By Stephen Hemelt
L’Observateur

LUTCHER — School leaders in St. James Parish said the start of the 2014-15 school year has run smoothly, with the most concern attributed to busing.

All of the school district’s approximately 50 buses are in use each day, Superintendent Lonnie Luce said.

The bus total is the same as 2013-14, but the district is running more routes this school year.

“In general, we think we have solved most of the (busing) issues, but we still have some things to work through because our (pre-kindergarten) and (kindergarten) students are gradually coming back to school,” Luce said. “That changes numbers. We have changed a couple of routes. We’re getting closer, but it will probably be another week or so before we are firmly in place with routes.”

Luce told St. James Parish School Board members this month that some parents were not satisfied with pick-up and drop-off times, adding district officials have tried to work through those concerns.

“We actually added two routes, and every bus is in place,” Luce said at the school board meeting. “When we’re down to only having 25 kids on a bus, we can’t find much more wiggle room than what we are doing.

“We’ve had some parents even say, ‘Look, I go to work this time. I want you to pick them up everyday within this two-minute window.’ We’re saying that just does not exist. We can’t do that.”

Luce said the district buses students all day to and from all places in the parish, requiring more effort, causing personnel frustrations.

“To add more drivers right now is very difficult,” he said. “We’re working through that process right now.”

On the extreme end of the spectrum, some students who live in Back Vacherie and attend the magnet school in Gramercy have to spend more than an hour one-way on the bus, but that commute is only representative of a few students.

The superintendent reported the district had 3,891 students to start the year, which is a little bit higher than the last couple of years.

With some no shows still to be taken into account, school officials expect the total enrollment number to come down by the end of the month.

Class size

“We typically keep all classes at the elementary level down to 20,” Luce told school board members.

“There is probably, in the district, maybe five or six (classes) who have up to 22. We’re in a place right now of attempting to balance classes.”

Renovations

During this month’s school board meeting, District 5 School Board member Patricia Schexnayder asked District 4’s George Nassar Jr. when renovations would take place at Sixth Ward Elementary School, including the addition of a pavilion.

Nassar said work would start sometime in the spring or summer of 2015 with a goal of completion being the beginning of the 2015-16 school year.