OPEOUSAS — In a rare public rebuke, St. Landry Parish School Board member Mary Ellen Donatto was sharply critical of Superintendent Patrick Jenkins about his proposal to keep Washington Elementary open.
“I feel like this Board was bamboozled in the way this was handled,” she said.
The agenda item was on restructuring the school from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade to pre-K through sixth grade.
“We were moving in the direction of consolidating schools, combining schools, trying to do what’s best for children ...” she said.
Washington Elementary, with about 140 students through eighth grade, is a D school.
“I’m not putting money before the students, but actually I don’t appreciate the way this was done because under your reign and under your leadership we are looking at trying to fill schools somewhat to capacity. We were looking at trying to save money and the money we saved in the process of trying to fill schools, somewhat to capacity, that savings would have been to make things better,” she said.
Donatto blamed herself for not being vigilant about the Washington Elementary proposal.
“This was not the direction we were going in,” she said.
“We simply wanted an opportunity to speak to the direction the Board was going in. We have not been afforded that opportunity to night for just all kinds of reasons,” she said. “I did ask the question based on the way
“I did ask the question based on the way we were moving when we addressed Opelousas and the way we were moving when we addressed the schools in Eunice,” she said. “I was simply trying to find out if we were going to continue to move in that direction. I never got an answer.”
During the same meeting on April 1, the Board approved converting Highland Elementary in Eunice to an Early Education Center for 4-year-olds. Students in kindergarten through fourth grade at Highland will be moved to the remaining elementary schools in Eunice, Glendale, East and Eunice. Eunice elementary schools will have enrollments of about 300 students.
The school system closed two elementary schools in Opelousas.
Washington Elementary’s small class sizes has academic and social issues for students, Donatto, a retired elementary school principal, said.
“There are ways that children could have been combined with schools that are a fraction away from an A,” Donatto said.
Albert Hayes, another Eunice Board member, said after a motion to close Washington Elementary failed, “I’d like to make a motion to close North Central ... because it is a school that is one of the newest schools in our parish and apparently nobody wants to use.”
Hayes said North Central is 11 miles away from Washington.
Jenkins defended keeping Washington Elementary by noting small communities disappear after their schools close.
“Washington has an opportunity for growth,” he said.
A motion to keep Washington Elementary in its pre-K to eighth grade configuration failed on a 6 to 7 vote. Voting to leave the school with grades through eight were Milton Ambres, Raymond Cassimere, Denise Rose, Donnie Perron, Josh Boudreaux and Kyle Boss. Voting against the pre-k to eighth grade configuration were Anthony Standberry, Joyce Haynes, Randy Wagley, Myron Guillory, Hayes, Donatto and, casting the tie-breaking vote, Hazel Sias, Board president.
On the vote to change Washington Elementary to a pre-k to sixth grade configuration, voting yes were Stanberry, Haynes, Cassimere, Rose, Perron, Boudreaux, Boss, Wagley and Guillory. Voting “No” were Ambres, Hayes and Donatto. Although Sias as Board president did not have to vote, she said she abstained from voting.
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