The Lafayette Parish School System is scurrying to accommodate the exploding population of students in Youngsville. By Heather Miller
A new elementary school for an ever-growing and overcrowded population of students in Youngsville could be in the works as early as the start of next school year, pending board approval of Lafayette Parish School System Superintendent Pat Cooper’s fix for a problem that at its height left south Lafayette Parish’s two most affluent communities publicly discussing a possible break from the school system.
Youngsville has for more than a decade claimed the title of fastest-growing town in the state, but it’s a feat that hasn’t come without the tough growing pains associated with such a rapid rise in population. As the flourishing south Lafayette Parish community continues to prep itself for even more growth — several new residential developments are under way — its schools have already surpassed maximum capacity by more than 1,000 students.
The overcrowding in Youngsville schools and the abundance of Butler buildings that have been used to give temporary relief have prompted some serious discussions of late between Cooper, school board members and Youngsville Mayor Wilson Viator, who recently threatened to propose a break-away school district for Youngsville if the overcrowding and facility issues aren’t addressed in the very near future. Side note: If Youngsville were to move forward with plans to break away from LPSS, it would take a two-thirds vote of the Legislature next year and voter approval of a Constitutional Amendment.
That same ultimatum sparked unexpected input from Youngsville’s bustling neighbor, which quickly chimed in that the town of Broussard would be interested in joining the break-away school district if Broussard’s own overcrowding problems can’t be solved.
Cooper, working closely with Viator, School Board President Shelton Cobb and Youngsville’s board rep. Rae Trahan, has proposed a solution for south Lafayette’s exploding population that includes “quickly and completely” renovating G.T. Lindon, adding more classrooms and bathrooms that will address the immediate overcrowding and leave a little room for future student increases. That same plan, which will be presented to the board at its June 20 meeting, will also add a new K-5 elementary school to the list of schools in Youngsville. Both projects would be breaking ground by the beginning of next school year if the board approves Cooper’s plan.
Viator says the meetings have been “productive,” and he remains optimistic about the school system’s plan for patching up the overcrowding problems. He did ask, however, that all questions regarding the plan for Youngsville school facilities be directed to Cooper and Cobb.
“We’re in complete agreement on what we’re going to try to bring to the board,” Cooper says about his meetings with Viator and other officials.
Since voters last October firmly rejected a property tax to pay for the construction of new schools and facelifts for older schools (it’s worth noting that 74 percent of Youngsville voters rejected the tax proposal, 5 percent more than the parishwide average of 69 percent), funding for the Youngsville projects would come from bond sales that should bring in approximately $33 million.
Cooper estimates that $16 to $18 million of that money would be spent on the Youngsville fix, leaving substantially less money for a project that was initially slated to receive the entire $33 million and more: the district’s new David Thibodaux Career and Technical High School.
The board’s original plans for Thibodaux Tech call for an additional $47 million to go toward the finishing touches of the school, which is already open and serving students. But the new superintendent has since recommended a shift in the mission of LPSS’s new career-focused high school to a more rigorous STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) curriculum and a magnet school status. He says the district can accommodate Thibodaux Tech for about $8 million.
“We don’t have $47 million, and we can’t afford to spend it in a way that isn’t going to be productive. We think we can bring Thibodaux Tech into the facility we need it to be for far less money,” Cooper says. “It’ll be more in tune to the future but still have some basic career-to-work options; we’re not doing away with what they have now. We need to spend this money on more urgent matters, like Youngsville — and healthy bathrooms for our other 40-something schools.”
Board President Cobb agrees, noting that it may be time to take a second look at the plans for Thibodaux Tech.
“There’s a difference between what the new board wants for Thibodaux Tech and what the old board wanted,” Cobb says. “The design of the school hasn’t changed, but the objectives for instructional programs have changed, and most of the board members don’t feel we need an athletic complex at a STEM academy.”
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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