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Board briefed on Act 422 third-grade retention rules; district to run mandatory summer program for at-risk third graders
Summary
Superintendent said Act 422 of the 2023 Louisiana Legislature increases retention risk for third graders who score well below benchmarks; the district plans intensive interventions, requires summer school June 2–18 for affected students and will register students by May 12.
Dr. Eloy told the board the district is preparing for the effects of Act 422 of the 2023 Louisiana Legislature, which changes how third-grade promotion and retention are handled if a student scores "well below" on state reading screens.
"There is a law now, act 4 22 of the 2023 legislator that states that if a student is well below on the Dibble screener, by the end of this process, they have to be retained with the exception of if they have what we call a good cause exemption," Dr. Eloy said. He described multiple testing points (beginning-, mid-, end-of-year and a May retest, plus a summer-test opportunity) and said the district is running intensive interventions aimed at reducing the number of students labeled "well below."
Dr. Eloy summarized the good-cause exemptions described in statute: students receiving English-language services, students with individualized education plans (IEPs) or 504 plans, and students who previously were retained may qualify for exemptions under specified conditions. He said the district expects more third graders to be retained statewide this year than in prior years and that preventing unnecessary retention is a priority for both student welfare and district logistics.
To comply with the law's required instructional hours for third-grade remediation, the district plans a mandatory summer program for affected third graders running June 2–June 18. The district will provide breakfast, lunch and bus transportation to centralized campuses; third- and fourth-graders will be assigned to LP Vaughn campus for the summer program while grades five–eight and high school students will be at other campuses. Registration forms are due May 12.
The superintendent said summer-school staffing pay will be reduced from the higher ESSER-era rates; teachers will be offered $30 per hour for the summer assignment (described as "60% of" the prior ESSER hourly rate), down from the ESSER rate previously paid in some years.
Dr. Eloy told the board he is asking principals to document multiple contacts with third-grade parents and suggested Miss Penrod will speak in more detail to the board about communication and enrollment plans in a subsequent meeting. "At this point right now, I believe every parent at the very least has gotten 3 pieces of contact," he said. The board did not record a formal vote; the superintendent presented the district's planned interventions and summer program logistics.
