ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / August 21, 1999

ST. JAMES – Wednesday was not your typical first day of school in St.James Parish, especially at St. James High School. Television satellitetrucks lined the top of the levee in front of the school, police cars stood guard over the school entrance, a portable sound system blared out gospel music while protestors sang, shouted, preached and waved at passing trucks and cars along Louisiana Highway 18.

Marching back and forth in front of St. James High under a hot morning sun,angry parents said they are keeping their children out of St. James schoolsin protest of St. James School Superintendent P. Edward Cancienne’sdecision to transfer St. James High principal Ridgely Mitchell over to thenew Learning Academy in Lutcher.

Melvin J. Dumas Jr., father of a 16-year-old student at St. James High,said flatly, “We want him back. He was good for the school, and the kidsbelieved in him.”Eileen Jasmine, one of the boycott organizers, has nothing but praise for Mitchell.

“He was only principal for 11 months, but he turned that school around,” she said. “The administration say that they moved him because he was agood disciplinarian, well that’s what we need – a good disciplinarian. Allwe’re asking for is to reinstate Mr. Mitchell.”The Rev. T. Hill from New Orleans is on the microphone and leads theprotestors in a song called “No More Kitty Cats,” a sly reference to school board member Kathleen “Kitty” Becnel, who voted not to reinstate Mitchell at last week’s school board meeting.

Nearby, a group of parents sitting under an oak tree hold a large sign proclaiming, “Get the poison out of the school system!” Arranged around the sign are small, red cardboard skull and crossbones labeled Cancienne, (Coach Rick) Gaille, Becnel and (Charles) Nailor, another board member who voted against Mitchell’s reinstatement.

Inside the high school, about 150 students were attending the first day orientation assembly in the gym. Cafeteria and janitorial workersgathered by the front door, staring curiously at the protestors, while several sheriff’s deputies roamed the school grounds.

Despite warnings of legal consequences from Cancienne, parents say they will keep their children out of school until Mitchell is transferred back to St. James High.Parents and Mitchell believe the transfer was politically motivated because Mitchell got on the wrong side of the football program at St.

James High.

“The reason I was moved, ” reported Mitchell, ” is because of a conflict I had with the St. James High athletic director last year.”Mitchell said he wanted his faculty to follow their job descriptions, but the athletic director did not do so.

In response, Gaille, St. James High School athletic director and headfootball coach, said, “I do not know what precipitated his transfer, but I’ve been loyal to him. He was and is my superior. I never talked to anyoneabout our discussions. I never contacted anyone on the school board aboutthis. I would not usurp my honor by doing that. I couldn’t stand in front ofmy team and ask them to be honorable if I couldn’t be honorable myself.”Cancienne insists the transfer of Mitchell was done solely in the interest of bettering the St. James public school system.”I’m staying on the path that I think is best for the schools,” he said.

Mitchell’s new assignment, the Learning Academy, is a project conceived by Cancienne and the school board. Located in a building behind schoolboard headquarters and still in the development stage, the Learning Academy is a program for alternative schooling to help student with social, emotional and academic problems.

Cancienne said they are creating the Learning Academy because he believes “there are no throw-away children,” and “the board is holding me accountable to choose a team to carry out our mission of raising student achievement.””Mr. Mitchell’s various experiences and expertise are recognized andvalued, ” Cancienne continued, “and it is the strong consensus of my administration team and I that Mr. Mitchell’s transfer to this vitalposition is in the best interest of our entire school system. He is the bestqualified employee for this position, and this is why he has been transferred.”When asked if their children’s education will suffer from their continued absence, most of the parents said they are filling out the forms to start home study programs.

However, it may not get to that point. Cancienne has said that after 10days, if the students are still being kept at home he will have to turn the matter over to the legal authorities. According to state law, it is illegalto cause the absence of a child from school.

At the end of the first school day, the St. James School Board releasedattendance numbers for the school system. Out of an anticipated 4,430enrollment, 2,652 students attended classes. The highest enrollment wasat Lutcher High School with 656 students, and the lowest was St. JamesJunior High with only 16 students going to class.

St. James High School had 164 students attending, lower than the expected450. By the second day of school, total enrollment had increased by 106students parishwide.

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