Ascension schools, community link touted

GONZALES — The Ascension Parish school system could not have received its recent A grade without help, Superintendent Patrice Pujol told parish and community leaders on Wednesday.

“The strength of this school system is the support of this community,” Pujol said during a meeting of the Ascension Community Coalition for Strong Schools held at the Instructional Technical Training Center on the Central Middle School campus.

A handful of parish elected officials and leaders from the business community attended the meeting to receive a report on the school system from Pujol, who spoke about school achievement, upcoming educational standards changes and some of the ongoing and upcoming projects in the school district.

Pujol said she was “very, very proud” of the growth the district showed, jumping from a school performance score of 109.5 last year to 121.2, and becoming one of just seven districts in the state to score an A.

However, she said it was unacceptable that four schools — Gonzales Primary, Lowery Middle, Lowery Elementary and Donaldsonville Primary — scored Ds or Fs, and she is not satisfied that more schools didn’t earn As and Bs.

“We still have more work to do,” Pujol said.

Community leaders in attendance praised Pujol and her staff for the progress they have made up to this point, overseeing a system that climbed more than 22 points since the state began tracking school performance scores in 2008.

“Every time we pick up a new customer ... they all move into this parish because of our school system,” said Chuck LeBlanc, secretary-treasurer of Bourg Insurance in Donaldsonville.

Ed Price, a former member of the Ascension Parish School Board and now a state representative, praised Pujol for her innovative thinking in starting a magnet program to push high-achieving students attending schools in Donaldsonville.

“I’m always asked how Ascension Parish is achieving, and it’s because of people like you and your staff and your innovative thinking,” Price said.

Parish President Tommy Martinez said Ascension Parish is poised to continue its rapid growth, and estimates from the Metropolitan Planning Organization show the parish’s population could reach 187,000 in the next 25 years. That could put a major strain on a school district facing the need to build new schools to keep up with current growth.

Pujol told Martinez that because it “takes a long time to plan a new high school,” she hopes to bridge the gap with construction of new freshmen academy buildings at East Ascension and St. Amant high schools that could help those schools accommodate up to 2,200 students.

She said district leaders know they will need to build a new high school — or multiple ones — but the current plan could put off that need for eight to 10 years.

Comments

1) Comment by Concerned_Parent - 25/10/2012

Mr. White....please take note of this statement..."Every time we pick up a new customer ... they all move into this parish because of our school system,” said Chuck LeBlanc, secretary-treasurer of Bourg Insurance in Donaldsonville." Look at your top districts: Zachary, West Feliciana, Central, and Ascension and see what they all have in common. People are specifically relocating their families into these areas because of the schools. If you are willing to move your family, you are going to make sure and be involved in their education. You are making the investment in their future and you are not going to waste your money. It is not reform making these schools excel, it is the communities and the teachers/administrators. Strong communities equals strong schools. Vouchers will not fix a community. SLTs will not fix a community. VAM will not fix a community. COMPASS will not fix a community. Find a way to make parents care and be responsible. End the handouts. Deny welfare benefits for parents whose children are failing school and never show up with homework. Increase wellness checkups at homes and see what type of environment the children are being raised in. If there are 3 families living under one roof and a new Cadillac sitting in the drive way, there is a problem. Stop busing kids all over Baton Rouge and have TRUE community schools. Our biggest problems do not reside within the walls of the schools. Our teachers can only push the 10 ton boulder up the hill for so long before they will become exhausted. And then that boulder is going to come crashing down. And where will we find John White and Bobby Jindal? Sitting behind a desk in Washington D.C. at their new cushy job? The rest of us will be sitting here with the 10 ton boulder back at the bottom of the hill. A few people will start to push it back up. Some will leave and say "it's not my problem anymore". And then some will be walking around with their hand out waiting for someone to give them something because the "school" has failed their child.