Brennan McCurley has been working at his new job as Principal of Lakeshore High School for awhile now, but there’s one thing that’s been missing: the students. “We’re so excited, just itching for the kids to show up,” said McCurley. On August 7th, that’s exactly what will happen. Students will be showing up at two new schools in St. Tammany Parish.
“We can’t wait to get started,” said Leslie Martin, Principal of Marigny Elementary. The new $15.9 million school on Viola Street in Mandeville will welcome almost 300 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students this school year and ultimately will serve 500 children when first grade is added next year.
The students who will attend Marigny Elementary would have attended Magnolia Trace Elementary, which will offer only second and third grade going forward. “We have a similar model in Slidell that has been very popular and works well,” said Gayle Sloan, Superintendent.
Martin said the philosophy and the slogan for the new school is, “Where everyone makes a difference”. The PTA board is already hard at work on developing enrichment programs and has at least two fundraisers planned for the new school year: breakfast with Santa and a Spring Art Show and Auction.
“We’ll be ready for August 7th – our new facilities are gorgeous and the School Board has done a great job getting us ready,” said McCurley, Principal of the new $47 million Lakeshore High School located on a 60 acre site on Highway 1088 near Mandeville. The school will welcome 450-500 ninth and tenth graders this school year and will hold its official ribbon-cutting ceremony August 21st.
The 159,000 square foot facility includes 39 classrooms, nine computer and business labs, six science labs, an agri-business building, athletic facilities, and a gymnasium with seating for 1,100 people. The Lakeshore High School name came from multiple student suggestions. The Titans mascot and black and silver colors were selected by students in a democratic vote. “I’m excited about the new school and the building of traditions that goes along with that,” said McCurley.
The athletic facilities are being built under a separate $11 million contract and include a football stadium with 2,900 seats and an eight-lane track for track and field events. The playing field will be the first at a public school in St. Tammany Parish to feature artificial turf. Also part of the athletic complex are two practice fields, four tennis courts, a field house, concession stands, and additional parking. Adjacent to the stadium the project includes a baseball field, softball field, field house, and concession stand. Plans also exist for construction of a 500-seat auditorium with a stage, dressing room, and orchestra pit. The timing of this project has not been determined.
The new school was built with fully wireless capabilities and McCurley said they are in the process of applying for a state grant for a laptop initiative pilot program. This program will provide laptops for 50-60 kids and allow for a completely digital curriculum. “One of our main focuses as educators is to figure out how best to get the information into the hands of the learner. It’s a different way of thinking. Sometimes we have to release some control,” said McCurley.
In addition to the standard curriculum, Lakeshore High School will host several programs that were originally planned for the advanced studies high school that will be part of the joint regional college/public high school University Park complex near Lacombe. “We didn’t want to wait to bring some of these programs to our students,” said Sloan.
The stalled project is awaiting legislative approval of an estimated $30 million in bond sales to finance construction of the park. Sloan said their part of the project is funded, but there is no infrastructure at the site, making construction of the new high school impossible. “These programs have to be grown. When we are able to finish the Highway 434 facility, we will transfer the programs over there,” said Sloan.
The School Board in April approved a $238,000 bid for conversion of six classrooms at Lakeshore High School to house the advanced studies programs. The programs will include dance, theatre, sculpture, advanced broadcast journalism, film-style videography, and information technology certification classes. “We are especially excited about our film-making program. Louisiana is doing what it can to encourage this industry and we are making sure our students are ready to step into these jobs,” said Sloan.
In addition to the new programs being offered at Lakeshore High School, Sloan said the School System will be receiving federal stimulus funding of $15 million over two years that will be dedicated specifically to Title 1 and special education programs. “This gives us a chance to try some best practices for two years and decide whether we want to continue these programs,” said Sloan.
One of the new two-year programs will be to provide part-time graduation coaches at all eight high schools. These coaches will focus on ninth graders that show early signs of dropping out of school. “Ninth grade is a critical year. There is an 80-percent chance a student will graduate if he makes it to tenth grade with all the credits he needs,” said Sloan.
Another program to be funded by the stimulus money is Twilight School. This will provide facilitators after school hours to assist students with on-line studies and LEAP remediation. The Students That Are Ready to Shine (STAR) program is a pilot program that will be offered at four elementary schools to first grade students that would otherwise have been held back. This program will feature an extended school year, smaller classes, and extra parent communication. “We want to do everything we can to make sure these students succeed,” said Sloan.
The last two pilot programs to be funded are a middle school literacy program and a full-time person to consult with and train teachers at each school to better address the needs of autistic students.
While the federal stimulus money will pay for these programs, budgeting has become an issue for the St. Tammany Parish School Board as it has for other school systems around the country. This year’s overall budget is only slightly larger than last year’s, even with growth of 350 students system-wide.
The School System receives funding in three ways. The state funding formula is based on enrollment. “We received more money from the state this year due to gains in enrollment,” said Sloan. Local property taxes are the second funding source and according to Sloan, that source is holding steady. The third and most troublesome source is the sales tax. “We had an $8 million shortfall last year in the general fund budget due to the negative effects of sales tax funding. We are anticipating a similar loss this year, primarily due to a decrease in new car sales,” said Sloan.
Sloan said they have looked at budgets and contracts in order to cut costs and have eliminated 16 teaching positions due to attrition. “Our budget can’t handle the strain of additional positions right now,” she said.
One way the School System is saving money is through energy conservation. Since launching the energy conservation program in 2005, a savings of $4.2 million has been realized in cost avoidance. Over the past three years, the School System has made significant progress in controlling energy costs through environmental awareness and personnel training, as well as the installation of automated control systems for air conditioning and heating. Sloan said one way they are motivating individual schools to save energy is to return some of the school’s savings to them in their instructional budgets.
St. Tammany Parish is the only school district in the state designated an Energy Star Partner by the Environmental Protection Agency, and in June they were recognized as a “Leader-Top Performer”, meaning that district schools and facilities are more energy efficient than 83 percent of similar buildings around the nation. Efforts are now being made to provide each school with a “specialized energy management plan” which will suggest improvements based on specific site characteristics.
Energy-related and many other improvements have recently been completed at several district schools. One example is the completion of a $5.2 million upgrade to Madisonville Junior High School which included renovations to three classroom wings, conversion of the gymnasium into an administrative and library building, a cafeteria addition, a new canopy system for car and bus drop-offs, as well as air conditioning and electrical upgrades. “The renovations at Madisonville Junior High bring it up to par with new construction,” said Trey Folse, Deputy Superintendent.
Other projects completed this summer include renovations and construction at Abita Springs Elementary, Folsom Junior High School, Fontainebleau Junior High School near Mandeville, and Abney Elementary School in Slidell.
“Fortunately for us, the growth we’ve been experiencing has been spread out enough through the District that we’ve been able to handle it mostly by building new classrooms at existing schools and not adding a lot of new schools,” said Sloan. But that’s not always the case. In two years, two new schools will be welcoming students.
Joseph B. Lancaster Elementary School will be built in Madisonville and will serve second through fifth grades. The current elementary school in Madisonville will then become kindergarten and first grade only and the current junior high school will become sixth through eighth grade. “This school is being built to relieve overcrowding at both the elementary and junior high school and we expect this school to open for the 2011-2012 school year,” said Sloan.
Construction of the new Henry Mayfield Elementary School in Slidell also will begin this year. This school will serve pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and will alleviate overcrowding at Bayou Woods Elementary and Carolyn Park Middle schools. Henry Mayfield also is scheduled to open for the 2011-2012 school year.