Could community schools return to Avoyelles?

While some board members are saying one or more Avoyelles Parish schools may have to be closed a year or so from now, some are recommending a return to “community schools.”

Comments on that issue at the School Board’s Education Committee included the possibility of opening one or more additional schools and revising attendance zones to shorten bus routes and send children to the closest school.

“I see children just outside of Hessmer waiting for a bus at 5:45 a.m. when there’s a public elementary school 10 minutes down the road,” board member Robin Moreau said.

The area Moreau referred to is located between Hessmer and Marksville and is zoned for Cottonport.

Moreau said the Avoyelles School District has lost a lot of students since a federal desegregation order forced the consolidation of schools and closed several community schools.

He said returning some community schools or turning elementaries into K-8 schools could bring students back into the school system, increase enrollment and result in more state funds.

Board member Rickey Adams agreed that “the closer a school is to the community, the better. It is worth looking at.”

Board member Latisha Small reminded the board that the prospect of Red River Charter Academy opening as a grade 6-8 middle school this year, and adding a high school grade each year after that, “means we are not bringing children back, but losing them.” She said the board needs to “find a way to get them (public) to trust us.”

Bringing highly qualified, certified teachers into the district would be one way to that, Small added.
Community & K-8

Community schools and the K-8 idea are not necessarily the same thing, but could be.

Under the “community schools” banner, the district might open a K-4 or K-6 elementary in a areas with no elementary school -- Bordelonville, Hessmer, Mansura, Evergreen, Fifth Ward.

That puts the school closer to the young students, when parental involvement is more crucial and long bus rides are more harmful. It would also return a school to communities that lost theirs in 1987.

The K-8 concept would, in effect, return the junior high grades to those elementary schools that were once high schools -- Lafargue, Cottonport, Plaucheville, Riverside (Simmesport).

The main problem with either or both of those ideas becoming a reality is money -- and there is more chance of that commodity becoming scarcer than more abundant in the current forecast.

ENROLLMENT DECLINE

Moreau said the public schools had approximately 10,000 students prior to consolidation, and now it has just over 5,000. “They are still having children,” Moreau said, “they just aren’t being educated in this school district.”

It was pointed out that some students jump the parish line to attend school in Rapides or other neighboring parishes. The parochial schools and Avoyelles Public Charter also attract students that would otherwise attend an APSD school.

Superintendent Blaine Dauzat said a study of the enrollment decline found the Catholic schools were losing enrollment at about the same rate as the public schools. He said that is due to the overall drop in parish population.

The parish’s population increased from 41,393 in the 1980 Census to 42,073 in the 2010 Census. A recent report estimates the parish’s population at 40,980.

Dauzat also noted the possible impact Red River Charter might have on enrollment.

Board member Aimee Dupuy asked if the district was considering closing a school, as has been mentioned in the past.

“We are not at that point,” Dauzat said, “but it must become part of the conversation eventually.” Moreau said the district could return to a community school model gradually.

“I have three grandchildren who go to St. Anthony’s,” Moreau said. “Where would they go if Hessmer was open? Right there. We have to look at change.”

He said he has raised seven children and step-children who attended public school. He taught in the public schools “and I believe in public schools.”

Small noted that the demographics of the Hessmer area have changed over the past 30 years and now has a larger minority population. She said that fact might keep parents in that area from bringing their children back to a public school in Hessmer.

Dupuy said the school system should be viewed as a business. Like a business, if it isn’t as good as a competitor, the customers will move on to the other business.

POSSIBLY IN HESSMER

Board President Lynn Deloach said the district should “do a feasibility study” and consider establishing a K-8 school, possibly in Hessmer.

The district still owns the elementary wing of the former Hessmer High School, which is currently occupied by the Avoyelles Virtual Alternative Program for expelled students.

The board is also considering whether to renew its contract with Ombudsman to operate the alternative school program next year. The board is supposed to make that decision before March 30.

AVAP has been in the Hessmer building since 2014 but could be moved to another site if necessary.

Hessmer Mayor Travis Franks thanked the board members for their willingness to explore new ideas to improve the school system.

“In 1987 I was in 7th grade and my school was taken,” Franks said, noting he did not get to graduate from Hessmer High as he had wanted. He said the village government has tried to keep the community together. One such effort was the purchase of much of the former high school’s campus to be used as a recreational complex.

The mayor said he believes the board would have wide support from the public with any move toward restoring community schools.

Moreau, who represents the Hessmer area, said he would like to see community schools in all areas of the parish and not just in Hessmer.