French immersion charter school approved in St. Landry Parish

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Michelle Haj-Broussard, left, and Stephen Ortego spoke about a French immersion school at a St. Landry Parish School Board meeting Monday. The school was approved and is to open in 2018 in the former Sunset High School. (Photo by Harlan Kirgan)

French immersion charter school
approvedBy Harlan Kirgan
Editor
OPELOUSAS — A French immersion charter school in Sunset was approved by the St. Landry Parish School Board Monday.
Académie Franco-louisianaise de Sunset was one of two charter applications considered by the St. Landry Parish School Board at the special meeting.
A second application from St. Landry Primary School in Opelousas was rejected. The rejected application is to be submitted to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for reconsideration.
The French immersion program is to be located in the former Sunset High School building, which has been vacant since 1991.
The initial enrollment is to be 80 students in pre-kindergarten and first grade with an opening in 2018.
Speaking for the charter school were Michelle Haj-Broussard, president of state Consortium of Immersion Schools, and Stephen Ortego, a former state representative.
Haj-Broussard said 50 years of research has shown that immersion programs are great for students.
“We have the test scores. We get the kids learning because we start them on an even playing field and don’t blame parents because you can’t. You can’t blame parents in immersion,” she said.
Parents are taken out of the equation because the students are being taught in a language their parents often do not speak, she said. “It is on your shoulders,” she said of the immersion schools’ responsibility for student achievement.
Haj-Broussard said research shows being bilingual increases executive brain functions, enhances self-control and organizational kills.
“That happens in the bilingual brain because people who are bilingual increae brain matter,” she said.
Ortego said the organizers of the school are from the Sunset, Grand Coteau and Cankton area.
He emphasized the immersion program is an opportunity for the School Board to improve parish test scores.
Immersion students core from 25 to 30 percent better in math and science than non-immersion students, he said.
Haj-Broussard said the school will recruit French-speaking teachers through Council for the Development of French in Louisiana and particularly those with a link to Creole French in the Caribbean.
The immersion application was recommended for approval by Superintendent Patrick Jenkins with conditions that included the school is limited to 23 students from St. Landry Parish in its first year.
Another condition is the parish school system will not pay for pre-kindergarten students.
The school intends to draw students from St. Landry, St. Martin, Acadia and Lafayette parishes.
Sunset Mayor Charles James said, “I think this is just another step in Sunset moving into its place where it should be not just in the future but right now. It is all about the folks in the community because they are very much behind the decision.”
The city owns the school building.
The parish School Board approved the charter school with one objection from Opelousas board member Milton Ambres.
The charter school applications were reviewed by Drs. Toby Daspit and Michah Bruce-Davis. They recommended the French immersion school for approval and the St. Landry Primary School application for denial.
St. Landry Primary School proposes 168 students in its first year in Opelousas.
Debbie Faul, a former St. Landry Parish school administrator, spoke on behalf of the charter school.
She cited a lack of consistency and stability in the schools in Opelousas as one reason for the charter.
“We are trying to target the students that are leaving the district ...” she said.
Mary Ellen Donatto, a Eunice board member and former administrator in the parish school system, said, “I commend you for that idea and I can’t help feel for parents because this a tough decision to make. Nobody in here can deny that public school employees are almost taught to say ‘no’ to charter schools.”
Donatto stressed the importance of a solid primary education.
Faul asked, “What do you to lose? OK, by giving us chance to do this I feel this district has a lot to win.”
Jenkins, in recommending rejection for the charter application, said board members should wait to see improvements in Opelousas schools.
“...you are going to see improvement, not in two years or three years or four years down the line, but immediately,” he said.
Opelousas has six elementary schools with one graded as C, four as D and one an F in the state accountability system.
Hazel Sias, an Opelousas board member, who said the charter application is a great idea. abstained from the vote denying the application.
If approved by BESE, St. Landry Primary School would join JS Clark Leadership Academy as a second charter school in Opelousas.
JS Clark Leadership Academy was given a D in the 2015-16 state accountability grades.