By SUE ELLEN ROSS – Staff Reporter

RESERVE – There were two items on the St. John Parish School Board agenda Tuesday that addressed the number of days students would spend in the classroom.

The first item was a proposal initiated by board member Clarence Triche, to allow for two additional teaching days to the yearly school calendar. This would mean an increase from 178 to 180 days.

Triche, a retired math teacher, introduced the idea at the board’s Feb. 5 meeting. He felt that students were not receiving enough instruction time and the additional days would bring many benefits. Among those benefits could be improved test scores, he added

At that meeting, he met with some opposition. Board member Lowell Bacas suggested the problem of more classroom time could be addressed in other ways, such as a remedial program or after school/Saturday classes.

The price tag for the additional time was also in question. It is estimated that it costs $200,000 per day to operate the St. John schools. This includes normal operations (bus transportation, cafeteria, etc.) as well as teachers salaries.

It was agreed at the Feb. 5 meeting that more information is needed on the table in order to take a vote, including an explanation of the legalities with the teacher’s union, among other things.

Triche said he was chastised at the board’s last meeting when he first brought up his idea. “We are a board of directors,” he said, at Thursday’s meeting. “We were elected to bring ideas here, we need to give direction.”

Councilman Dowie Gendron agrees that is the purpose of the board, but feels there are certain things that they should not undertake. “I agree that we need to bring our ideas to the board,” he said. “But I have been trying to get the public, as well as the board, to see that there are areas we should not meddle in.” He didn’t elaborate.

No new information on Triche’s proposal was bought to the table Thursday and when Triche asked for action from the board, it didn’t come. Instead, the board decided to forward the request to the School Administration and let it go from there.

The second agenda item involving school days was the 2004-05 school year calendar.

In the absence of Superintendent Mike Coburn, Assistant Superintendent Hebert Smith asked the board to approve the calendar, which includes 178 teaching days. There was no discussion and the request passed

After the meeting, Triche commented that he still hopes his proposal will go through. The 2004-05 calendar that had just been accepted can be amended if the extra days are approved, he added.

While conducting research for his proposal, Triche said he talked with some St. John Parish school principals and about 50 teachers. They all support his idea, he added.