Eunice High School is the first non-select high school in St. Landry Parish to earn an A grade in the state’s school performance scores.
On Tuesday, Principal Mitchell Fontenot explained to the School Board’s Academic Committee how the school achieved the score.
Fontenot attended the meeting along with Dwanetta Scott, Eunice Junior High School principal, and Chastity Wilson, Central Middle School principal.
“We are very proud,” Fontenot said. “We worked very hard for our A grade at Eunice High School. We are going on seven years of consecutive growth. We increased 3.9 points from last year. Last year, we missed being an A by three-tenths of a point.”
Fontenot said, “What surprised me about this is whenever we found out that we were an A, I got my faculty together, and student body. I held an assembly and they kind of knew something was up ... I always knew we were an A. It just wasn’t on paper, but finally, we finally had something on paper saying we were an A.”
He added, “My student body stood up and cheered. You could see it was like a pep rally almost. It made me realize how much vested they were into it. How much they wanted to be an A.”
The school scored a 93.6 to make the A. Fontenot said the next goal is to score 100.
Achieving the A score is a daily effort, he said. Students are tracked individually for their achievement.
The school’s vision statement is: “Eunice High School is a 21st Century School striving to be community minded and based while preparing students to be the best that the can in college, career and life.”
The school’s enrollment is 642 with 307 males and 335 females; 54.5% white; 42.5% black; 1.4% Hispanic; and 1.4% Asian.
Of the school’s population, 11.2% of students have disabilities; 3.4% have moderate to severe disabilities; 7.8% receive one hour of special education instruction in a resource setting.
There are 38 full-time teachers, three itinerant teachers, three administrators, two secretaries, two guidance counselors, three paraprofessionals and 11 support staff at the school.
Turnover is low and Fontenot attributes much of that to 22 staff being alumni.
“I always feel you hire alumni because they have a vested interest in the school,” he said.
“EHS Bobcat bonds surpass all cultural, ethnic and religious differences,” he stated in a presentation.
The school has after-school supper program, school pantry and school uniform program, he said.
The Renaissance program is in its 25th year and raises up to $20,000 from the community to reward academic achievement, he said.
Community involvement is stressed and 100% of the seniors perform a community service project.
Academic programs include dual enrollment opportunities and Advanced Placement courses.
The school has long been recognized for athletic success. The school’s football team won the 2018 3-A state championship.
Board member Donnie Perron, of Port Barre, said the school’s success is its focus on the “total student.”
Scott said Eunice Junior High School 341 students has grown from a C to an B school in her two years as principal.
The growing number of students with disabilities is one of the major challenges, she said.
Chastity Wilson, principal of Central Middle School with 312 students, also cited the number of students with disabilities as challenge.
Wilson said she has been principal for about three weeks.
