The West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber of Commerce and Ouachita Valley Federal Credit Union hosted the annual Focus on Education luncheon this past Thursday at the West Monroe Convention Center.
It was Superintendent Todd Guice’s first Focus on Education as the leader of the Ouachita Parish School System, and Guice used the opportunity to touch on various hot topics affecting not only his district, but the state.
“There are issues currently being debated in our Legislature that, we feel, could negatively impact the fiscal health of our system and all public systems in the state,” Guice said to a sold out crowd of more than 300 guests. “Public education is under attack in our state. Now more than ever it is imperative that we speak up for public education in the wake of proposed legislation that could negatively impact our funding through the MFP Program and the continuance of legislating unfunded mandates on our systems and others.”
Mr. Guice also used his time at the podium to update the audience on his five goals that he laid out at the previous Focus on Education as the incoming Superintendent.
Those five goals are:
- Continue to work on improving our district and school performance through an aligned instructional system where the needs of each student is met.
- Have a Sound Fiscal Policy and Program.
- Maintain a Safe, Positive, and Supportive Culture.
- Recruit, Retain, and Develop a High-Quality Staff.
- Improve and Increase the Avenues of Communication and Information Sharing to All Groups.
A breakdown of each goal and the highlights Mr. Guice made are as follows:
- Continue to work on improving our district and school performance through an aligned instructional system where the needs of each student is met.
Guice showcased the District Performance Scores from the 2022-23 school year with Ouachita Parish improving its score for the seventh consecutive year. It was also the 23rd straight year to outperform the state.
He recognized Boley Elementary for its National Blue Ribbon Award, the highest recognition awarded to a school by the United States Department of Education. Boley just hit the five-year anniversary of the fire, sparked by a lightning strike that destroyed its entire school.
Drew Elementary was also recognized for its achievement as a Louisiana Comeback Campus by the Louisiana Department of Education. Drew was one of only 40 schools in the state to earn the honor, which is based on a school increasing its percentage of students scoring mastery and above on the statewide assessment in math and English Language Arts.
“These are hard-earned successes,” Guice said. “All of your schools are working tremendously hard every day to move our kids. But there remain challenges ahead as LDOE plans to raise the SPS (Student Performance Score) bar by 5 points this year. This will be impactful in the scores that you see.
“BESE plans to roll out a new Accountability System for the 2025-26 school year, and it is our hope and request that the new system will take into account growing kids instead of concentrating so much on an accountability system that is so complicated that most cannot understand it.”
- Have a Sound Fiscal Policy and Program
Guice recognized the Ouachita Parish School Board’s Business Department for being awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 34th consecutive year. OPSB also received the Association of School Business Officials International (ABS) Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 35th consecutive year.
“This, on the heels of a completely clean and clear audit, shows that our District is handling your tax dollars and state funds at the highest possible level,” Guice said.
He continued by listing out all of the construction projects (see graphic on OPSB social media pages – Facebook and Instagram @OuachitaParishSchools) taking place across the parish, including the outdoor pavilions that every elementary school in the district will be getting through ESSER funds.
- Maintain a Safe, Positive, and Supportive Culture
OPSB has completed or is in the process of completing multiple projects to make its school campuses safer. Included in these projects are man traps to secure schools lobbies with no entry access until visitors check in. Cameras have been installed on buses and are in the process of being installed in the classrooms. Half of the schools are up and operational.
“The benefits of cameras in the classroom include improving emergency preparedness and mitigating harm during a crisis, reducing student misconducts, protecting students and teachers by providing review of footage to settle disputes and address bullying incidents, improving teacher instruction and increasing student learning,” Guice said.
The district is also investing in LWIN radios and installing air conditioning on every school bus.
Two safety monitors have been hired to routinely monitor all campuses to assure safety procedures are followed and updated as needed. The Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office recently notified Guice that the department is making available five full-time deputies to serve as School Resource Officers at the middle schools, giving all the middle and high schools in the district a School Resource Officer (SRO).
- Recruit, Retain, and Develop a High-Quality Staff
The Ouachita Parish School System is made up of 37 campuses and 4 administrative offices. Schools serve more than 18,000 students and employ 2,700 certified and support staff. In addition to contracted employees and substitutes, OPSB employs more than 3,000 employees, making it the largest employer in the area.
In the past 10 years, its salary and benefit expenditures have totaled $1.8 billion.
Guice used the time to highlight employee accolades, including Louisiana Teacher of the Year semifinalist, Jennifer Callender from George Welch Elementary and Louisiana New Teacher of the Year finalist, Samantha Valentine from Woodlawn Elementary School.
Elementary School Support Person of the Year Malcolm Gay was also featured as the first support person from Ouachita Parish to be named a finalist for the state award.
(For a complete list of awarded principals, teachers and students, see graphic on OPSB social media pages – Facebook and Instagram @OuachitaParishSchools).
- Improve and Increase the Avenues of Communication and Information Sharing to All Groups
Guice emphasized the importance of getting factual and accurate information out to our stakeholders. He also is conducting listening sessions to keep the communication lines open among his directors, administrators, teachers, students and parents.
Among the conversations with students, Guice assembled a Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council at the beginning of the school year, made up of two students from all five high schools in the district.
He finished his address by inviting the public to also have open dialogue with him and his team by attending Board Meetings, public events or just to the table to have conversation.
“Public schools have been unfairly attacked with the notion that some schools that have no accountability and no way to compare to what we are required to do daily, are better, stronger and provide a better education,” Guice said. “But I know this, we provide the best opportunity in the area for students – period – and we will continue to hold to that standard of achieving excellence.”
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