Update on Issues Facing Central School System

Here is an update on some of the issues facing the Central Community School System:
•    Future of Common Core — With Gov. Jindal’s proposals on the table to repeal Common Core and replace it with Louisiana-based standards and testing, the future of Common Core is up in the air.  We really won’t know what will happen next year until the Louisiana Legislature meets this spring and deals with the issue.
•    Calendar for 2015-2016 School Year.  The Central Community School Board will consider the School Calendar for the coming year at its meeting March 30.  Two proposals will be considered — Calendar 3a and Calendar 3b.  The proposals are identical for the Fall Semester.  Both provide that the school year would begin for students on Aug. 13.  Key dates are Sept. 7 Labor Day; Sept. 25 Staff Only Day; Oct. 23 Parent-Teacher conferences; Oct. 26 Fall Break; Nov. 20 Staff Only Day; Nov. 23-27 Thanksgiving holiday; and Dec. 17-18 Early Dismissal. Christmas holidays would start Dec. 21.  Jan. 4-5 would be Staff Only Days, and students would return to class Jan. 6.
In the Spring Semester, Calendar 3a and Calendar 3b are the same in the following ways:
Jan. 18 Semester Begins; Feb. 8-10 Mardi Gras Break; March 21-28 Easter Break.
The main difference is that Calendar 3a would end the school year for students on May 24, whereas Calendar 3b would include Spring Break April 21-22 and end the school year for students May 25.
•    Vision for School System. On April 6, the Central Community School Board will sit as the Committee of the Whole and consider four proposals that would affect the direction of the school system.
Proposal No. 1 would re-state the system’s approach to instruction; expand communication; provide new opportunities for staff growth, and better integrate technology into instruction.
Proposal No. 2 would continue the Jr. ROTC Program at Central High School.  Supt. Mike Faulk has been in communication with the U.S. Army and developed a  plan for continuing and enhancing the program.
The plan addresses declining enrollment in ROTC, the quality of the program, the cost to the general fund, and oversight of the program.
In the future, the program will abide by policies and procedures established by the Central school system; allow Central to select the instructors in the program; require teachers to use the same teaching standards employed in the rest of the school system; and meet the Army’s expectations for the program including integrated extracurricular activities such as color guard, participation in national ROTC leadership and academic bowls, and other activities.
The program would be reduced from a 12-month to a 10-month program, but the school system would expand participation.
During the current year, the budget for ROTC is $258,000 with Central providing $203,000 and the Army $55,000.
Proposal No. 3 would restructure the school system’s Alternative Program and Discipline Center.  The Alternative Program would be open to students who have been expelled from school for the violations outlined in the student handbook.  Minor offenses which do not warrant expulsion would be assigned to before- or after-school detention and housed at the student’s school.  Students with repeated offenses of a minor nature would be assigned to in-school suspension at the student’s school.  Continued discipline problems would result in out-of-school suspension, resulting in unexcused absences and the inability to gain credit for work missed.
Discipline issues such as fighting are handled by the school system’s Zero Tolerance Policy, which currently applies at age 14. Under the proposal, that age would be dropped to 12.
Bullying and cyber-bullying would be serious offenses resulting in out-of-school suspensions and unexcused absences.
•    Proposal No. 4 would reassign duties so that all academic, instructional, and curriculum responsibilities would be under one umbrella.
•    Central Community School System Now Has a Facebook Page.  The school system has had an active web presence since the school system was created in 2007.  However, it is now offering a Facebook page, which is designed to reach into the community more aggressively.
Supt. Faulk said, “Our research shows a high percentage of people use Facebook as their source of information.  We will use it to distribution information to the public.”
The Facebook page is “Central Community School System.”