Baton Rouge, La. –The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) and Rapides Parish School System have come to an understanding around the operation of Ewell S. Aiken Optional High School. Last night the Rapides School Board voted to approve an agreement with LDOE, and specifically the Recovery School District (RSD) that calls for the school to be transformed to a credit-recovery and dropout-prevention program where struggling students will have the opportunity to earn a high school diploma in a non-traditional setting.

“We are pleased that Aiken will remain under the direct oversight of the local district. There is no doubt that we all share a desire to better serve the Aiken school community, and we are optimistic that the terms of the agreement, including the School Improvement Plan, will benefit students attending Aiken by providing the school with additional resources,” said State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek. “Among other things, this plan calls for an enriched program for students, such as more dual-enrollment opportunities, a greater focus on reading skills, and implementation of a Jobs for Americas Graduates (JAG) program, which is program with a 90 percent graduation rate across our state. These enhancements will no doubt raise student achievement and set higher goals for the students who attend Aiken.”

Aiken has been labeled an Academically Unacceptable School (AUS) four years in a row, thus making it eligible for placement in the state-run RSD. However, in January the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) voted to adopt the recommendation of Pastorek to place the school under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and not under the direct jurisdiction of the RSD unless an agreement between the district and the RSD could not be reached.

The AUS label is assigned to a school that has failed to meet the state’s minimum School Performance Score (SPS) of 60, which is calculated based on student assessments, graduation rates and student attendance. Aiken’s 2007 and 2008 SPS are 19.9 and 22.4, respectively. The school reported an enrollment of 224 in February 2009.

The MOU calls for the school to remain under the direct oversight of Rapides Parish, but the school system’s progress in implementing Aiken’s two year School Improvement Plan will be monitored by the RSD. In addition to the enrichments cited by Pastorek, the agreement calls for Rapides Parish to increase professional development opportunities for teachers at Aiken and to hire a part-time social worker and nurse. The agreement also calls for student test scores at the school to be assigned to the student’s respective home school.

The Aiken standoff drew statewide attention, and in fact the debate emerged in the recent legislative session. House Bill 459, authored by Representative Herbert Dixon, would exempt Aiken from the state’s accountability system and was passed by state lawmakers. However, today, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal vetoed the legislation. Governor Jindal’s veto states, “While I understand that local and unique factors should be considered, I am concerned that allowing individual districts to opt-out legislatively would weaken the RSD program and undermine our State’s commitment to greater accountability.  Further, I understand that the Superintendant of Education has reached an agreement with the district to address the issues at the Aiken school.”

Pastorek expressed optimism toward the agreement.

“We are grateful to Representative Dixon and appreciate his commitment to his constituents and the Aiken school community. We are eager to continue working with him as well as the Rapides Parish School System and the Aiken school community to effectively implement the School Improvement Plan and provide these students with a world-class educational experience,” Pastorek said.

Pastorek emphasized the flexibility that the Department and the RSD have to support low performing schools, whether that intervention takes place by placing the school under the jurisdiction of the RSD or through a MOU, as in the case of Aiken.

“As the Department and the RSD attempt to transform low-performing schools, our intention is to remove some of the barriers that prevent district and school leaders from effectively educating students, whether the barriers are a lack of resources, autonomy or some of the other common challenges. We feel very positive about the promise of Aiken.”

As part of the agreement with Aiken, the LDOE also agreed to allow Rapides Parish Superintendent Gary Jones and a member of Aiken’s faculty to be involved in the development of alternative school accountability measures. The state’s BESE-appointed Accountability Commission is in the process of studying optional accountability measures for alternative education schools, such as Aiken, and the Commission expects to make a recommendation to BESE in the coming months.

# # # # # # # # # # # #