August 6, 2014

The Evangeline Parish School Board held its bi-monthly meeting last night and the Board unanimously approved the third step in obtaining the $2,450,000.00 previously voted on to improve technology in Evangeline Parish schools and prepare for the possibility of the Common Core and the Parc Assessment to be implemented.  The matter goes before the Bonding Commission on August 21, 2014.

Regarding the Common Core issue, Superintendent, Toni Hamlin said that Bobby Jindal has now filed a Petition with the courts asking for an injunction to be issued blocking any testing in Louisiana involving Common Core.  We will continue to keep you updated on the situation.

Mrs. Hamlin and the Board discussed Act 654 passed by the legislature which would greatly impact school transportation in the parish should it take effect.  The law provides that no child can ever cross any road in order to ride a school bus.  Mrs. Hamlin pointed out that the law was originally intended to be used in New Orleans parish, but the wording is such that it affects all parishes.  If the law stands, the impact could be tremendous with uncertain pick-up and drop-off times, as well as a huge spike in fuel costs.  She explained that the law does not provide a deadline in which the changes would need to take place, and because of that she asked the Board for approval to begin a study with the staff and First Student to determine what it would actually take to comply.  She stated that other parishes are doing the same thing.  The board unanimously voted to begin the study.  Mrs. Hamlin did state that she believes the legislator who wrote the bill will come back in January to amend it so parishes such as Evangeline would not be affected by it.  She stated that Evangeline Parish already tries to follow such guidelines to keep the children safe.

Mrs. Hamlin said that teacher in-service is currently ongoing and that next Tuesday and Wednesday, all teachers are to report to work.

The first day of school will be August 14th.