Myrtle Place English Classes to be Eliminated

MYRTLE PLACE ELEMENTARY
LAFAYETTE, LA

WHAT WE KNOW

1. By August 2013 Myrtle Place Elementary will be a 50% dedicated French Immersion school site. This is considered Phase 1 of the District's plan, the following year will then be 100% French.
2. Students currently enrolled in French Immersion at Alice Boucher Elementary and S.J. Montgomery Elementary will be moved to Myrtle Place (a higher-achieving school). Students currently enrolled in English Kindergarten, First grade, and Second grades at Myrtle Place will be bused to S.J. Montgomery (a lower-achieving school, see statistics below).
3. One proposal is that the current Second, Third, and Fourth graders will be allowed to remain at Myrtle Place for one year. They then will be bused to S.J. Montgomery, or they will be allowed to apply to a School of Choice.  This would mean that some students who have been at the school their entire school careers would have to leave in 5th grade or during the pivotal 4th grade year (the year the LEAP test is administered).
4. The majority of students in English classrooms at Myrtle Place are African American.
5. A second proposal is that these current Second, Third, and Fourth graders will be allowed to finish their time at Myrtle Place.
6. With either proposal, the incoming Kindergarteners, First and Second graders will have no choice but to go to S.J. Montgomery.
7. Students currently enrolled in French Immersion at Prairie Elementary and Evangeline Elementary would not be affected by this proposed change.
8. In Phase 2 of the plan, Paul Breaux Middle School will no longer be the site for French Immersion. Instead, French students will attend Lafayette Middle School. 
9. For 2011-2012, Myrtle Place had 73% of students at or above grade level in English and 77% of students at or above grade level in math (http://www.doe.state.la.us/data/reportcards/2012/).
10. For 2011-2012, S.J. Montgomery had 66% of students at or above grade level in English and 65% of students at or above grade level in math (http://www.doe.state.la.us/data/reportcards/2012/).
11. For 2011-2012, Paul Breaux had 73% of students at or above grade level in English and 74% of students at or above grade level in math http://www.doe.state.la.us/data/reportcards/2012/.
12. For 2011-2012, Lafayette Middle had 52% of students at or above grade level in English and 56% of students at or above grade level in math http://www.doe.state.la.us/data/reportcards/2012/.
13. Myrtle Place is one of two elementary schools (the other is J Wallace James) high performing / high poverty schools in Lafayette Parish, of about 60 in the state of Louisiana (http://www.doe.state.la.us/docs/accountability/2012-high-performing-high-poverty-schools.pdf?sfvrsn=2).
14. Principal Janice Moncrief, who has received accolades from the state for her management of Myrtle Place and student achievement, was not directly involved in the drafting of this proposal.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

1. State Representative Stephen Ortego (Dist. 24 & 26) from Carencro, while nobly trying to preserve French culture in Louisiana, is doing it by running rough-shod over low-income minority students who are being effectively educated at their neighborhood school. Ortego proposed this change for students in French Immersion.
2. French Immersion proponents want a stand-alone French Immersion school because they cite "research" (no details provided by the district on this research) that claims benefits for students in such a stand-alone environment. However, the district is content to leave Prairie Elementary School and Evangeline Elementary School French students in an English/French environment, even though this contradicts their own claims on the benefits of a stand-alone French "academy". The combined enrollments of Myrtle Place (98), S.J. Montgomery (45), and A. Boucher (31) amount to less than Evangeline (189) and less than half of Prairie (361) (source: PowerPoint presentation entitled "World Language Immersion Pathways" produced by the LPSS Immersion Task Force).
3. A Task Force was created by the District, but details on the timing and the composition of the exact members have not been shared with the public. We know that the Task Force has met to discuss the plan in several phases, and the last meeting was Thursday, January 10, 2013. 
4. A rumor circulated that Myrtle Place is, in approximately 6 years, going to be a pre-Kindergarten center and will cease to be a K-5 school.  Again, where is the transparency?

 WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO CURRENT TEACHERS AND STAFF?

1. Three Foreign Assistance Teachers need to be recruited from France or Canada by March 1st to teach 2 planned pre-K classes and one late immersion 5th grade class at Myrtle Place.  These teachers will be subsidized by the French and Canadian governments at $20,000 apiece. 
2. Two current French Immersion teachers will have to either retire or be fired to make way for the Foreign Assistance Teachers.
3. Current English classroom teachers will be given the opportunity to be relocated to other schools in the district. It is not guaranteed they would be moved to S.J. Montgomery.

WHAT ABOUT THE SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS AT MYRTLE NOW?

1. Current students in the Autism classes and mild / moderate and severe classes will be either relocated to S.J. Montgomery or to other schools throughout the district.
2. It is not guaranteed that these students would go with their teachers or classmates.

WHAT'S THE HURRY?

1. We aren't sure. Other than the March 1st deadline for recruiting the subsidized teachers, this has been reported to be under discussion for only 2 months, which seems rushed.
2. The rapid pace at which this is progressing seems like a smokescreen for some unknown agenda.

WHY WEREN'T WE INFORMED?

1. The district cites 494 respondents (207 Language Immersion parents / 287 non Language Immersion parents responding) to a Survey Monkey survey regarding issues on Language Immersion in the parish.
2. The district did not explain the methodology of the survey. While they shared some of the results at the January 10th meeting, it appeared that the survey was generic. For example, "Language immersion pathways should be made available to more students."
3. Nothing in the survey results indicates any changes to school zoning or programs would be made based on these results.
4. Did you receive a survey?
5. During telephone conversations with a parent of a student who would attend Myrtle Place for kindergarten starting in Fall 2013, School Board member Gregory Awbrey said more than once that "this is a done deal". Awbrey said he welcomed the parent's input, but then indicated her child would be bused to S.J. Montgomery.

WHAT CAN WE DO NOW?

ATTEND PARENT MEETING!

(DATE WILL BE POSTED AS SOON AS IT IS AVAILABLE)

ATTEND A SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

5:30 pm

113 Chaplin Drive

Administrative Bldg. Board Room

January 23, 2013

February 6, 2013

February 20, 2013

MAKE PHONE CALLS!

SUPERINTENDENT:  Pat Cooper  521-7014

ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT:  Sandra Billedeau  521-7101

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER:  Gregory Awbrey  home: 981-6955    cell: 296-4457

FOREIGN LANGUAGE / IMMERSION SPECIALIST:  Nicole Boudreaux  521-7127

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER ON TASK FORCE:  Mark Babineaux  233-7766

STATE REPRESENTATIVE:  Stephen Ortego  886-4687

CALL FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS AFFECTED BY THIS!!! ENCOURAGE THEM TO GET INVOLVED!!!