JUNE 6, 2007

Lake Charles-Boston High School was closed Tuesday by the Calcasieu Parish School Board.

After nearly four hours of debate, emotional public input and parliamentary maneuvering, the board voted 9-6 for closure. By the same vote, the board approved establishment of the Lake Charles-Boston Academy of Learning, which will host specialized classes for other schools’ students, on the longtime Enterprise Boulevard campus.

Voting to close LC-B and create the academy were Annette Ballard, Dale Bernard, Billy Breaux, Randy Burleigh, Bill Jongbloed, James Karr, Bryan LaRocque, Jimmy Pitre and R.L. Webb.

Voting against the two motions — to close the school and to open the academy — were Joe Andrepont, Mack Dellafosse, Clara Duhon, Chad Guidry, Fred Hardy and Elray Victorian.

Andrepont offered an alternative plan to keep the school open on probation for a year. The idea failed in an 8-7 split.

Close to 500 people — students, parents, ministers and concerned residents — filled the LaGrange High School auditorium to watch and participate in the proceedings.

When some opponents of the academy questioned detailed plans and the budget, Superintendent Wayne Savoy said it will be a five-year process and that the board’s budget and other committees would complete the details.

The closure was recommended by Savoy because of continuing poor academic performance. The school is in the School Improvement II, or “SI II,” classification in the state accountability system and would have been in SI III had a waiver not been granted last year because of Hurricane Rita.

The board’s curriculum committee endorsed the plan May 8.

Black members of the board reiterated the alternative plan they announced on May 15. It was voted down 8-7. Subsequent motions to table Savoy’s and the committee’s recommendations and consider other options also failed. The principal thrust of the black members’ plan was implementation of recommendations made in a state academic audit of the school last year.

In the opening round of debate, Victorian said, “You don’t junk a car because it has a flat tire. It’s an easy sell to close the school. To me it’s a cop-out.”

Breaux said that when the closure proposal was announced, LC-B students’ low attendance rate was given as one reason for the low performance.

Yet after the furor erupted over the plan, attendance actually went lower, he said.

Jongbloed, who was administrative director for high schools before being elected to the board last year, said the problems were brought to light five years ago.

“We put in new programs. Some worked and some did not,” Jongbloed said.