Harlan Kirgan
For the past three years St. Landry Parish public schools have earned a C in the state performance scores.
Patrick Jenkins, superintendent, said if the district’s score remains the same in the future it is risking a letter grade of D or F.
Thirty-three percent of the schools achieved mastery level, but in the future mastery will be the basic level.
Jenkins said it like asking school district to walk on water. “...if we do then are you going to tell us we can’t swim?”
Jenkins said. adjusting the scale “is going to kill schools.”
The state superintendent’s association found there were 263 schools with a A grade this year, he said. Next year there will be about 160 A schools, by the association’s estimate.
The comments came during a meeting of the School Board’s Academic Committee on Nov. 28.
Angela Cassimere, director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, delivered the news about the advancing state standard.
“We do know we have some work ahead of us,” she said about the change in the grading.
St. Landry Parish district performance scores have shown little growth since 2015 when the score was 71.1. This year the school district had a 71.7 score.
Eunice had two of the district’s top gain schools — Eunice High School with 10.9 point of growth and Highland Elementary with 10 points of growth. The district’s other top gain school was Palmetto Elementary with 12.2 points of growth.
The parish ranked 55th in the state out of 70 districts.
The overall state grade was B, an increase from C in 2016. The state score is 86.8, up from 83 in 2016.
East Elementary had an A with a score of 106.2 followed by the Magnet Academy for the Cultural Arts in Opelousas with a score of 106.1 and Palmetto Elementary with a score of 102.2.
Eunice schools generally were standouts in the parish as far as the state scoring.
Eunice 2017 grades and scores.
Central Middle School, C, 72.3; 2016 -- C, 74.4.
East Elementary, A, 106.2; 2016 -- B, 98.5.
Eunice Elementary, B, 93; 2016 -- B, 93.8.
Eunice High School, B, 92.2; 2016, C, 81.3.
Eunice Junior High School, C, 73; 2016 -- B, 85.1.
Glendale Elementary, B, 87.3; 2016 -- B, 95.1.
Highland Elementary, C, 75.9; 2016 -- D, 65.9.