By MELISSA PEACOCK

With school performance scores fresh off the presses and concerns about student test scores and teacher accountability fresh on parents’ minds, St. John school officials are looking for new ways to bring schools up to state and national standards.

Changes to the school system started before students crossed campuses and entered school classrooms this fall. Superintendent Michael Coburn announced in July a change in administrative staff at local public schools. The proposed change moved principals throughout the St. John Public School System. It was called one of the biggest “shakeups” to hit St. John public schools.

Almost four months later, St. John Schools are changing again. Just two weeks ago, the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board accepted a recommendation that parish principals receive a pay raise. The raise, they said, would ensure that principals are making more daily than assistant principals. It would also compensate principals for increasing responsibilities resulting from new accountability policies.

Last Thursday, the St. John School Board, on the recommendation of Coburn, agreed that it was time to move a handful of assistant principals in the parish. The change was due in large part to the school system’s need to create or re-open some parish school positions for employees that have been on sick leave or on sabbatical. According to some members of the board, however, further need for accountability in schools also played a role in the assistant principal changes.

While changes to school administrations have been aimed at promoting positive changes and have, for the most part, been positive, the loss of stability in area schools have some parents worried. Traditionally, students and faculty have had few surprises when they stepped onto school campuses each Fall. They were greeted by the same people, met with the same policies and expected to go through the same daily tasks and rituals. Now, everyday of every school year holds the possibility of change. And that change can have both positive and negative ramifications.

Louisiana’s failing schools are ready to see some positive change. A change in academics, in curriculum, in after school programs and in staff can refresh schools and turn performance around.

In St. John the Baptist Parish, schools need programs like LaPlace Elementary’s after school LEAP tutorial sessions. Other schools need to explore school structure, like East St. John High School did when it created career pathways to train students for college and for careers.

But sometimes change can weaken the morale of students and staff at the school. Too many changes can prove ineffective in the long run. St. John schools are stuck somewhere between stable change and unstable change. What happens to schools as a result will depend on how officials and administrators handle the changes.

Administrators are confused. Will they still be head administrator at their elementary or high school tomorrow?

Faculty and staff are concerned. Will they lose their jobs? Will their ideas for education mesh with the ideas of their new bosses?

Parents are frustrated. Who will they talk to tomorrow about their children’s failing grades or discipline problems? Will that new principal understand and take into account their children’s history?

So far St. John schools are withstanding the changes and are improving because of them. However, frightened parents are not holding up as well. As more changes are announced at Board Meetings, in newspapers and in newsletters, parents are becoming less and less certain that the public school system is where their children need to be. These parents are scared. They need to know exactly what all the changes mean before they snatch children from the system.

Further changes to the school system are welcome, but not without an explanation to those impacted.

Schools keep stressing accountability. That should incorporate the accountability of school officials and administrators to parents.

MELISSA PEACOCK is a staff reporter at L’Observateur.