The Evangeline Parish School Board met Wednesday evening and heard about the new home bound student handbooks and staffing updates, as well as technology updates for the schools.
The board approved the home bound student handbook. Special Education Director Kelli Lafleur said, “In our parish we do not have a formal process in place for our home bound students, so as director I felt it was necessary to have that process in place for our schools and administrators to have something to go by, so when Mr. Keith Scott took over as supervisor of Special Education, that was one of the first jobs I gave to him.”
Scott met with the two home bound teachers in the parish and got feedback from them and also looked at other parishes’ handbooks to design one for Evangeline Parish. “Now we have a step-by-step procedural guideline for the schools, and with the application for students who will be out for 15 or more days for medical reasons, certified by a physician. It has commonly asked questions and responsibilities of the school, parents, counselors, and my responsibilities and what everybody’s duties are throughout the process.” Currently there are three home bound students on the list and two home bound teachers. One teacher deals with the most severe students who require year-long home bound services. The other teacher is contracted part-time and delivers services to the general education population.
In other business, the board approved requisitions totaling over $200,000 for classroom technology using Title I funds. Superintendent Darwan Lazard said he was grateful to Title I and director Maryann Fontenot for getting more technology into the hands of students. The Title I funds help to provide thousands of dollars worth of technology to the classrooms. “There’s a natural lifespan to all the technology that we buy. Nothing we buy in terms of technology is going to last forever and ever, so there’s going to be a natural replacement cycle,” said Lazard.
Additionally, the board approved writing a “thank you” letter to the Village of Pine Prairie mayor and council for covering a ditch on the north side of the campus with new culverts and limestone. They did this at no cost to the board.
Assistant Superintendent, Mike Lombas, announced there are new positions for the school year. Among these new positions are technology coach, Evangeline College Life is Possible (ECLIP) facilitator, and intervention instructional specialist.
Lazard announced there will be an open house for ECLIP Thursday, August 29 at 4:30 p.m. at SLCC, 1124 Vocational Drive, Ville Platte. He said ECLIP is a good opportunity for students with disabilities to get experience at the technical college campus. “It’ll be an exciting time for not only the students but the parents. They probably would not have expected to have such an opportunity, and they will get this chance to earn some college credit, hopefully, and have some experience at college,” said Lazard.
Lazard also told the board a New York Times reporter shadowed new French Immersion teacher Alice Renard at Mamou Elementary. The reporter and a photographer spent the day with Renard and her class, learning about French Immersion.
In other action, the board approved $6,750 for sanding and re-furnishing wood floors on stage at Pine Prairie High School.
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NANCY DUPLECHAIN Associate Editor