On September 18, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board approved a measure in accordance with State Bulletin 111, the Louisiana School District and State Accountability Policy. It allows a school district to route student test scores from an alternative school, such as our dedicated magnet schools, back to a student’s home school.  A home school refers to the site that a student would be eligible to attend if he/she were not enrolled in an alternative school/program.   

The fact is the school system has been re-routing scores for years. Currently, if an East Baton Rouge Parish School System (EBRPSS) student attends an alternative school such as a discipline center, a correctional institution, or other remedial program, the student’s score is routed back to his/her home school.

There are seven alternative school sites in the School System that serve approximately 800 students and all students’ scores in these schools are routed back to the home attendance zone school.  This is not an insignificant number of students. In fact, several of our middle schools have upwards of 50 students who have their test scores routed back to them even though a number of those students have never physically attended those schools.  If the scores for these schools were not routed back, these alternative schools would be eligible for state take over, as is the case in many other school districts.  

Since the Board action, there has been some confusion regarding our magnet schools. The day-to-day operation of the magnet schools will not change.  In fact, this action may provide more opportunities for the School Board to consider expanding magnet programs in other areas of the district. 

Under this decision by the Board, the dedicated magnet school will:

• keep the same school name
• keep current school staff
• receive a School Performance Score from the State Department of Education
• be eligible for monetary rewards based on school performance
• be eligible for national achievement awards
• give parents/guardians their child’s state accountability test reports
• report promotion and proficiency rates prior to the routing of any test scores

Prior to the decision by the Board, staff from the School System discussed the proposed changes with their counterparts in the State Department of Education. At no time was there any indication from the State Department of Education that this would be an issue. 

This action was taken by the School Board in an effort to bring equity to all schools, not to hide school performance scores or be deceptive. The district strives for transparency. That is why the School System is the only district in the area that reports scores for ALL schools in May, long before any routing occurs.