AMY SZPARA

LAPLACE – Students in St. John the Baptist Parish got a day off Monday, and many parents had to make last-minute arrangements for their kids for the day. It wasn’t a holiday, a parent-teacher conference day or a school closing due to severe weather. Instead, the teachers made the call that school would be canceled when a large percentage of them chose to participate in a sickout. In what is being called the “Foster Flu,” surveys show that 80 percent of teachers and support employees in the St. John School System support the sickout, said St. John Association of Educators officials. “It’s nothing against the students,” said Carolyn Batiste, acting president of the SJAE. “It’s all geared at the state.” The sickout, which is the 11th in the state this year, was to protest low teacher salaries in the state. Though voters just approved a quarter-cent sales tax deemed just for teacher raises, which will raise salaries $2,000, the SJAE is standing behind the rest of the state in its protests. Though many parents support the need for better pay in the school system, some disagree with the method of the protests. They feel that the sickout can only harm the children. Gary Baker, a parent of a child at LaPlace Elementary School, said many teachers at his child’s school did not want to participate in the sickout. He said 90 percent of the teachers wanted to stay, but they were being forced not to work. “Teachers, janitors, the staff wanted to work. I think there’s a correlation between the schools with dedicated teachers and the LEAP test scores at those schools,” he said. Though School Board Superintendent Chris Donaldson announced that schools would be closed Monday at a press conference Friday afternoon, LaPlace Elementary School decided to open its doors for LEAP practice for its fourth-grade students. According to Courtney P. Millet, principal at LaPlace Elementary, three teachers were at school Monday from 9 a.m. until noon. Parents and students, though required to find their own transportation due to the school closing, were invited to participate in prepared LEAP activities to prepare students for the required testing. In a letter Millet sent home to parents last week, she told parents that her school supported “the efforts of our school-based personnel to secure higher salaries.” In bold letters, she stated that “an overwhelming majority of our faculty and staff did not support a work stoppage to send that message.” Millet encouraged parents to write, call or e-mail their legislators and the governor to support raising of faculty and staff salaries. “I, as principal, along with our community appreciate the hard work and dedication of the entire faculty and staff at LaPlace Elementary School,” said Millet. She added that LES does not support stopping school to send a message. Teri Noel, principal at John L. Ory Elementary School also believes that there are better ways to get the message across. “An overwhelming majority of my teachers did not want to stay away from school,” said Noel. She added that a need for a salary increase is “critical” at this time, as she has lost teachers to other areas because of low pay. However, she believes an approach that will not interfere with teaching is in need. According to Noel, the best way to support teacher raises is for employees and parents to contact their legislators. School employees should get the parents on the bandwagon to support them, she said. She added that they already do support them since they supported the tax. Noel believes that her teachers are very dedicated to the school and their students. “Last year we had higher scores on the LEAP test,” said Noel. “Ninety-eight percent passed. We feel very proud. It’s because of our teachers and their dedication to ensuring that the children are prepared.” “We are very happy that a lot of our teachers didn’t support the sickout. That shows dedication. A lot of teachers went in Monday at John L. Ory,” said Donaldson. He added that it was a fact that John L. Ory Elementary and LaPlace Elementary both had very low support of the sickout. “We have a lot of good teachers in all the schools, though,” he said. Batiste stated that one day of missed school would not hurt students, though many feel that it is too close to LEAP testing time for teachers to take even one day off. Batiste said the SJAE wants students to do well on testing. “Whatever it takes for them to do well is what we want,” she said, adding they have done what many suggest, contacting legislators and getting parents behind them. She feels they have taken the proper approach at this time. “We’ve called, sent messages,” she said. “If parents have any suggestions, we’d like to hear them. Any suggestions voters can give us are welcome. We know that parents are behind us.”