Historic Change in East Baton Rouge Parish Schools

It is so interesting how some people have such an incredibly high regard for themselves that they think the only change that "counts" as change is the change they support. There have been those who claim that I am not interested in change, so I thought I would point out a few of the changes I helped create in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. It is only a small portion of a larger list, and I welcome readers' comments on changes they have noticed over the last 16 years.

We ended the desegregation lawsuit that began prior to my birth! Since 1996, students have been eligible to attend their local attendance zone schools! No forced bussing across town! That is change!

When I joined the school board in 1995, the voters had not supported taxes for new schools or major maintenance in almost thirty years! Since then, the voters have approved "pay as you go" plans and every single tax renewal over the last 16 years. That is change!

When I was a teacher in the school system, prior to my joining the faculty at LSU, there were regular rain drills in the schools, for every building leaked! Since then, we have re-roofed every building in the system, and leaks are rare. That is change; change for the better!

In the last year I worked for the school system, my pay was just over $20,000. A new teacher today in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System brings home over twice what I made! That is change!

I will provide more examples of change in later postings, but I wanted to mention a small change that I encouraged, and received a consensus from my fellow Board Members to implement. It is, in a sense a small change, yet it represents something much larger I think! For as long as I could remember, the parking places in front of the School System Main Office had signs reading "Reserved for School Board Members." There was no handicap parking in front of the building, and no ramps for those in wheelchairs. Such is no longer the case! The signs now read, "Reserved for Visitors" and there are clearly marked handicap accessible parking spots, and a ramp for visitors in wheelchairs! The message I wanted to send was this. We, the School Board Members of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, are here to serve, not to be served with special privileges! That is, to me, the kind of change we need to see at all levels of government! What do you think?