Shoving public schools into the Recovery School District is ordinarily frowned upon, but in the case of the eight failing schools under the jurisdiction of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, such action is sorely needed. Many believe this rescue mission is long overdue — especially Louisiana Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek, who initiated the absorption of the “utterly failed” schools.The fact that these schools are fumbling is hardly news to those who have spent their lives here.For years, residents of the EBR school district have avoided being subjected to the zoning by either paying for private schooling, homeschooling their children or — in the case of the fairly new Central City — redefining city bounds to break free of the chokehold of the system. The detrimental nature of EBR schools is notorious among the locales, and this reputation unfortunately spurs many to go to great lengths to keep their children from coming in contact with EBR education.A takeover may not be ideal even in this case, but it is certainly preferable to letting the schools drain taxpayers as a byproduct of poor school board management.The state takeover, which will take effect July 1, was deemed necessary by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education back in January, mainly because the eight schools have failed to meet academic standards for four years running.The schools in question are slated to be run as private charter schools answerable to the state, which means the schools will be held accountable while being allowed flexibility to implement more effective teaching methods.This is the correct step to take in order to improve those schools – by improving the quality of education, rather than simply altering standards to make results appear better on paper.Recently, however, the EBR system has approved a new ruling that panders to this abhorrent, cheating method of grade mongering, perhaps in a desperate attempt to save their failing schools from state absorption.  The system accomplished this by implementing a shift to a 10-point grading scale, thereby making it easier for a student to make high grades in an already substandard school.EBR parish backed up this change by claiming this new ruling will give students a better shot at a TOPS scholarship. Had the former bar been left, it would’ve resulted in “a loss of as much as $1.5 million in scholarships and missed opportunities,” according to Emmanuel Caulk, assistant superintendant for the EBR schools who defended the schools in an interview with The Advocate earlier the month.While this is true, all this cop-out does in terms of improving education is make scores simply appear better on paper – the quality does not improve at all. This cheats students out of a decent college preparatory education, not to mention taxpayers out of their money.  If an EBR student cannot earn and maintain TOPS under normal circumstances, it is all too likely he or she will lose it once in college. And any public scholarship that does not ultimately result in a student with a marketable degree is essentially a waste of public money on an irresponsible individual.The lowering of the bar is a clear indicator of the incompetence of EBR schools, in any case. The fact remains that eight of the schools in EBR parish are substandard, despite this legalistic attempt to persuade state officials and the public otherwise.EBR schools have had four years to clean up their act and they’ve clearly failed. State takeover is the best option, the one with the best interest of the Louisiana’s public education at heart.Linnie Leavines is an 18-year-old mass communication major from Central City.——Contact Linnie Leavines at [email protected]