Eunice not included in school talks, but its time is coming

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Eunice public schools are not included in the current public discussion of school changes, but their time is coming.
Mary Ellen Donatto, a Eunice St. Landry Parish School Board member and president of the Board, said, “Every area of the parish is going to be addressed, but I want to let you know as a Eunice Board member it is not going to be like this.”
Donatto was interviewed after a meeting on March 13 where Board members were confronted with an agenda that included closing two Opelousas elementary schools — North and Southeast — in the next school year.
“It is going to be a lot less confusing because we are dealing with four primary schools in Eunice,” Donatto said. “And while they are not filled to capacity ... they are closer to being filled to capacity than a lot the schools out here...”
There are six elementary schools in Opelousas and five Board members with representation in the city.
“I think our process is going to be a lot simpler,” she said of Eunice where she and Albert Hayes Jr. are the only Board members with districts that include the Eunice schools.
Donatto praised Hayes for asking the Opelousas Board members to meet in special panel with principals to hammer out a plan.
Also making the process in Opelousas more difficult is that there were three options presented to the Board at the March 13 meeting.
The plans were the result of the three public forums held in Opelousas on the school changes, she said.
“That should have been the end of the story because the public was involved in that,” she said of the three plans.
“Every area in the district is going to be approached in some form or fashion if there is a way to generate or save money,” she said.
The issue, especially in Opelousas, goes beyond saving money.
“This is an attempt to improve academics in Opelousas and if we can generate money to get more staff in these schools,” Donatto said.