New education reform symposium draws big names to St. James project

Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 6, 2001

LUTCHER – Some of the more impressive names in state and parish government, education system, industry and community gathered with their counterparts in St. James Parish to concentrate their talents and knowledge toward the reform of education on Thursday.

Hosted jointly by the parish council and the school board, both Parish President Dale Hymel and Superintendent Ed Cancienne welcomed the guests to the Education Reform Symposium.

There were two serious reasons that the parish government was there to support education reform, said Hymel. From an economic standpoint, its easier to promote business and industry in St. James “when there is an educated and trainable work force they can draw from. Also this is not just a school board problem. This is a community challenge,” said Hymel.

Cancienne agreed with Hymel, stating that “employers have a tendency to gravitate to where scores are better.”

Linda Johnson, District Eight member of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, expressed her excitement to be a part of the symposium. When it comes to reform, she said, “people often say weve started in the wrong place, but weve started.”

She added that the state does have a long way to go, but the importance lay in starting somewhere. The symposium “is a better way to start,” and commended the individuals gathered for uniting a parish community, with government, business, industry and school system all working together to solve their common challenge of education reform.

Joan Savoy, executive director of the Leadership Institute, of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, echoed Johnsons sentiment, and said, “There is no magical structure (for education reform), just people and relationships,” Savoy said. She stressed that current education goals are only achieved by collaborating with others. “All players have to be at the table,” each influencing the parish and education directly or indirectly, said Savoy.

Sister Judith Brun, principal of St. Josephs Academy in Baton Rouge, also was firm in the fact that the school system no longer has all the answers.

“You must lose control,” said Brun. Schools can no longer be isolationists and assume that they have all the answers. You must collaborate. Educate children for their future not for our past. That must change, said Brun.

Brun gave a presentation on the current technological systems being used by the students at St. Josephs. With 770 female students, there are 1,000 computers, only 100 of which are desktops. All students have wireless laptop computers to allow access to information from the classroom to outside in the yard. Sometimes, looking out the window, there are cars in the parking lot with students downloading information they forgot or finishing up some work before a test, said Brun.

She gave examples of how well the students had taken to technology and how it had increased their desire to learn. These kids have grown up on technology. It is the teachers that have to learn about it, said Brun.

The day of presentations continued with similar sentiments. Don Hutchinson, state Secretary of the Department of Economic Development also spoke of the importance of technology in a growing Louisiana. Throughout the day, more speakers drew from their experience to help bring a challenging picture of education reform into focus.

By the end of the day the group seemed very enthused with excitement and interest in improving education, said Cancienne.

“When there is grassroots momentum, it becomes very contagious,” he added.

The next step for St. James Parish is to gather a consultive body of representatives from the group at the symposium and set them up as a round table to design the way to make the vision a reality, said Cancienne.

The main theme that ran through the whole of the presentations and the symposium was what can be done. “I think we can really accomplish these dreams,” Cancienne added.