To: Patrick Dobard, Superintendent, Recovery School District, John White, State Superintendent of Education, Chase Roemer, President, BESE, James Garvey, Vice President, BESE, Holly Boffy, Secretary-Treasurer, BESE, Kira Orange Jones, Repres...
Recovery School District: Give the Prescott Middle School Building Back to the East Baton Rouge P...
We urge the Recovery School District (RSD) to return the Prescott Middle School building to the East Baton Rouge Parish School System (EBRPSS) so that it may be utilized as a school and not as administrative offices for RSD personnel. EBRPSS middle schools are nearing full capacity and our community needs this building to serve its students.
Why is this important?
The Recovery School District, an agency of the Louisiana Department of Education, currently controls seven schools in Baton Rouge called the Baton Rouge Achievement Zone. The RSD is using one of these schools, Prescott Middle School with a seating capacity for 1,000 students, as an administrative building. The children of the East Baton Rouge School System need this facility back as a school to ease overcrowding among middle schools.
As background, the RSD took over these schools because the schools were deemed “failing” by the Louisiana Department of Education. Parents were then given the choice of sending their children to schools run by the RSD or choosing another school run by the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. The student capacity of the seven RSD schools is 6,285. According to an RSD count conducted several months ago, there are 2,633 students attending these schools, indicating that the vast majority of parents in the seven schools chose another school run by the EBRPSS. It is incredibly inefficient for all of these school buildings to remain in the hands of the RSD when the majority of their former students have exercised choice and chosen to remain with the EBRPSS.
In light of the state’s budget situation and the frozen funding for public education, the tax payers of Louisiana and East Baton Rouge Parish need to know our education officials are doing every thing they can to use resources efficiently. Even the drafters of the RSD recognize the need to keep as much money as possible in the classroom as demonstrated in the following section of the Louisiana law that created the RSD:
“Except for administrative costs, monies appropriated to the Recovery School District that are attributable to the transfer of a school from a prior school system and monies allocated or transferred from the prior system to the recovery district shall be expended solely on the operation of schools transferred from the prior system to the jurisdiction of the district.” La R.S. 17:1990(3)(a).
The consequences of this inefficient use of space by the RSD are particularly acute among middle school students since two of the RSD schools are middle schools. Of the 15 middle schools in EBRPSS, two have exceeded their capacity, one is at full capacity and four are within fifty students of being at capacity. This problem will only get worse as there is currently 486 more fifth graders going into middle school for the 2012-14 school year in the EBRPSS than there are eighth graders leaving.
We urge the RSD to give this school building back to the EBRPSS. There are at least 2,652 empty desks at their other schools that could be turned into administrative space. The Superintendent of the RSD, Patrick Dobard, says he is committed to ensuring that “every student in Louisiana has access to a high-quality public school.” Mr. Dobard can demonstrate this commitment to parents across the EBRPSS by giving us back Prescott Middle School.
As background, the RSD took over these schools because the schools were deemed “failing” by the Louisiana Department of Education. Parents were then given the choice of sending their children to schools run by the RSD or choosing another school run by the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. The student capacity of the seven RSD schools is 6,285. According to an RSD count conducted several months ago, there are 2,633 students attending these schools, indicating that the vast majority of parents in the seven schools chose another school run by the EBRPSS. It is incredibly inefficient for all of these school buildings to remain in the hands of the RSD when the majority of their former students have exercised choice and chosen to remain with the EBRPSS.
In light of the state’s budget situation and the frozen funding for public education, the tax payers of Louisiana and East Baton Rouge Parish need to know our education officials are doing every thing they can to use resources efficiently. Even the drafters of the RSD recognize the need to keep as much money as possible in the classroom as demonstrated in the following section of the Louisiana law that created the RSD:
“Except for administrative costs, monies appropriated to the Recovery School District that are attributable to the transfer of a school from a prior school system and monies allocated or transferred from the prior system to the recovery district shall be expended solely on the operation of schools transferred from the prior system to the jurisdiction of the district.” La R.S. 17:1990(3)(a).
The consequences of this inefficient use of space by the RSD are particularly acute among middle school students since two of the RSD schools are middle schools. Of the 15 middle schools in EBRPSS, two have exceeded their capacity, one is at full capacity and four are within fifty students of being at capacity. This problem will only get worse as there is currently 486 more fifth graders going into middle school for the 2012-14 school year in the EBRPSS than there are eighth graders leaving.
We urge the RSD to give this school building back to the EBRPSS. There are at least 2,652 empty desks at their other schools that could be turned into administrative space. The Superintendent of the RSD, Patrick Dobard, says he is committed to ensuring that “every student in Louisiana has access to a high-quality public school.” Mr. Dobard can demonstrate this commitment to parents across the EBRPSS by giving us back Prescott Middle School.