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More discussions on academics to take place
Published Friday, February 27, 2009
VIDALIA — Solving continued attendance problems is the first step to improving Concordia Parish’s schools, administrators said Thursday.
Administrators met with school board officials to discuss their schools’ strengths and weaknesses.
All of the administrators talked about their procedures for contacting students’ guardians when they have poor attendance patterns and the importance of improving attendance.
“(Attendance) becomes a huge problem at our grade level,” Ferriday Upper Elementary Principal Cindy Smith said. “When a child misses a lot of days in the third grade, it becomes a habit.”
Some attendance problems are a result of discipline problems, though, Ferriday Junior High School Assistant Principal Lisa Cater said.
“(Attendance reports are) affected by our number of out-of-school suspensions,” she said.
Discipline problems aside, one of the solutions presented for attendance problems included Saturday school, something Monterey High School Interim Principal John Bostic said Monterey would start in March.
“We will probably do it in four-hour blocks, and the students will have to do two Saturdays to make up one day,” he said. “If they skip a Wednesday to go shopping, if they know they had to go to two Saturdays to make that up, they’d think twice about it.”
Other issues varied from school to school.
Ridgecrest Elementary Principal Nancy Anders said that although her staff has become more stable in recent months, the school still has a lot of part-time employees.
“Not that I don’t appreciate what these part-time teachers are doing, but it is hard to have stability in a curriculum when you have a teacher who comes in and teaches for one day and another teacher who comes in for another day,” she said.
The reports weren’t all about challenges the schools face, though.
Both Ferriday Upper and Lower Elementary administrators noted that the student scores on reading assessments have improved this year.
“We are very pleased with the hard work of our students and teachers,” Ferriday Lower Assistant Principal Bobbie Hinson said.
Both Vidalia Junior High Principal Whest Shirley and Vidalia High Principal Rick Brown spoke about recognizing student achievement and good behavior.
“You’d be surprised what one of these students would do for a doughnut,” Brown said.
The next academic progress meeting is scheduled for June.
The school board voted in 2008 to add three special meetings a year to discuss academic progress in the school system.
Thursday’s meeting was the second meeting for the school year.
Comments
Posted by kpage1 (anonymous) on February 27, 2009 at 8:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I appreciate Concordia Parish educators caring about our children's future. To me, this meeting demonstrates how the entire school district can come together for one common cause without personal or monetary issues interfering. Take note ACSB.
Posted by fed_up (anonymous) on February 27, 2009 at 9:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There is no doubt that our schools have a problem, but I think they are looking in the wrong direction to fix it. My child attends Vidalia Lower. He has missed several days due to illness and has doctors excuses for most of the days. I have had been called to the school to talk with the principal. I was told that my child can not be missing days (never mind that he has a medical condition) because it made the school look bad and it made her look bad. She said the school was in decline and in danger of the state taking over. On another occasion I had to speak with the assistant principal because of the way my child was being treated in the classroom. His reasoning was that the teachers are under a lot of stress because the school is in decline and is being evaluated. It seems to me that if you have teachers that are so stressed out and hate their jobs so much that they are taking it out on 6 and 7 year old children then it is very unlikely that these children will do well in school. It might also have something to do with a child "feeling sick" when it's time to go to school. Children feel stress too. Maybe if they quit trying to put the blame on the children and the parents they will find the real problem. They could start by observing successful schools up North and do what they are doing.
Posted by kilabe (anonymous) on February 27, 2009 at 10:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
fed_up, why don't you take a week and sit in the classroom, then you will see first hand how these sweet children really act along w/ your own. You would be shocked! There are parents who have never met their childs teachers and this is a lower elem. VLE teachers love their jobs, but when you have parents acting like the school is a day care, what do you expect. Yes, children do get sick, but to miss over 20+ days?! What message are you sending the child. Give the child the proper medicine and send them on there way. I know they have called parents b/c a childs been running fever, throwing up, etc.only to have the phone # no longer in service and no other way to get in touch w/ someone or they say they will be there in a little while and never show up. But for the most part, Parents and Teachers do work together and VLE is the best school in Concordia Parish. Now, you want to talk about stress?!
Posted by fed_up (anonymous) on February 28, 2009 at 10:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
kilabe, it sounds like you work at the school, so it is normal to be defensive. I used to substitute teach in Concordia Parish, so I know more than you think I do about what goes on. Parents that use the school as a daycare has nothing to do with what I said before. In fact, the school acts as if they would rather me send my child to school sick than "make them look bad" with an absence. Sometimes you can't just give a child medicine and send them back to school. Some children have medical conditions that can't be prevented. My child has a very low immune system, and gets sick easily. He was in and out of the hospital the first two years of his life. I have talked to the school about this several times, but I am constantly harrassed and so is my child. There's a lot more that I could say, but I'll leave it at that.
Posted by kilabe (anonymous) on February 28, 2009 at 1:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
No, I don't work there but I have friends who do. But I read the handbook that they gave us the first of the year.
Posted by reneef (anonymous) on March 2, 2009 at 9:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I appreciate the job teachers and school administrators have to do in sometime less than good circumstances. At the same time school administrators should also use common sense when talking with parents about attendance issues. In some instances they do need to meet with parents but in instances such as fed_up mentioned they should use a little common sense.
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