test and purchase a drone, but an investment could lead to employment for some of these students. He said the drones they have are used with a joystick case that the user’s cell phone fits into and gives the user a visual tool as they operate the drone. He said 12 students are in the first class.
He said they have used the video tools to video different educators. Students have learned how to maneuver inside and outside, and they did a scavenger hunt and located items around campus he had placed.
The number one obstacle he said for students is retraining their skills for the controller which works opposite of gaming controllers. He said the devices came with four batteries that last approximately 20 to 25 minutes, and they have four batteries. It takes about an hour to recharge. The range is about one mile and can travel up to 45 mph. He added they haven’t had any serious crashes, and they are durable.
Brad Soileau, instructional supervisor secondary and assessment, commended Huval on getting the certification. Kim Rider, CTE and technology coordinator, said this program is all about giving students opportunities and skills in life.
Huval said this class appeals a variety of diverse backgrounds including students who enjoy gaming, photography, robotics, etc. The bonus is they can achieve a high school credit after completing the course.
Fairview’s principal Stephanie Perry discussed the newly implemented Fast Forward program. This program allows students to pursue an associate’s degree in general studies at the college level while working toward their high school diploma. This year, the school partnered with Northwest State University since they are in Region Five. Next year, they hope to add the Sowela campus to the program.
The program allows students to gain 60 college hours, all transferable to any college in the state. Besides the general studies associate’s degree, the bonus is students can gain a concentration certification in areas like nursing, elementary education, business administration and psychology to name a few.
Students complete their college courses during two hours each day while on the Fairview campus. She said students enrolled in Fast Forward will receive their associate’s degree before they receive their high school graduation diploma. To complete the program, students must complete 12 hours each semester as sophomores and 15 hours each semester as juniors.
Perry said Fairview has 16 sophomores and juniors in the program out of approximately 100 students enrolled at her school in ninth to 12 grade. The state’s average is 210 students out of 40,000 students in those same grades. “We have a large percentage and they are being successful.”
Perry said the program is doing well because of her faculty and staff. She said they made this happen. She also commended Brad Soileau and Kim Rider at the school board office. She also commended her librarian, Courtney Pitre.
Perry said students do everything online. There is no traveling, they stay on campus. She said students are learning to collaborate, participate in study groups, etc.
Pitre said as an educator students spend a couple of hours with her each day depending on her schedule. She said they are dedicated and have amazing work ethics. They also support each other, and one can see students are working hard. “As an educator, I’m so excited of the possibilities of students graduating with an associate’s degree.
As a parent, Pitre said her oldest child, a senior, drives three days a week to the Sowela campus. She said she will have her freshman college hours, but she is missing her senior year on campus in Fairview. Her middle child is enrolled in the Fast Forward program. She said she doesn’t know if she would trust her middle child to be traveling to a different location. She said her oldest will graduate with some college hours, and her middle child should graduate with an associate’s degree. She said this is a huge plus, and financially it helps her family. She will not have to pay for those years in college.
The educators also told the board that students on TOPS will not have to use all four years of funding to get a bachelor’s degree. And those two remaining years of funding could be used to secure more higher education.
Both thanked the board for its support and said they have already heard positive things from other principals in the parish who want to add Fast Forward to their campuses.
Brad Soileau said this is the time of the year he refers to as the “testing season” for students. He gave an overview of testing and said every student is now taking the ACT in the district. In the past, he said juniors took the test and the district hosted an ACT Boot Camp. During COVID, the district couldn’t do one big camp so they conducted camps at each school site and found that it worked better. He said last week they performed camps at Elizabeth and Fairview, this week at Kinder and Oakdale and next week at Reeves and Oberlin. He explained the camp teaches strategy in regards to testing, so students can achieve better scores.
Soileau said they also implemented the ACT Snap Course into the district’s curriculum. The program, all digital, allows students to improve their test scores. The environment allows students to utilize its tools at school and at home. He explained this year the district also added the pre-ACT program allowing ninth and 10th graders to participate. He said the data will be valuable and will allow the district to see what they can do to assist students. It will also help enroll them in the dual enrollment program, which allows students to take high school and college courses at the same time so students can earn college credits.
Reed welcomed Michelle Wagnon, early childhood coordinator, who told board members the district is seeing autism tendencies among its pre-K population. She said they are monitoring progress, utilizing some tools to assist those students and conducted a professional development session. The speaker shared a book with the educators that has some “awesome things we can do to help the children,” she explained. She said they were painting sidewalks to encourage students to jump, hop, skip and develop other skills. She also said they would be purchasing a small trampoline to help with some of the development skills inside the classroom.
A board member reported to Wagnon that they saw someone posted it was one of the best professional development events they had attended.
Wagnon also told board members they were seeing one to five students with autism tendencies in classrooms in the district.
In his construction updates, Reed said the sub-surface drainage was being completed at Reeves near the front entrance, and gutters were being added to the front bus canopy for the underground drainage. Fairview also is receiving finishing touches to its bus canopy. Drainage work near the school’s business lab and cafeteria is being completed.
Elizabeth has had metal canopies and air conditioning units replaced He said this campus will be updated for the new LED lights program other schools in the parish have seen through the district’s contract with H&H Electric.
Oakdale Middle will have some drainage work, painting and other sprucing up projects completed. He said insurance claim monies will be used to replace ceiling tiles. Electrical work continues at Oakdale High. Another project will be working on the school’s ag shop area. At Oakdale Elementary, they are still exploring options for a canopy in the parent drop-off line area.
Oberlin’s work on the teacher/student parking lot is being completed as well as work on the parish track. Kinder High and Kinder Elementary’s freezer will see cleanup work over the Mardi Gras holiday. Work on the bathrooms at Kinder Elementary will be done over the summer.
