Cell phone charges on the rise on parish campuses

While the Washington Parish Schools have a written policy in the student handbook prohibiting the use of cell phones and other portable devices, school trustees have decided to put some teeth into the policy.

Based on action taken at the district's board meeting last Thursday, there are fines now associated with the possession of a cell phone on school property.

According to the newly adopted Student Code of Conduct, students caught with a phone the first time would have the phone taken away from them and would have to pay a $25 fine before it would be returned. A second offense would generate a $50 fine and a third offense would result in a $75 fine. Fourth and subsequent offenses would result in disciplinary action beyond a fine.

A former high school substitute said that while there was not widespread usage on the campuses where they substituted, there was cell phone use and even though they were sometimes confiscated, they were returned quickly.

Fines for cell phone use on campus are nothing new, having been implemented at numerous districts in 2009. In the 1990s, Mike Dorn, while chief of police in Bibb County, Ga., implemented a service/recovery fee for confiscated cell phones because his department could not legally fine cell phone use. Cell phones were confiscated from students who used them in class. Parents could recover the phones after paying a $25 “service/recovery” fee and providing proof of ownership of the device.

The Klein ISD, in suburban Houston, implemented a fine policy in 2007 and netted $100,948 in the first two years of the program.

WPS adds three properties to 'For Sale' list

The Washington Parish School System has added three items to the list of items for sale, joining the old Franklinton High School football and baseball facilities.

New to the list are the former Varnado Elementary School and the old Pine High School, as well as a property in Franklinton.

While the Pine facility has been vacant since the July 2006 move to a new campus, Varnado was only shuttered this spring when the school was combined with Wesley Ray Elementary, located west of Angie.

The school system is currently advertising statewide for bids on the properties, The Varnado property is described as a six-acre tract on Jones Creek Road, while the Pine property is 3.6 acres on Highway 62. The Franklinton property is described as blocks 255 and 261, including a closed portion of 14th Street.

Sealed bids on the properties will be opened at 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 7 at the school board office located at 800 Main St. in Franklinton.

(Published first at http://www.wpnewsblog.blogspot.com)

LEAP: Parish up, Bogalusa mixed

Before the end of the month, there will a new superintendent of the Bogalusa City School district, but the task facing them will include many of the same duties as their two most recent predecessors — get better results on achievement tests.

The 2011 LEAP results, released to school districts and being made public this week, are mixed — at best — for the district, while parish school officials are generally pleased with the numbers.

Fourth graders brought back a bit of the magic in the Magic City, with students considered to be performing at least at the basic level rising to 73 percent. That’s up from 69 percent a year ago and virtually on par with the state averages. Students who took the test or the first time fared better still, scoring 77 percent against last year’s 67 percent.

LEAP measures the performance of students in English Language Arts (ELA) and math in the fourth and eighth grade.

But for the headiness created by the fourth grade results, there was a hard crash at the eighth grade level.

City students scored 51 percent — down 19 points from a year ago — but the results were even worse for first-time takers of the test, with 51 percent meeting at least minimal objectives this year versus 74 percent a year ago.

Among parish fourth graders, 74 percent performed at or above standard in ELA while 73 percent met objectives in math. The ELA results met the state average while the math results were two points better than the state. A year ago, the parish ELA mark was 63 percent while the math score was also 73.

At the eighth grade level, ELA results were 69 percent — same as the state and 12 points better than a year ago. The math results showed parish students performing better than the state average — 63 versus 60 — and 12 points better than a year ago.

Each year, fourth- and eighth-grade students participate in the state’s Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) – a series of tests that determines whether they will be required to attend summer school or be held back. Based on Louisiana’s Grade-Level Expectations (GLEs), the LEAP measures fourth- and eighth-grade students' knowledge and skills in English Language Arts, math, science and social studies. Students must score Basic or above in either English Language Arts (ELA) or math and Approaching Basic or above in the other subject to advance to the next grade. Fourth-graders have had to meet this requirement since 2004, while eighth-graders have had to meet this requirement since 2006.

The following link accesses the state’s site listing results. Current data has not yet been uploaded  to allow districts the opportunity to make the results public first.

http://www.louisianaschools.net/lde/uploads/16493.pdf