VIDALIA, La. &045; In Tuesday’s Concordia Parish School Board meeting, new Superintendent Kerry Laster sat with the board that hired her for the first time and made some steps she hopes will improve schools.

One of those steps &045; approved by the board Tuesday &045; will be extending the school day for intense tutoring sessions at Ferriday schools.

After school accountability and test scores were released last week, Laster sat down with central office administrators and principals to come up with a plan to improve parish schools. The recommendation from that meeting was extending school hours.

The test results were released in November, and new testing is in March.

&uot;It is imperative that we move those schools up,&uot; Laster said of Vidalia High School and all of the Ferriday schools, three of which &045; the lower elementary, upper elementary and junior high &045; are in &uot;school improvement&uot; &045; a state designation meaning the schools must show improvement next year. The high school is on the watch list.

Vidalia High School is also in the school improvement designation because it did not meet its state-mandated growth target. It has to make progress next year or it will be in school improvement level two, where the district must offer school choice and supplemental services.

The proposal, which was passed by the board unanimously, would extend the school day for an hour and a half, three days a week at the four Ferriday schools. This will begin Jan. 13 and end March 11. That means, for nine weeks, students will go through &uot;intense focus instruction&uot; and get out of school at 4:45 p.m. three times a week.

Elementary students will focus on reading and math, while junior high and high school students will focus on language arts, math, science and social studies. Mostly, the high school students will focus on tests they have not passed yet since they must pass different subject tests each year.

The teachers will tutor the students in the subjects they will be tested in and the material will match the LEAP and IOWA test material, Laster said.

&uot;We will try a very focused, very direct approach,&uot; Laster said. &uot;Everybody would be exposing them to things Š that would have to do with improving their test scores.&uot;

Not only are teachers going to work extra, principals will stay later as well and central office personnel will go to the schools to make sure the tutoring is being done effectively.

Teachers will be compensated with federal funds at a rate of $20 per hour. Principals and assistant principals will receive two extra hours of pay per tutoring day.

&uot;This is a token amount to show we do support them,&uot; Laster said of the principals’ extra pay.

That is the only funding that will come out of the district’s general fund.

Laster said if children are going to stay this late for tutoring, &uot;homework needs to be limited, and we will not have six weeks tests on this concentrated period.&uot;

When asked by the board, H.L. Irvin Jr., supervisor of support services and transportation director, said the bus drivers he has talked to have not had a problem with this. They are contracted to pick students up whenever school gets out, even when the time varies.

Irvin said since it is important to student achievement, &uot;I feel like they will be more than willing.&uot;

Vidalia High School, which is also in school improvement, is devising its own plan, Laster said, and the plan is due to her by Thursday. She assured wary board members if the plan is not satisfactory, one will be devised. However, Laster said it was best to let the principal and teachers decide what to do.

The Ferriday schools were handled together because they are all in need of help and support the same students.

Board member Johnnie L. Brown and audience member Clarence Hymon both expressed concern that parents are not involved in the plan.

&uot;There is nothing this board or state can do until we get the parents involved,&uot; Brown said.

Brown and Hymon said they know the students in Ferriday are capable.

&uot;Somehow in Ferriday, we left the parents behind,&uot; Brown said.