(AP) – Some Louisiana public school systems are canceling a day of classes as teachers prepare to head for the state Capitol, where battles are brewing over Gov. Bobby Jindal’s education proposals.
The East Baton Rouge Parish School system said its schools will close Wednesday after a higher than normal number of teachers said they would be absent that day. Vermilion Parish and St. Martin Parish public schools wil close Thursday. The School Board in Jefferson Davis Parish voted unanimously Tuesday to cancel classes Wednesday, when a number of teachers and support employees are taking personal days. Assistant Superintendent Brian LeJeune said the board was concerned “about having enough educators and substitutes to provide adequate supervision.”
Hearings are set Wednesday and Thursday at the Capitol on bills that would expand a state-financed private school tuition program, make it easier for private groups to run public “charter” schools, and make changes to teacher tenure practices.
Jindal says the measures are long overdue reforms needed to improve education in a state where 44 percent of public schools were graded at a D or F level on a statewide scale.
The state’s largest teacher unions and many in the education establishment say Jindal’s plan won’t improve education. Those critics say the tuition voucher program will divert money from public schools, and that the changes in tenure and seniority protections unfairly target veteran teachers.
Hundreds of public school teachers from around the state are expected to be at the Capitol either Wednesday, when a House committee hears the bills, or Thursday, when Senate versions of the measures get their first hearing.
In St. Martin Parish alone, more than 460 school employees said they planned to head to the Capitol on Thursday, said Superintendent Richard Lavergne.
Different school systems are handling the absences in different ways.
Jeff Davis Parish Superintendent David Clayton said teachers will have to use a personal day off if they don’t come to school Thursday. In St. Martin, Lavergne said attendance at the Capitol will count as a professional development day. Teachers who stay in the parish Thursday will attend professional development programs there, he said.
Teacher absences and the closure of schools drew criticism from some.
“The actions of the vacationing East Baton Rouge Parish teachers are extremely irresponsible and cause the loss of an entire school day for 44,000 children. Their focus should be on the kids,” Danny Montelaro, a board member with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber said in a news release. “Students begin taking very important standardized tests next week and should be in school preparing instead of enjoying a surprise vacation day.”
Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said teacher unions asked that their representatives attend the committee hearings, but never called for shutdowns of schools. The outpouring of teacher and school employee opposition is a “direct result of calls by the governor to dismantle Louisiana’s public schools,” the LFT and the Louisiana Association of Educators said in a statement.
“You would think that the governor would want to give school employees a voice in this process, after all the constitution affords us that right,” said LAE President Joyce Haynes.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
 
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