Lafayette Parish Schools Superintendent is asking the school board to approve a reconstitution of the district's lowest performing high school that's expected to move into the state's academically unacceptable' school status by the start of next school year. The Lafayette Parish School Board will hear a proposal at its regular meeting Wednesday to reconstitute Northside High, a plan that, if approved, would require teachers and faculty to reapply for their jobs at the district's lowest performing high school.
According to a "Northside High School Fact Sheet" attached to the board's meeting agenda, Northside has the lowest attendance rates, graduation rates and ACT scores in the school system. The north Lafayette high school with a 95 percent minority population also has fewer highly qualified teachers than any other public high school in Lafayette Parish.
With the school's continued dismal performance expected to move into the state's "academically unacceptable" school status by the start of next school year, Superintendent Pat Cooper is asking the board to approve a reconstitution of the school's teaching and support staff.
The request from Cooper comes a little more than two months after the board approved $2.1 million facilities and academic overhaul of Northside, which included the hiring of Principal Melinda Voorhies and other major changes to the school's administrative staff.
The school board convenes at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at central office on Chaplin Drive.
Read more on Northside High in The Independent's March 7 cover story, "Viking Pride."