By MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / April 3, 1999

RESERVE – The number of incidents involving controlled substances and weapons in St. John the Baptist Parish schools has gone down over the lastfour years.

That according to a report made by the administration to the St. JohnParish School Board at its meeting Thursday night.

Elton Oubre, safe schools coordinator for the school system, gave the report comparing the number of incidents compared to each of the past four years. Board member Matthew Ory had requested the report at anearlier board meeting.

Ory asked Superintendent Cleveland Farlough if he felt like the system was making an improvement in these incidents. Farlough replied that hehad talked to some principals and that they seemed to think the number of infractions has gone down.

According to the report, there have been eight incidences of the use or possession of controlled substances in the 1998-99 school year through Feb. 5. There were 19 cases in 1995-96, 31 in 1996-97 and 16 last schoolyear.

There had been no reported cases of the use or possession of alcohol through Feb. 5. There were also no reported cases in 1995-96, three in1996-97 and two in 1997-98.

In the area of possession of weapons that fall under federal guidelines, such as guns, there have been no reported incidences this year. There wasone in 1995-96, none the following year and two in 1997-98. In thepossession of other weapons, there have been 12 reported cases this year, compared to 30 in 1995-96, 34 in 1996-97 and 15 last year.

“We have put a lot of programs in place to help with the (discipline) problem,” Ory said. “It seems like this investment has paid off.”Farlough agreed, adding the principals and teachers should also be commended.

“I commend the principals and teachers for the job they are doing to help keep down these infractions,” Farlough said.

Oubre pointed out that while the system has made improvements in some categories of disciplinary infractions, it still has a long way to go in other categories.

One of those categories is the number of students who are habitually tardy, which has risen from 355 in 1995-96 to 605 so far this school year. Farlough said he will soon come to the board with a recommendationfor this problem.

In other business, the board failed to pass a proposed change in procedure for selecting school board committees. Currently, only teachers areallowed to serve on the finance, academic, pupil services and personnel services committee. A teacher is defined as one whose primaryresponsibility involves the daily instruction of students.

“I urged you not to stay with the current procedure because the procedure is unfair,” Herman Clayton, president of the St. John Association ofEducators, said. “It discriminates against employees with the ability toserve. Support personnel do not have the right to serve on any othercommittee but auxiliary.”Board member Gerald Keller motioned to reject the administration’s recommendation to change the procedure. C.J. Watkins offered a substitutemotion to accept the recommendation. The vote on the substitution motionwas 7-4, but because it was a change in policy it need a two-thirds majority (eight votes) to pass.

The board also approved a request from Leon Godchaux Junior High School to implement a mandatory school uniform policy for the 1999-2000 year and adopted the 1999-2000 school calendar.

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