The Evangeline Parish School Board met Wednesday night in the School Board Media Center. The room was packed with supporters of the Cheerleaders from Bayou Chicot Elementary. School Superintendent, Darwan Lazard introduced the cheering team and announced that three of the cheerleaders were recently selected as All-American Cheerleaders. Jesa Vidrine, Mayzee Lafleur and Ainsley Dutton were chosen after attending UCA Camp this summer. Only 10% of those who attend the Camp are actually chosen as an All-American. The three are sponsored by Anne Soileau and Fallen Ortego. The girls will not only be performing during the half-time show at the LSU game this Saturday night; but, they will also be performing in the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Orlando, Florida.
First Student Representative, Lance Enkey, gave an update to the School Board on how things are going since school started. Enkey said there was a driver’s meeting held with principals from schools, drivers and some members of the Board and Administration attended. He said he received a “ton” of feedback from the drivers and said it was a very productive meeting. He said there are currently 89 routes being run daily in the Parish consisting of approximately 4,521 miles driven by approximately 25 drivers. Each bus contains 4 digital cameras and they have implemented safety practices on the buses to ensure that no child is left on a bus at the end of the day. A few of the drivers have already found children sleeping due to their safety practices.
School scores will be changing next year and will continue to change until the target year of 2025 when new standards in student scores will take full effect. According to Roxanne West and Penny McDaniel with the School Board, ‘BASIC’ is no longer acceptable and the State is sending schools to achieve a “MASTERY” status by students in order to receive the points required to score schools. The Superintendent said “Some schools that were at an ‘A’ last year may not come in at an ‘A’ next year due to the changes. He said they are working very hard with children to achieve the new levels.