VIDALIA &045; It’s 2:30 p.m. at Vidalia High School and the cars in the parking lot are sparse.

The school’s last class period of the day stretches to 3 p.m. for freshman, sophomores and juniors, but not for seniors.

It’s a rite of passage the 12th graders feel like they’ve earned &045; early dismissal.

But in today’s fast paced, highly educated world, the freedom from those last few class periods may be holding the students back.

And it may be a rite that’s about to be stripped away.

The new wave of high school education bound to hit the rest of the country sooner or later is coming to Vidalia High School sooner &045; next year that is.

VHS applied and received a grant to be one of eight Louisiana schools to be a pilot site for High School Redesign.

This school year, a state commission formed by the governor, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Board of Regents is studying possible changes to high school education to better prepare students for college or life after high school.

VHS has a team of its own composed of teachers, librarians, counselors and administrators that is focusing on what’s best for Vidalia.

The team will write a plan that the school will start implementing next year. As of yet, nothing has been decided and nothing is in writing, Principal Rick Brown said.

&uot;We are kicking around a lot of ideas,&uot; he said. &uot;We have to work out a schedule, maybe more time in the academic rooms, maybe seven periods, maybe a block schedule, maybe two periods of one subject. Nothing is decided.&uot;

High School Redesign is a term given to restructuring the classroom time, classes offered and education given to high school students. Each district can decide exactly what’s best for their schools.

&uot;High school hasn’t changed in 30 years except the addition of computers,&uot; Brown said. &uot;We are not adequately preparing our kids for college. We are trying to meet the needs of everyone and in turn we are not meeting the needs of non-college bound students.&uot;

Redesign could include opportunities for vocational type classes or an emphasis on subjects like reading for those who may not need other skills.

For college-bound students, redesign could offer more opportunities to get ahead while still in high school including taking online college courses for college credit.

&uot;It would increase the rigor of our education,&uot; Brown said. &uot;Make it harder and offer relevant help.&uot;

Brown said another part of the redesign could be building stronger relationships between students and teachers by keeping a class with the same homeroom teacher all throughout high school.

&uot;We are doing a disservice to our kids by not changing our curriculum,&uot; Brown said. &uot;We need to offer something to get them more ready for the real world. The world is not the same as it was 15 years ago.&uot;

Part of the state and federal grant dollars VHS has received will be spent attending Redesign conferences, including the 2005 Model Schools Conference in Nashville, Tenn., this summer.

The parish will host Redesign consultants Thursday to meet with the Redesign team from VHS and representatives from Ferriday High School and Monterey High School.

Though VHS is a pilot school, Brown said the project will be

district-wide, benefiting VHS, FHS and MHS and receiving school board approval and support.

With no decisions made, students haven’t been formally addressed about the changes, but Brown said rumors were flying.

&uot;We need the support of parents, the school board and teachers, but we’ve got to sell it to the students,&uot; he said. &uot;It’s going to be a rough year next year. We are going to have our ups and downs, but we will see benefits in the short term.&uot;

Once final plans are made the school will host a series of parent/student sessions over the summer to prepare everyone for the changes.

Though the elimination of early dismissal for seniors is not a certainty, Brown is hopeful funding will come through to offer those seniors college level courses that require them to stay the whole day.

As part of the district’s Redesign research, Brown, Ferriday High Principal Debra Harris, Superintendent Kerry Laster and Academic Affairs Director Fred Butcher visited a school in Shaw, Miss., that has implemented a Redesign program and is thriving.

Brown and Laster said the economically deprived area showcased incredibly well-behaved students and improved academic performance.

&uot;They all knew their purpose,&uot; Laster said after the trip. &uot;There were no discipline problems, they were very, very polite. They all knew why they were there.&uot;

The Mississippi school uses a block schedule of 90-minute academies to teach reading and math.

VHS and Concordia Parish will write their own Redesign model to be implemented over the coming years.