Central Schools Are Built on Character

Almost every night, the 6 o’clock news on WAFB-TV and WBRZ-TV tells the tale of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, and quite a story it is.

It is a story of violence, brutality, and guns.  Classroom teachers and students have posted on the Internet scores of homemade videos they have taken with their iPhones, documenting the violence.  The outrageous scenes of chaos and brutality in classrooms, hallways, gyms, and on school buses have shocked and enraged all sensible people.

A survey of teachers in the parish school system shows that more than half go to their classrooms in fear.  And more than half the teachers are seriously considering leaving the teaching profession in order to escape.

Beatings and rapes on school buses in the East Baton Rouge school system add to the fear parents have of putting their children on the bus.

When asked by local reporters about violence in the classroom and the concerns of teachers in his system, the superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish refused to answer and dodged the reporters.

More often than not, when that superintendent is asked hard questions, he refuses to answer or attacks the reporter.

What’s going on in the parish school system is of course nothing new.  The East Baton Rouge school system began falling apart 40 years ago and by the late 1970’s there was already a mass exodus of citizens from this parish, who fled to Livingston and Ascension, in search of decent public schools and safe neighborhoods.

The chaos in our public schools led Zachary and Central to escape and form their own public school systems.  Now the people in the Southeast part of the parish are trying to form their own city and their own school system.  They have seen the success of Zachary and Central and hope to duplicate it.

The hope is that former Baton Rouge residents who have fled to adjoining parishes will see that things have changed and move back to the Southeast part of the parish.

That is exactly what has happened in the case of Central.  Hundreds of families have moved from Livingston to Central to enroll in the school system.  Most are former Central residents who never wanted to leave in the first place.

There could hardly be more contrast than between the public schools in East Baton Rouge and Central, even though they are separated only by a few feet of water — the Comite River.

In the public schools in Central, there is no violence — none.  No riots, no melees involving scores of students, no attacks on teachers, no cursing of teachers, no rapes, no aggravated assaults.

As Central High principal David Prescott said Wednesday, “I guess this is a pretty boring place.  We don’t have any of that.”

As Prescott said, in Central, teachers get to teach and students get to learn.  The school is not a prison or a reform school or, worse yet, an insane asylum.

Prescott said if a student ever attacked a teacher out here, someone would come and take that student away.  Of course, it doesn’t happen.

Beginning with legendary principal J. A. Smith, who served Central High from 1938 to 1966, discipline at Central High has been strict.  It’s pretty simple.  Everybody knows what’s expected.  Teachers respect the students.  Students respect the teachers.  They get their work done.  Everybody has fun, and things are constantly improving.

Parents in Central expect students to act responsibly and take advantage of the education that is offered.  Education out here is not a game or a joke.  It’s a ticket to a better life.

As David Prescott said, the Central High seniors of 2014 are a tribute to the fact that their parents raised them right.

When you cut through everything, it’s all about character.  It’s about the character of the school board, the character of the superintendent, the character of the administrators, teachers, coaches, and staff, the character of the students, the character of the parents, and the character of this community.

People in St. George are desperate to form their own city and their own school system.  In a very real sense, it may be the last chance this parish has to be turned around before it becomes another Detroit or New Orleans.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s office received 600 calls and made 250 arrests at EBR schools located in St. George in the past two years alone.  Here are the numbers they reported for just two schools:

Woodlawn High: 220 calls and 91 arrests

Southeast Middle: 186 calls and 78 arrests

Think of it, in a two-year period, these two schools had to call the Sheriff’s office 406 times.  When deputies came out, they arrested 169 individuals!

Most of those arrested are from outside St. George.  They are bused in from other parts of the parish.

Opponents of the proposed St. George school system say we should all work to improve the East Baton Rouge Parish School System.  Did they just wake up? Some of us have been working for 40 years or more to save the EBR system!  It is a hopeless cause.  The answer in this parish is new independent school districts like Zachary and Central.

Most of America is in a steep decline today, but Central and Zachary are living, breathing proof that traditional values, especially character, still work.  In fact, those values are the only things that do work.

So while other places are going down, our communities are  going up, and the sky’s the limit!

 

 

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