Superintendent and principals outline academic action plans; ESJH students to return to 300/400 buildings March 23

District leaders provided updates on school academic action plans, testing and facility readiness at the March 10 board meeting.

Principal Johnika Gayden described the East St. John Parish plan: Saturday tutoring (9 a.m.–noon) serving 72–100 students, targeted work for students returning from virtual instruction, daily interventions with an additional 45 minutes for strategic students, and teacher acclimation to resources. Dr. Hookfin asked Gayden to forward her written plan to board members.

Dr. Green said the district received clearance on the 300 and 400 buildings at East St. John High School and planned to move 9th-grade students and alternative assessment students into those buildings on March 23; he estimated 265 students will move from the Leon Godchaux site. Mike Tuscon said interior work should be complete in roughly 60 days from March and roofing work will take about 5–6 months.

Dr. Juanita Hill provided a testing update and Mrs. Schum requested attendance reports: daily high-school attendance since the second semester, K–8 attendance since the start of the year, and counts of students who missed more than five days in the second semester by school. Mr. Brian Coogan introduced newly hired CFO Jawanza Joseph and reported the AFR for 2021 had been submitted and that the district recorded a $5.6 million general fund loss for FY2021, with journal entries expected to be caught up by April 30 to allow a first-quarter profit-and-loss for FY2022.