There’s little dispute that Lafayette Parish needs a career and technical high school. But the speed with which the school board is moving to acquire the abandoned Super Kmart on Ambassador Caffery, the lack of taxpayer oversight on this almost $50 million project, and a history of fiscal mismanagement raise serious questions about the board’s ability to spend our money prudently. An Independent Weekly analysis
[Editor's Note: The School Board has scheduled a workshop on its facilities master plan for Monday, Nov. 15 at 5 p.m., followed by a special board meeting at 6:30 p.m. to take up the issue of purchasing property for its career and technical high school.]
Initially this was going to be an excoriation of the Lafayette Parish School Board for even considering purchasing a deteriorating, vacant big-box store on the busiest street in Lafayette to put a high school there. What are they thinking?
An architect’s diagram shows one option for Thibodaux Career and Technical High School: gutting the old Super Kmart on Ambassador.
Empiricism being what it is, we’re simply urging the board to slow the process down and let the public wrap its brain around this plan. We’re not opposed to a career and technical high school for Lafayette Parish; we even like the concept and the means by which it will help address overcrowding at the five existing public high schools. Lafayette Parish needs another high school. We don’t dispute that. The existing high schools are by and large over-populated and in need of significant repair or replacement. Our concern, and the concern of many thoughtful people in our community, is that this process — specifically zeroing in on the long-vacant Kmart building on Ambassador Caffery at what appears to be the 11th hour — is far outpacing our ability to grow comfortable with it. In two months a new board will be sworn in. It’s our view that it should make this decision, following input from a better-informed public.
While it was a rumored for months that the board was considering the Kmart property on Ambassador — especially after it pulled $4.5 million out of the maintenance budget in June to purchase a site for the new school — it wasn’t made official until Oct. 14, less than a month ago. Since then, several people have stepped forward to urge the board to exercise caution with this huge fiscal undertaking — an undertaking that will lead next week to a workshop during which board members will figure out how they’ll finance the almost $50 million project, followed immediately by a special board meeting to vote on purchasing the Kmart building to house the Thibodaux Career and Technical High School.
Outgoing District 5 school board member Mike Hefner is an outspoken proponent of expediting the career/tech high school project. Photo by Robin May
At this point, a vote in favor of acquiring the property seems dangerously close to a fait accompli, and District 5 school board member Mike Hefner acknowledged last week that if the vote were held on the day we spoke, the board would almost certainly vote in favor of the Kmart property.
In the backdrop is a comprehensive facilities master plan that took nearly a million dollars to develop and will cost more than a billion to implement, should the parish accept and agree to fund the recommendation of CSRS, the Baton Rouge planning firm contracted to study our needs and make recommendations. CSRS rightly identified pressing maintenance needs among our schools. The central point of our deep reservation about this rush to judgment is this: We question whether a new high school, while certainly needed, is a greater priority than the many identified in CSRS’ master plan.
We urge the board to step back, and to give the community time to consider both the proposed location for the sixth high school in the parish as well as the means by which the project will be financed — and how this expensive new project fits into the school system’s larger scheme of spending priorities. A workshop followed immediately by a vote is simply imprudent and, arguably, highly counter-productive to the school board’s need to build credibility with voters.
The high school will bear the name of late school board member David Thibodeaux, seen here at right in a detail from a March 24, 2002, Daily Advertiser photo with former board member and now state Rep. Rickey Hardy. The two attended a protest against the very board on which they sat over the proposed closure of Vermilion Elementary School.
The need for hundreds of millions in school maintenance and repairs is undeniable, and the ongoing maintenance problem was exacerbated by the loss of another $4.5 million for the new high school. But the board’s impending Kmart plan will do serious damage to its already tattered reputation for lack of planning and fiscal prudence. It may well be that the public could ultimately embrace the plan. At first blush we like the concept — a four-year high school that qualifies for TOPS and TOPS TECH, training students, in addition to a core academic curriculum, in fields as wide ranging as welding and information technology, and preparing them to move on to a two-year vocational school, community college or four-year university.
Each of the five existing high schools in the parish would be allotted roughly 250 seats, and then the school system would use a lottery to select the students, assuming there’s a demand that exceeds that limit, thereby alleviating overcrowding in the existing schools.
We’re good with that. All of it. And it is true, board members are charged with making many momentous decisions like this, but they likewise have a responsibility to demonstrate to voters the full extent of their due diligence on decisions involving this kind of investment. The impact of this plan on school system finances will reach far beyond Thibodaux Tech’s $50 million price tag. The board has a big responsibility to fully vet this with the community — and it has yet to do so.
In CSRS’ October 2009 master plan presentation to the board, the firm indicated that abandoned retail centers such as the Kmart location “were not cost effective or conducive to creating a successful learning environment without a large amount of financial and professional investment.” Photo by Robin May
“It’s important to high school dropout prevention and it’s important to keep the kids in school, and the state effort on graduating kids in four years from high school, and keeping kids moving toward career choices so they’re better prepared for the future. We’re very aware of that,” says Thetis Cusimano, a member of the League of Women Voters and the Community Coalition for Lafayette Schools, the latter of which has worked closely with the board and central office in developing the comprehensive facilities master plan. “We support the comprehensive high school. But the needs of the other schools are very dire at this point and the other high schools, too. So we would like to have the funding, the total funding, and the priorities set by the board and how the financing would be done for all of them in one package as they did in the master plan that CSRS has completed. The board hasn’t discussed that yet; they’ve only discussed the comprehensive high school. We would like to have the discussions occur together.”
The school system, according to Hefner, has been planning a career and technical high school for more than 15 years. The public has heard little talk of this.
In October of last year the board was presented with a recommendation for a comprehensive career and technical high school from CSRS — one of many steps in the master planning process. The firm was paid $900,000 to study our school system’s facilities and to generate, in part through community dialogues that were poorly attended, the facilities master plan. We are struck by an observation CSRS, which included Lafayette-based Architects Southwest as part of its team, makes in the executive summary to the career/tech high school recommendation: “We investigated vacant commercial structures such as strip mall centers, large department stores, and office complexes that could be converted into learning environments. They were not cost effective or conducive to creating a successful learning environment without a large amount of financial and professional investment.”
Pros and Cons of the Kmart site
Pros: High visibility, Greyfield site (environmentally responsible) Time advantage, Site utilities in place, Weather related delays minimized
Cons: Traffic access in and out of site, Unknown site/building conditions will exist, Stuctural bays will be limiting Final building design defined by footprint of existing retail
Source: Architects Southwest
CSRS’ recommendation was that N.P. Moss Middle School, which is currently under-utilized due to its poor academic performance, be used as the career and technical high school, either through the high school and the middle school sharing the facility or by phasing out the middle school through attrition. Public opposition to the plan, in large part generated by the community group 100 Black Men, put the kibosh on that. Opponents of the plan argued that Lafayette would lose another neighborhood school due to our school district’s inability to address academic problems; the school’s population is down because the state allows parents to opt out of Moss, which has been classified as an “academically unacceptable” school for the past three years, making it poised for a state takeover.
Now, one year later, the school board is set to purchase a vacant commercial structure and convert it into a learning environment — exactly what CSRS recommended against in its October 2009 report.
Hefner says when the master planning process was initiated, CSRS was asked to evaluate several possible locations including existing schools, open land owned by the board as well as vacant commercial property, and the Kmart building was the second option presented by CSRS.
But, he adds, because environmental assessments needed to be done on the Kmart building — they came back good, Hefner says, had they not the Kmart option would have been abandoned — the option didn’t move into the public discussion of the board until a few weeks ago. Our problem with this is, it wasn’t even mentioned to taxpayers until three weeks ago.
Consequently, there’s been little time for public input and discussion, and the input that has been offered thus far has largely been one of questioning the process and the plan.
“I really can’t find enough good reasons to do this at this time and at this location,” says architect Kirby Pécot. “Historically, the school board has had problems making good business decisions about building new schools.” Pécot specifically points to the board’s construction of four new schools in the late 1990s while ignoring a 1965 federal court order to desegregate and then being forced by the courts to build a fifth school for which it had not budgeted. (The two board members pushing hardest for the new career and technical school, Hefner and Carl LaCombe, were on the board during that time and served with David Thibodaux, the late board member after whom the high school is named; both Hefner and LaCombe are leaving in January.)
“If a private developer were undertaking a project like this, the bank would demand to see a business plan identifying the reasons the project should move forward,” adds Pécot. “That would include a traffic impact analysis. In this case the taxpayers are the bank. If a business plan has been developed, it should be made available to the public.”
Another outspoken critic of the Kmart purchase is Lafayette Parish Tax Assessor Conrad Comeaux.
“There’s no question about it: Buying land that fronts Ambassador Caffery is not going to be the best value for their money. It’s not like they’re trying to attract retail customers,” Comeaux says. “They’re bussing them in there. Why don’t you go down Ridge Road just a half a mile and buy some farm land there instead of buying something that fronts on Ambassador?”
The school board contends, based on an Architects Southwest analysis of land in the same vicinity of the Kmart, on Rue de Belier and Ridge Road, that it would cost several million dollars more to build a school from the ground up; it appears that less expensive tracts in other parts of the parish have not yet been evaluated.
Comeaux’s concerns are echoed by real estate developer Jeremiah Supple: “It makes absolutely no sense to have a school at that location. They need to slow down. They need to put this out in the general marketplace and evaluate other proposals,” he says, likening the purchase of the Kmart building to other dubious public investments in Lafayette in recent years. “The LITE building. That was a stupid decision; that thing costs us about $3 million a year.”
Comeaux also questions the funding priorities. The board is likely to choose a bonding option that will not be subject to voter approval, but paying back those bonds will cost anywhere from $4 million to $10 million per year — money that will be drawn from the revenue stream the school system gets through sales and property taxes. Comeaux believes that money could be better spent.
“Why are we spending money on the back end trying to fix a problem with dropouts when we don’t have kids that can get to that point who can read and write and do the math that it takes to do what it is they’re wanting them to do?” he wonders. “Why aren’t we spending that $4 million per year on the front end taking kids in the early ages so that they’re all prepared to do the technical skills that are going to be required, like measuring and calculating and figuring?”
Hefner rightfully disputes that the career and technical high school will be a “dumping ground” for at-risk students, kids who might otherwise drop out. It’s a school of choice, he says — no different from the academies for health sciences and performing arts at Lafayette High or the academy of engineering at Northside. There are currently 49 students enrolled in Thibodaux Career and Technical High School, temporarily housed at Acadiana Technical College-Lafayette.
“We’ve already made a commitment to these students that we’re going to have a career and technical high school in place,” Hefner says. “In fact, we had 150-something students in place until someone starting making some noise that maybe we weren’t going to go through with it, and then we lost 100 of them. But we are going to do it, just like we did with the French Immersion program — we started that with 40 kids. It’s going to build on itself, I have no doubt about it. I’ve heard from too many kids and parents that are so excited about this opportunity, more so than any project that I’ve been involved with.”
Some opponents worry about the impact a high school will have on traffic around the congested Ambassador/Johnston corridor. Photo by Robin May
Hefner believes some in the community are trying to undermine the board because they’re opposed to the concept of a career and technical high school. That may be the case with some. But we believe there is informed opposition generated by the perceived rush to purchase the property as well as a failure to place it in the context of other spending priorities, and, as we learned in an article Saturday in The Daily Advertiser, apparent subterfuge in the means by which the Kmart property moved front and center as the object of the board’s affection.
In that article we learned that, although the school system made no mention of the Kmart site despite persistent rumors, engineers began an assessment process on the site last spring, more than seven months ago. And the firms contracted to do this — through a no-bid contract it’s worth noting — were paid nearly $40,000.
But after the N.P. Moss plan was abandoned in March, the timeline suggests the school board set its sights on the Kmart property, spent tens of thousands of dollars having it evaluated, didn’t let on that this was happening, and then three weeks ago acted as if the Kmart site was suddenly the favored candidate.
Buyer beware.
The old Super Kmart would be stripped to its superstructure to accommodate a career/tech high school.
We also have to ask where the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce is in this discussion. The chamber comprises a professional class of business people with a wide range of expertise, and it is an entity that has, in the past, been energetically engaged in civic affairs, especially public education, which produces the workforce upon which the entire business community relies. The chamber’s role is vital here.
Nearly a decade ago the chamber marshalled its considerable resources to support a parishwide half-cent sales tax devoted to raising teacher pay. The quid pro quo in that endorsement was the school system’s agreement to adhere to performance goals and a very detailed plan for achieving them. The sales tax passed, in no small part thanks to the chamber’s endorsement and support.
But by 2009, two things had happened: The school board had made a mockery of its end of the deal; it simply ignored its commitments. And chamber management awoke to the embarrassing awareness that it had been equally AWOL in failing to provide school board oversight. By 2009, when the chamber finally got around to realizing that the school system wasn’t anywhere close to meeting those goals, it demanded the school board adopt reform measures being championed at the time by state Superintendent Paul Pastorek and others. The board cantankerously declined. Relations between the two have been chilly ever since.
But just earlier this year, the chamber announced that its newly minted political action committee, EmpowerPAC, would play an active role in local and state politics. Chamber President Rob Guidry told The Ind at the time that public education is too important a topic for the chamber to sit on the sidelines. The chamber’s PAC initiated its new involvement in public education by interviewing candidates for open school board seats and then making endorsements in the races. It did it with the vigor of tepid tap water.
“We’re interested in them speaking to the fact that they will be governing a school system that has a product, and that product is going to be used by the business community as a workforce,” Guidry said in September as the candidate interview process got under way. But the chamber punted — they shanked it badly, really — when the PAC endorsed both candidates in two of the five competitive districts.
As regrettable as it is, the chamber of commerce has been silent on the Kmart/Thibodaux Tech issue, and it appears prepared to remain so. To say the least, its silence doesn’t comport well with its own stated goals regarding public education in Lafayette Parish.
It could well be that the chamber’s unwillingness to engage with this very important decision by the school board — a decision that will commit our parish to a $50 million expenditure and monopolize upwards of $10 million per year in revenue as we move headlong into what is at least fiscal uncertainty and is more likely a prolonged period of declining sales tax revenue — is a symptom of broader disengagement with public education by our community. When reaching out for comments from people we believed could speak articulately about the feasibility of converting a big-box retail building into a school and the implications for smart-growth planning, we spoke with the head of Lafayette Consolidated Government’s Planning, Zoning & Codes Department who hadn’t even heard about the proposal to purchase the old Kmart building. Hadn’t even heard about it, although it had been in and out of newspapers and on television for nearly three weeks.
The community dialogues that the school system and CSRS hosted at J.W. Faulk and Plantation elementary schools over the course of several months to discuss the master plan were sparsely attended, too. Yes, public education can be a dull topic, but it’s vitally important that Lafayette embrace the idea that the quality of public education is interwoven with a community’s prosperity, with its attractiveness to companies considering moving or expanding there. It is the top determiner of quality of life.
Look at New Orleans and, increasingly, Baton Rouge. The former has long been and the latter is quickly becoming an inner city wasteland from which the middle class flees. We don’t want that to happen to Lafayette, but many believe we’re on that trajectory.
We don’t doubt that a majority if not all of the current members of the school board are well-intentioned, and we’re willing to embrace a career and technical high school for the parish. But many in the community including this newspaper have reservations about Thibodaux Tech’s location, financing, and its place in the school system’s depressingly large list of school facility repairs and building maintenance — and what strikes us as a head-spinning rate at which this process is moving.
The Lafayette Parish School Board has an obligation to spend our money wisely. The infrastructure of our public school system is in jeopardy to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. We have little doubt that Thibodaux Career and Technical High School will be an asset to our community. But we question whether proceeding with this project at a time when we’ve yet to determine how to fund the comprehensive facilities master plan, of which the career/tech high school is a part, is a wise expenditure of public dollars. The plan’s $1.1 billion price tag includes $590 million in “priority needs.”
Slow it down. The Kmart building has been sitting idle for nearly a decade. It’ll still be there in a few months. What Do You Think? Contact your school board member to voice your opinion on the proposed Thibodaux Career and Technical High School
Carl LaCombe, District 2 School Board President Home: 896-5837 Office: 237-5300 Email:
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Mike Hefner, District 5 School Board Vice-President Office: 873-4244 Cell: 739-4499 Email:
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Mark Allen Babineaux, District 1 Office: 337-233-7766 Email:
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Shelton J. Cobb, District 3 Home: 233-4199 Email:
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Edward Sam, District 4 Home: 233-2871
Gregory Awbrey, District 6 Home: 981-6955 Cell: 296-4457 Email:
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Mark Cockerham, District 7 Cell: 337-207-4757 Email:
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Hunter Beasley, District 8 Home: 269-1894 Email:
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Rae B. Trahan, District 9 Home: 856-8742
Site Selection The LPSS is recommending two options for the Thibodaux Career and Technical High School, both of which include locating the school at the former Super Kmart on Ambassador Caffery Parkway.
Option One: • Abandoned Super Kmart building (192,152 square feet) and 20.43 acres Negotiated purchase price: $4.5 million Appraisal: $4.8 million
•Tract 1: 5.92 acres along Ridge Road, immediately adjacent to Kmart building Negotiated purchase price: $515,000 Appraisal: $515,000
• Quint M Partnership property (John Montesano), 58.45 acres at Ridge Road and Rue de Belier Purchase price negotiations still under way. Asking price: $3,618,142 Appraisal: $2,342,000 (Montesano contends an appraisal conducted 3 months before the school board’s values the property at $3.6 million)
Construction without athletic complex: $41,213,051
Option Two: • Abandoned Super Kmart building (192,152 square feet) and 20.43 acres Negotiated purchase price: $4.5 million Appraisal: $4.8 million
• Tract 1: 5.92 acres along Ridge Road, immediately adjacent to Kmart building Negotiated purchase price: $515,000 Appraisal: $515,000 • Tract 2: 11.39 acres along Ridge Road, immediately adjacent to Tract 1 Negotiated purchase price: $1,143,849.75 Appraisal: $992,000
Construction without athletic complex: $41,213,051 Total: $47,371,900.75
... written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , November 10, 2010 - 04:15 pm
Its in the works, another pie in the oven for our local politico's and appointed lackeys to divvy up among their greedy paws, this project "STINKS THE DECAY NAUSEOUS RAPE OF THE LOCAL TAXPAYERS, TO BUILD A SCHOOL IN A BUILDING WHICH EVENTUALLY WILL HAVE TO BE RAZED TO COMPLY WITH HEALTH ISSUES, SUCH AS THE PLUMBING COST, WHICH WILL ARRIVE AT NEARLY THE COST OF A SITE ON EMPTY UNUSED FARM LAND IN THE AREA, THIS IS RIDICULOUS, THE TRAFFIC CONGESTION OF THOUSANDS of teens driving away from a congested traffic corner should scare the dickins out of the devil himself, the mere thought of this scene is horrible.
... written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , November 10, 2010 - 04:36 pm
GA, the TIDBITS ARE FLYING THROUGH THE AIR LIKE DOUBLOONS FROM DUREL'S FLOAT.. OH, the main reason for remaining in this area of high cost acreage boils down to the ownership, the powers that be are drooling on the fact that they've manipulated the players to purchase land in the pricest area of the city, to stuff the pockets of their crony landowners in the area, with the taxpayers being charged with picking up the tab. Now this is a prime example why, The Independent is an important news media in the area, "SIC EM INDYS, find out who the land owners of these parcels are before they start parceling the divvys, and we will find out just "WHY this immediate area is being considered, and only this area !
... written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , November 10, 2010 - 04:44 pm
"THE PRIORITY NEEDS, Hah, the MAYOR AND his CRONY'S are drooling at the mouth like rabid dogs," awaiting, "THE PRIORITY NEEDS". Negativity is not pleasant, but getting screwed is much more unpleasant.
... written by Cajunhiker , November 10, 2010 - 05:37 pm
Can you imagine the increase in traffic from 800 kids, many of whom drive, and the faculty on Ambassador Caffery Parkway? I-ya-ya-I. Why did the board pay nearly a million for a master plan? Central office construction official Kyle Bordelon came up with a cost projection several years ago of $55 million in priority needs, I believe, and not $590 million to repair all of the schools. Rickey Hardy has been proposing using N.P. Moss as a technical high school for years cause it makes sense. As for the Chamber, it's not their job to lead the school system. The School Board and administration must lead. The Chamber can only recommend, reject, suggest or ignore policies and decisions. The Chamber can have influential input. That's it. You should have spoken to Dr. Stephen Caldas at UL about flight from the Lafayette Parish school system and the reasons for it. He wrote a book about it.
This is so simple to figure out. Use N.P. Moss for a career high school. Redistribute the Moss children to better middle schools. Shut down the current career academy next to Paul Breaux Middle School and sell it to the Sheriff or somebody. Create taxing districts to float bonds to repair schools and add buildings, with the bond proposals voted on by the voters of neighborhood schools within the taxing district.
... written by Gary McGoffin , November 11, 2010 - 01:34 am
In two months, the School Board that will have the actual responsibility for resolving our overall facilities problems will take office. The current School Board will not. Nor, in all likelihood, will the current Superintendent.
History is repeating itself.
In the late 1990's, the School Board and Superintendent built four new schools in the growth areas of the parish. It exhausted the bonded construction capacity of the School System. Then Superintendent Zolkoski explained in a public meeting at Lafayette High that the new buildings would spur our community to increase its tax base so that several more new schools would be built and others renovated.
Their 2000 tax failed. That's one of the major reasons there has been minimal maintenance or capital expenditures for the past decade, and our already old facilities are embarrassing.
... written by Gary McGoffin , November 11, 2010 - 03:19 pm
It is important to acknowledge that everyone involved in this decision wants the best for our School System.
But there are two principal concerns about making the decision on a new career and technical high school now. One, it makes accountability for the success of the process over the next four years impossible. The decision makers this year will not be the decision makers for the next four years. Who will be responsible? The new guys will be dealing with the consequences of a decision they did not make.
Two, committing our entire bonding capacity to a new high school now, forecloses all other options for the rest of the existing facilities in the absence of new tax revenue. We have to remember that Lafayette voted 2-1 against taxes for roads and drainage just a few years ago. What has changed that will yield a different result for schools?
We have to resolve these issues. But we need to do so with the new School Board and Superintendent so that everyone who will be responsible is at the table.
... written by ragin_cajun , November 11, 2010 - 03:58 pm
Gary McGoffin --
"It is important to acknowledge that everyone involved in this decision wants the best for our School System." -- I do not acknowledge that. Reading how the LPSB has handled things over the last 5-10 years, I can't believe they are that incompetent. I just don't buy it.
There are DEFINITELY other priorities at work here besides educating kids as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Also, I think that the school board needs to start talking to the oil related employers in town and determine whether or not they'll be moving people out of town next year. It is possible that Lafayette's school overcrowding problem won't be an issue next year if a bunch of service companies pull up stakes.
... written by Gary McGoffin , November 11, 2010 - 04:39 pm
ragin_cajun,
This may be one of those "eye of the beholder" issues. No, I don't agree with many things that have been done or not done over the past 10-15 years. But most folks that I have dealt with on the Board and in the Administration during that time have been well intended. We just see things very differently with regard to what is possible educationally and what is realistic financially.
... written by Southsider , November 11, 2010 - 04:43 pm
Two major concerns as i see it: 1. An athletic complex? Your kidding, right? These kid need to learn a trade since they can't, won't, don't want to attend a normal high school. An athletic complex is out of the question. Send them to school to actually LEARN something.
2. N.P. Moss is under utilized. I don't care what Davis and the Black Men say. Its in the best interest of Lafayette taxpayers(who will be footing the bill once again) to use what we already have in place. Ship the remaining kids to all the already over crowded schools(a few more won't make a difference), refurbish Moss to teach these kids something.
... written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , November 11, 2010 - 05:14 pm
The current board knows this will be their last Pinata, and their last chance to reap the perks of their job, they want to bust this Pinata before they are sent on their way, and leave with their pockets stuffed with cash as their last score. This is the perfect example why politics is over run with thiefs, the pickins are easy, and the laws they pass protect them.
... written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , November 11, 2010 - 07:49 pm
SOMEONE OUT THERE MUST KNOW WHO OWNS THE K-MART BLDG, and the second choice of sites being considered for this rip-off project as where its being proposed to be situated. HUH, INDY ?
... written by Pedro , November 11, 2010 - 09:31 pm
Gary, If Mike Hefner has been doing his "best" and wants what is best for the LPSS for the past 20 years, it is not good enough. I think 20 years equals plenty of opportunity to establish a clear set of goals and accomplish them. Our crumbling facilities and low test scores are evidence. If you have ever had a personal conversation with Mike about school/LPSS/students, his priorities are not the best interest of the students. I, along with several others have learned, Mike Hefner's priority is Mike Hefner. Mike Hefner and others never "bucked" the majority hold. Backing Easton, another clear example. There have been plenty of years and opportunities for previous boards to "get it done".
The failure of 2000 and any subsequent tax increases is due to the public's lack of trust in the LPSB. It is pure and simple. This tech school is another example. You don't build a brand new school when every single high school in this parish needs some kind of repair or maintenance. LHS needs to be torn down. How old are Northside, Acadiana, and Comeaux? How many butler buildings are there at each school? Why don't they deserve to be "brand new" and refurbished?
It is embarrassing. My children use outdated restrooms with doors that don't properly close/gaps in the doors. They walk to class in the rain, sweat in hot, moldy butler building classrooms. There are never enough books or equipment. 30 year old A/C doesn't work. Yet, still, some of our students succeed and do it well! This is due to great teachers, great parents and IN SPITE of the problems with the LPSS.
I am with Ragin_Cajun, educating our students is not the first priority of the LPSB. If it was our scores would be higher and our buildings would not be crumbling. We should be a leader in this state.
After graduating, leaving, and coming back in the last 20 years, I know this to be the truth. For the life of me, I don't understand why this community, filled with an abundance of very smart people doesn't demand more of the LPSB. The auditorium at all LPSB meetings should be overflowing with concerned citizens. Our students deserve better than a LPSB focused on creating another program for a minority of students. It is the same old stuff, decade after decade and it is time for it to end!
... written by Gary McGoffin , November 11, 2010 - 10:47 pm
Pedro, you are correct. We absolutely can and must do better. A 70% graduation rate is not acceptable. The data shows that a 95% graduation rate and 95% proficiency is achievable. This community should accept no less. But this community must become more involved if that is going to happen.
You make a good point that the School Board auditorium should be overflowing with concerned citizens. Unfortunately, that's not usually the case unless something is wrong.
So let's start this Monday. Let's fill the auditorium with support for next year's School Board to make a comprehensive decision about all of our facilities and the quality of education that our students should receive. And then, let's stay involved.
... written by The Truth about the Vo Tech HS , November 12, 2010 - 10:29 am
The trouble starts and ends with the school board. There has to be a better way to determine the future of our children's education. If you look at it objectively, and this might seem mean, but it's not meant to be, we have a bus driver, a suit salesman, a failed teacher who was arrested for wifebeating and misrepresenting himself when he was arrested, an old time politician who should have lost his election, a pharmacist whose past was not really vetted and looks like he has already "sold out", and a burnt out demographer - who are making decisions which effect the future of our children's education. You couple this with a superintendent that plays all sides, and a corrupt hiring system that places 84% of highly qualified teachers in core subjects teaching our children, and no wonder we are ranked 24th out of 71 districts in Louisiana, and near the bottom of the barrel as a state when it comes to education.
You have principals that have never seen a school board member at their campus in 20 years, and school board members who have no clue about what is happening in the school except through crony information and self-indulgent agendas. There is also what seems to be a very racial component to not only the future plans for the school system but for Lafayette in general. If you research these type of vo-tech high schools, they flourish where poor performing schools are prevalent, which common sense would say the Northside of town. If we keep neglecting the Northside and keep throwing them a bone every once in a while, it will sooner or later backfire on us - we will have an inner city Northside and a White flight Southside, and by the looks of it, they are achieving their goal.
Again, that's what you get when you elect a school board who is more concerned about leaving a legacy, than actually fixing the educational problems - that's where the problem begins. This whole academy system for the high schools is flawed. Schools should be operated by spreading taxpayers' money to help the largest population of students - with this Academy System, it is employing the opposite strategy. Not only has it driven our transportation costs up, it concentrates a large amount of money over a small amount of students, and the average and poor students are the one's to suffer. This whole academy system was racially motivated to keep the blacks on the Northside, it has lowered the educational standards for our children, and now we are in the business of lowering standards even more, by having our children 'settle' for a vocation. What will this accomplish? It will only make those students who are lazy, lazier; it will reinforce that our expectations of our children are that of trade schools; and we will keep falling further and further behind when it comes to 'true education'.
The school system's job is to prepare a person to lead a successful life, not to give him a trade, where in 10 years they'll be sick of it and wish they had learned more when they were in high school. It starts with putting the best teachers in front of our children to motivate them to learn. What's going on now is a self-replicating cycle for everyone involved. For the blacks, they'll continue to stay on the Northside, continue to go to NP Moss and Northside with their failing programs, and might I add, be lead by administrators who because of the political nature of the school system - are riding out until retirement, which is another issue we have that is wrong with our school - burnt out teachers, who go into administration, and are ineffective principals, but keep their position, because of who they know.
What's the sense of placing another high school less than 2 miles from another high school. Acadiana High and this new school, will almost be next door neighbors - again, does white flight ring a bell? African Americans should be at arms about this, but instead seem ambivalent except for a few advocates. Why was the new library placed as far away from the Northside as possible without locating it in Maurice? And placed furthest from the people it would benefit? I would think that there are a higher percentage of children on the southside that have never gone or need to go to the library because of home computers; wouldn't this have benefited the Northside better? Again white flight.
If it were me, I would do away with the school board and burnt out demographers, who should have retired 12 years ago and have proven ineffective, and are only in it for future financial or political games (yeah like he has a shot!)
People may not agree with this also, but the reason our schools are in the shape they are in is due in large part to David Thibodeaux and his lowering student teacher ratio, in lieu of maintenance for schools. So now Lafayette is not only faced with decreased student achievement rankings, but also crumbling infrastructure - great job school board. No wonder the old school board members are getting off the board - they are riding into the sunset, before the system implodes; but guess what? The taxpayers will bail them out, or so they think. And they'll use the oldest trick in the book - pull at your heartstrings and say, "it's for the kids".
I say, enough with the experiments. Let's base our education on learning. Where is the law academy? Where is the teaching academy? Would these be better alternatives than the jewelry academy or the cosmetology academy? Citizens of Lafayette wake up!!!!!! This is our future!!!!!!!!
In summary, we have a school system whose ranking has fallen each and every year since the new superintendent, but the superintendent received praise and adulation (not to mention a sizable increase in salary) from the board. We have a corrupt hiring practice, that doesn't hire the most qualified teachers to put in front of your children and who practices carrying out vendettas by threatening to transfer those whom don't play "their game" to undesirable schools; we have a board, whom at best have good intentions, but who rely on the latest failed fad in education and then tries to sell it as "our future"; we have a racial divide in education that will lead to another generation of undereducated adults, which will lead to higher crime rates, and eventually to racial tensions - all in all, I think our future is good!
... written by Amen , November 12, 2010 - 08:56 pm
Wow! That was more truth about more things than just the Vo Tech HS. Right on!
Thib Tech in K-Mart is just that, a monument to David Thibodeaux, not the kids or the community.
... written by Pedro , November 12, 2010 - 09:52 pm
“We’ve already made a commitment to these students that we’re going to have a career and technical high school in place,” Hefner says. “In fact, we had 150-something students in place until someone starting making some noise that maybe we weren’t going to go through with it, and then we lost 100 of them. "
Ok, Mr. Hefner, here is the problem. You made a commitment BEFORE you asked the taxpayers what OUR priorities are for OUR students. You committed to a MINORITY of students (a very small minority). I remember reading, 150 students applied but only 49 qualified for the program. Which statement is true? This is the major reason most sane people in Lafayette Parish don't want anything to do with the LPSB. You never know who is on first. Lemoine is the master of confusing an issue. LPSB love him. He loves them. Who cares about the students? This article is a great start, but I must say it is a little late and lot short of revealing the wrongs in the LPSB. The truth about the vo tech high has it right. We need to stop "being nice" and start demanding more of the LPSB. We need to operate LPSS like a business. I don't see too many qualified CEOs on the present LPSB. Imagine what our scores could be if we provided ALL of our students with clean bathrooms and buildings, the latest technology AND a LPSB filled with knowledgeable members truly interested in public education.
... written by ashamed...... , November 13, 2010 - 09:30 pm
Over the past 5 years, the budget has increased by 50 million dollars, our teacher's pay rankings have fallen almost congruently at the same rate as our school ranking--from 16th to 24th--again, good job Mr Hefner and company - seems your plan is working----->what I really would like to know if behind the scenes Hefner didn't provide the demography through the back door for the Master Plan to put the "fix in" on the numbers - like he does in other parishes ----> Hes' not listed as the Master Plan demographer, but to say he didn't influence it, or get something under the table ----> to me, this whole plan sticks of racism and he may be the Grand Knight
... written by ...failed 5 , November 13, 2010 - 09:48 pm
Recently, The Independent featured a article about Pick 6, or the 6 candidates they endorsed for the school board in these past elections.
Let's feature an article on the Failed 5. Provide their background, their income, their qualifications, their motives...you have one school board member who admittedly doesn't even look at the agenda before the meetings and makes their decisions based on how they can be influenced at the meetings. You have a couple of others who think the world revolves around them, and the superintendent has to pass everything through them.
Idea: Why not consolidate the school board and the city-parish council. We'd save much expense, and might draw more cream-of-the-crop candidates.
maybe the previous postings are onto something referencing Hefner and racism...he probably lives somewhere as far away from Northside as possible, he probably became the 'self-proclaimed" direction of the future of Lafayette's education when Thibodeaux passed on...I dub thee Grand Knight Hefner
... written by USMA75 , November 15, 2010 - 08:14 pm
Lots of nonsense in response to a legitimate point. The process for bumping up the tech school stinks. What about slumping test scores ?
As for the genius who dissed David Thibodeaux, no doubt this guy never set foot inside the school board building. Lowering class sizes was championed by Dr. Thibodeaux and Mr. Hardy, precisely because it was a proven method for directly improving student outcomes. It was abandoned quickly after their departure and now our test scores have stalled and even fallen in some cases. That was the best bang for the buck -- not maintenance work, which is necessary but does nothing to aid student performance.
Also, what the heck does the tech school have to do with "keeping blacks on the north side of town" ? That's the kind of crazy talk that has a perfectly usable Moss sitting nearly empty and soon to be taken over by the State.
We need professionals in trades much more than we need more "general studies" students at UL. Europe has a longstanding history of a vital apprenticeship and technical education programs that produce mechanics for Mercedes and skilled workers for other high-tech industries that are paddling our behinds. It is absurd to suggest that providing these opportunities to Americans is "racism" in action. That kind of foolish ranting will get us thousands more college dropouts, while you can't get an electrician to your house for six weeks, if then.
The Chamber punted because it wants to be non-controversial. Bad for business. Racial politics trumps many of our education decisions and no one wants to be called a racist for suggesting solutions that demand practical, common sense measures to hold everyone in the system accountable, call out thousands of parents who are failing to involve themselves in their kids' educations and outing civic "leaders" who only say "no", but never offer any concrete suggestions for improving opportunities for our kids.
Finally, all of this focus on buildings entirely misses the point. New buildings do NOTHING to improve educational outcomes for our students. They make us feel like we've done something, but we haven't.
Any effort to help our students compete must begin with a thorough analysis of every aspect of our education system, from top to bottom, from the board, central office, every school campus, every teacher and administrator, transportation, cafeteria, maintenance, curricula, textbooks, IT resources -- everything. Only then will we KNOW what we need to do to make the best use of our available funds to get the best results possible for our children.
This hasn't been done, or even suggested by the Board. They spent $900 K to have someone tell them our facilities were in lousy shape, when everyone already knew that. But, not one penny to find out why our scores are not up to par and what we can do to improve them.
Until someone wakes up and realizes you can't solve a problem, any problem, without understanding what the problem is, any money spent, regardless of where or how, is utterly wasted.
In the mean time, more of our kids fall through the cracks every semester and are lost forever, in this pointless fixation on new buildings.
... written by The Truth about the Vo Tech HS , November 15, 2010 - 09:43 pm
This whole Academy System is a failure, except for those lucky enough to win a lottery. Gee, that's a logical way of getting those who are interested to attend their 'chosen academy'. This whole Academy System was implemented after the board made a trip to see where it was working (latest failed fad - do research on the academy system in New York where everything originated, they have 40% remediation rates for high school graduates - sound familiar); and touted it as the 'savior of our educational system'. It stinks. As far as student-teacher ratio, it was not abandoned shortly after, and to counter your point, two landmark studies - STAR & SAGE - both concluded that lower-student teacher ratio at a minimum provided positive results in the very lowest elementary grades only(do your homework). Look at the make-up of Lafayette and tell me there is no racism involved. Any CFO will tell you that providing the highest quality service to the largest amount of students is 'common business practice'. But that's what's wrong with the School Board.
Let's really put this in perspective. You can be an idiot, but if people like you because you said "hi" to them nicely one day; or better yet, if you appeal to the old illerate voter and get them to vote for you - then you are on the school board. Is that really the best way of selecting people who will determine the future of education??? By depending on a certain party or a certain demography to vote for you??? Popularity even??? While those espousing "sure fire" ways to improve education - like perhaps maybe, hiring the best qualified teachers or getting rid of ineffective principals - lose elections because of the political connectivity of the teachers, the bus drivers, the cafeteria workers, the central office personnel; so that if you mention the word streamline or fiscal responsibility, you have signed your death notice as a candidate - the whole process is screwed up.
How about getting the 5 most successful business owners in Lafayette to provide input on how they would run the school system as a business. I assure you, you would see cuts at the central office, streamlining of bus routes, the most effective teachers placed in front of the poorest performing students, and principals who are 'riding out time', replaced by more energetic go-getters who actually go in the classroom to monitor the teaching process - this is how you improve a schools system. Not electing bus drivers, hypnotherapists, old-tyme politicians, burnt out demographers, suit salesmen, and criminal photography teachers???
One day, there will be an uprising; and those of you who despise O'Bama for what he is trying to do - level the playing field and bring about fairness in the world - will regret we didn't try harder to meet him in the middle. Slavery still exists, except the Plantation owners live in River Ranch and other like subdivisions, while the slaves occupy their slave shacks in Veazey. Is O'Bama right in doing what he is trying to do? Maybe, maybe not. African Americans get blamed for not wanting to get off food stamps and medicaid and drinking their 40's on the street corner, but aren't we doing the same thing to all the foreigners that take advantage of tax-free life and able to come in and build businesses. Unlike the Indians though, the African Americans will not be extinguished by the white man. Without African Americans doing the labor work, the United States would not be the country it is today. Maybe God is looking down from above and saying, "love thy neighbor as thyself", "remember to keep my commandments" - if you truly believe that we have dealt fairly with the blacks, you are decieving yourself.
The point to be made is this. We need to provide excellent education to everyone, not just those who win a lottery!!! If you don't agree with that, then you are the idiot. Education shouldn't be based on chance and a lottery system! Do away with the academies and teach, get rid of ineffective teachers, raise pay for those teachers that are effective!!!!! How much more basic can it get....
... written by The Truth about the Vo Tech HS , November 15, 2010 - 09:48 pm
Actually achievement test scores dropped after Easton's departure. He implemented a certain program that raised test scores, and after he left, the test scores dropped; the scores do not lie....do your homework, get your facts straight.
... written by Dudley E. LaBauve, III , November 16, 2010 - 04:54 pm
Hey there,'The Truth About Vo Tech,' I can relate to your statement, 'While those espousing "sure fire" ways to improve education - like perhaps maybe, hiring the best qualified teachers or getting rid of ineffective principals - lose elections because of the political connectivity of the teachers, the bus drivers, the cafeteria workers, the central office personnel; so that if you mention the word streamline or fiscal responsibility, you have signed your death notice as a candidate - the whole process is screwed up.' I think there are enough folks in this town who feel using a more businees-like approach would be very positive for the school system, but they did not vote! After speaking with some folks who voted in districts other than mine, the common response was a vote for political party, rather than candidate qualifications. I'm an independent and and a fiscal conservative, a business owner, I have a background in Finance, but not enough voters cared about this. They just seemed to have voted 'R.' When I interviewed with the Educators Association, it was very clear to me I was not their candidate. If not for a state observer's presence at the interview, I think the meeting might have been ugly, but they were only allowed to ask my opinion and take notes. They were not allowed to comment on my positions. Good educators don't need tenure. Good leaders keep good people working and throw out trash. Apparantly, Lafayette is not ready to take the necessary steps to really improve it's school system. It's truly disappointing.
... written by ragin_cajun , November 16, 2010 - 08:03 pm
" not enough voters cared about this. They just seemed to have voted 'R.' "
"would be very positive for the school system, but they did not vote!"
"Apparantly, Lafayette is not ready to take the necessary steps ..."
Maybe people heard that the Independent endorsed your candidacy and thought you might be a closet liberal?
Maybe voters don't like the ideas of cameras in the classroom? CAMERAS IN THE CLASSROOM?! Are you serious?
Maybe voters don't like the idea of a year round school program to address some perceived achievement gap?
Maybe voters don't like people telling them they didn't vote right, they're uninformed, they would vote differently if only they understood the issues. Did you say anything like that before the election.....like you did here today?
Do you not watch the news or something? You have a political Tin Ear. People everywhere are fed up with arrogant politicians who think they know better than the people who voted them into office. You have displayed EXACTLY that attitude in your comments below.
... written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , November 17, 2010 - 03:35 am
I will say the answer lies here, right here in this commentor section of The Indy, he has the answers and the SS Gonads, and although you and you may not guess who i speak of, he hears this and someday he may just discover that he was blessed with the tools to make a change, to right a wrong or he may just talk and sit on the side lines forever, and someday he'll say to himself, " I was a contender, but I was afraid to fail......
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MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
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ISSUES, SUCH AS THE PLUMBING COST, WHICH WILL ARRIVE AT NEARLY THE COST OF A SITE ON EMPTY UNUSED FARM LAND IN THE AREA, THIS IS RIDICULOUS, THE TRAFFIC CONGESTION OF THOUSANDS of teens driving away from a congested traffic corner should scare the dickins out of the devil himself, the mere thought of this scene is horrible.