RESERVE — The 2018-2019 LEAP test scores are in, and School Board President Patrick Sanders said St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools’ three point decrease is evidence of much room for improvement.

“I reviewed the numbers in terms of the scores and, from all information provided to us throughout the year, it’s nothing unexpected,” Sanders said. “From a district level, no one’s surprised about where we are. There’s still a whole lot of work left to do.”

Only 24 percent of students in St. John Parish scored mastery or above on the LEAP 2025 assessment, according to test results released last week by the Louisiana Department of Education.

The expectation for LEAP 2025 is to have ‘A’ rated schools attaining an average score of mastery within six years.

Sanders said increasing the number of certified teachers in the school district is key to promoting academic improvement.

“The Board voted (Thursday) on a new policy encouraging each school to hire certified teachers versus non-certified teachers,” Sanders said. “Our main focus is finding certified teachers who have the content knowledge about the subject they are teaching.”

Sanders noted there is still a large population of non-certified teachers, adding the expectation is that those individuals work toward becoming certified within four years.

“The District is going to do everything it can do to assist them in becoming certified using multiple resources to get to that level,” Sanders said.

The silver lining among the lackluster LEAP results was that F-rated school Fifth Ward Elementary, the lowest performing school in the district, showed incremental growth for the first time in several years.

Fifth Ward school leadership has a plan to bring the number of certified teachers from 50 to 75 percent this year, according to Sanders.

“I was truly happy to see that increase because that provides a better environment for teachers and students to work hard this year to change the environment of the school for the inside out,” Sanders said.

Interim Superintendent Heidi Trosclair told NOLA.com that district administration and school leadership are reviewing test score data at each school to determine the greatest instructional needs for the next school year.

Charter School Location

As School Board members continue looking for ways to improve academic performance, negotiations with Louisiana Premier Charter School are ongoing.

Notably, one of the St. John the Baptist Parish Public School campuses could become the site of the new charter school in 2020.

The Louisiana Board of Secondary Education deferred action on Louisiana Premier’s request to open as a Type 2 charter school for the 2019-2020 school year.

However, there is a strong possibility of Louisiana Premier opening as a type 2 or a type 1 charter for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Local school boards are responsible for the oversight of the Type 1 charter schools they authorize, according to the Louisiana Department of Education. Meanwhile, Type 2 charter schools are authorized by BESE and overseen by the Department of Education.

At a School Board workshop held last week, St. John School Board attorney Ty Manieri advised board members to find or offer a site to Louisiana Premier Charter School using existing facilities.

Louisiana Premier leaders previously planned to open on the Riverside Academy campus, raising concerns about school conversion, a process prohibited under state law that says a private school cannot convert into a charter school.

“The Charter School is continuing to review and tour some private facilities in St. John Parish,” Manieri said. “With some other things they’ve done in the meantime, I think BESE will approve them even in that Riverside facility, especially if we do not provide a viable alternative and they cannot find another property.”

Garyville Magnet, Fifth Ward Elementary, West St. John Elementary and the modular classroom buildings that housed East St. John Preparatory Academy students were discussed as potential options for a Charter School lease.

Sanders noted the air quality concerns surrounding Fifth Ward could become a roadblock.

Garyville Magnet became a point of interest due to its student capacity. The school population is 449 students with more than 100 pre-kindergarten students included, School Board members said, and the building can accommodate up to 920 students.

West St. John Elementary is also significantly under populated, with only 316 students and room for 700 in total.

Decisions have not been made over whether Louisiana Premier Charter School would hypothetically operate alongside a public school or whether an existing school would migrate to another campus to make room for the charter.

Louisiana Premier may also choose to operate on private campus or as a separate school on the Riverside Academy campus, Manieri said.

More discussions are to follow, and both the St. John School Board and Louisiana Premier will meet with BESE in August.