Her new team, as outlined Thursday night during a presentation on the academic turnaround plan that began Friday morning at Northside High, is hundreds strong and includes Northside students, teachers, faculty, parents, alumni and any other stakeholder who’s ready to join her in an excited effort to turn around the discipline and performance problems that have long plagued the north Lafayette high school.
“This is a group effort ... I need you, we need you, to come together,” Voorhies told an enthusiastic audience of about 100 people who crowded the Northside’s cafeteria to hear what’s in store for the school. “I met with faculty today, and we're changing all kinds of things around here. Are all of them on board yet? No. But it’s time to sit down and buckle you seat belt. You’re in for one hell of a ride. This is hardball. I don’t know how else to say it.”
Voorhies, a retired school administrator (and former basketball coach) who lives in Lafayette Parish and most recently led the turnaround of Park Valley school in East Baton Rouge Parish, was chosen by Lafayette Parish School System Superintendent Pat Cooper and subsequently approved by the school board to lead his Northside academic rebound “SWAT” team, a group of veteran educators that also includes Garrick Johnson (also of Park Valley), former N.P. Moss Annex Principal Sandra Billeaudeau and several other key personnel additions to oversee the pilot turnaround project.
The turnaround plan also calls for more than $2 million in repairs and renovations to the school.
Discipline policies will see vast changes, Voorhies warns, starting as early as Friday morning when “we’re going to be everywhere in this school.”
Her goal, she says, is to have the discipline issues under control in two and a half weeks.
An already passionate Voorhies became even more animated Thursday night when Northside High School alum Jennifer Jackson explained that many in attendance aren’t parents of Northside students, but alumni and north Lafayette community members who are ready and willing to step up and help.
“What do you need from us?” she asked Voorhies.
“We need mentors,” Voorhies responded. “For both our young men and our young women. I need you time ... and your physical presence.”
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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