Feds concerned about center

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, May 3, 2000

L’Observateur / May 3, 2000

LUTCHER -The proposed educational resources center passed by the St. James Parish School Board a month ago has run into another snag, the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department.After numerous complaints received from St. James citizens, the justicedepartment sent a letter informing the school board it has “several serious concerns regarding this project.” The letter, sent by Daniel Kohrman, a trial attorney for the Educational Opportunities Section, may hold up the project long enough that it cannot be implemented by the fall school semester. A federal judge will have to approvethe project, but with the concerns of the civil rights division a hearing may be called before approval is given.

The educational resources center project will require the restructuring of the whole school system on the east bank. Lutcher Junior High will close andbecome Lutcher Elementary. The current Lutcher Elementary will reopen asthe so far unnamed educational resource center.

With all seventh-graders staying in their respective elementary schools and the eighth graders moving up to Lutcher High School, many resources will have to be redistributed. New bus routes will have to be devised and teacherswill have to be reassigned. If approval by the federal judge is not given beforethe new school year the plan may not come into effect, said Robert Hammonds, legal counsel for the project.

And that seems to be what many St. James citizens are looking for.Protesters of the school board and Dr. Edward Cancienne, who have beenregularly attending school board meetings, may have instead turned their efforts to letter writing. The St. James Concerned Citizens Committee hascombined efforts with the Eastside Community Improvement Association to write 500 letters to the U.S. Justice Department citing the concerns andpossible violations of civil law that the enactment of the new project will entail.

The response by the U.S. Justice Department so far has been in their favor.After reviewing the situation, Kohrman wrote that the plan would reduce overall desegregation on the east bank. In the 1998-99 school year “LutcherJunior High School was closer to the districtwide average of 67.7 percentblack than any other school in the parish. Further, reassigning Lutcher JuniorHigh School students to Lutcher Elementary School (94.3 percent black in1998-99) and Paulina Elementary School (27.5 percent black in 1998-99)plainly would reduce over all student desegregation in the parish school,” Kohrman said.

Hammond reported that the facts the Justice Department has are not all correct, citing errors in the black to white percentages and old information concerning the plan, which has since been revised.

Though a request for approval of the plan may be sent to a federal judge without direct approval from the Justice Department, it will most likely result in the calling of a hearing on the matter, said Hammonds.

Cancienne has not as of yet issued a statement on the letter but has requested approval from the school board to look for other alternate plans.

He advised the board that all information relative to the Board-Approved Resource Center has been sent to Hammonds, who has communicated with the Justice Department and has forwarded all pertinent documents.

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