Three weeks into a massive overhaul of Lafayette Parish’s poorest performing high school, students, teachers and outside stakeholders untap a new level of spirit at Northside.
By Heather Miller • Photos by Robin May
When Northside High School’s regionally ranked mock trial team competes for a state title at the upcoming Louisiana mock trial tournament, Principal Melinda Voorhies will undoubtedly be there as the pseudo courtroom scene unfolds.
While Gov. Bobby Jindal might be casting a large net for his education reform package, it has so far failed to snare anything related to school discipline.
By Jeremy Alford
If you believe the polling, the public isn’t sweating school discipline issues too heavily. According to a PDK/Gallup poll conducted last year, the American public may actually care less than ever. Only 6 percent felt that a “lack of discipline” was a real problem — and that’s down from 11 percent in 2006 and 15 percent in 2001. More times than not, funding issues or teacher quality top such lists.
We view Glenn Stewart through a lens of outrage even as we try to focus on the greater good.
This past Christmas morning Steve and Cherry Fisher May, The Independent’s co-publishers, were driving through south Pennsylvania on the way to a family visit for the holidays. Just before noon, Cherry received two messages. The first, via a phone call, was news that her 81-year-old mother, Leta Gilmer Fisher, had passed away in Lafayette. Twenty minutes later came the second message when she opened an email with the subject line, “Merry Christmas!” The sender was Glenn Stewart.
An online search reveals surprisingly low property tax assessments on downtown buildings, leaving what could amount to millions in revenue — for our schools, libraries and public safety — on the table.
Some critics of smart meters and the comprehensive plan cite a little-known resolution of the United Nations for the basis of their opposition. We hope their paranoia doesn’t hinder progress in Lafayette.
By Walter Pierce
If you haven’t yet heard of Agenda 21, please read on. But even if you set this newspaper down, flip the page or navigate elsewhere online, Agenda 21 will find you. It’s actually been with us for two decades, but it’s beginning to push its way up through the soft crust of community consciousness in cities across Louisiana and the nation including Lafayette, borne on the hot, pneumatic energy of paranoia about government.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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