District outlines literacy supports as summer-school fees return after federal funds expire

Superintendent and curriculum staff updated the St. Tammany Parish School Board Committee as a Whole on Feb. 6 about statewide third-grade literacy requirements, the district’s plan for high-dose tutoring and a separate decision to reinstate summer-school fees for course recovery.

The district said Act 4 22 requires that third-graders who score at the lowest level on the statewide literacy screener (DIBELS) may be retained unless they meet a state “good cause” exemption; Act 771 requires high-dose tutoring (during the school day) for eligible students and the district said that tutoring will be provided at no charge to families. Separately, the district told the board it must restore fees for voluntary summer course recovery because COVID-related ESSER grant funding has expired: $300 per student for kindergarten through 6th-grade in-person recovery (one recovered course), $150 per course for junior high and high school virtual credit recovery (maximum $300).

The district described how DIBELS works as a statewide screener given three times (beginning, middle and end of year), with the end-of-year window opening in April; students scoring “red” (well below benchmark) will get interventions and two more retest opportunities (a May window and a summer window the state has not yet set). District staff said students who are “red” will receive intensive supports and progress monitoring, and that high-dose tutoring is effectively delivered as regular, evidence-based small-group instruction during the school day.

Dr. Langlois, presenting the summer-school update, said the district will continue in-person offerings for kindergarten through sixth grade at east and west sites and will offer virtual credit recovery for junior high and high school. "For kindergarten to sixth grade students, the charge will be $300 per student to recover that one course," Langlois told the board. He said the virtual junior-high option will be $150 per course (up to $300) and the same per-half-credit at high school.

Curriculum staff and elementary supervisors said the district is seeing growth in early-grade literacy proficiency compared with statewide and national averages, and that classroom-level small-group instruction has been used as the district’s approach to “high-dose tutoring.” Speakers said the district will deploy additional human-capital funding the state has provided to support in-school tutoring and that paraprofessionals may be eligible to deliver some tutoring services.

Board members pressed for specifics: how many students might be affected by third-grade retention, how the district would coordinate students who both need course recovery and literacy supports, and how families who cannot pay summer-school fees will be served. District staff said literacy remediation tied to Act 4 22 (students scoring well below benchmark) will be provided at no cost but that the fee applies only to families seeking credit recovery for failed courses once ESSER funds ended. Staff said they will post flyers and use robocalls and the district website to notify families immediately.

Officials noted state rules on good-cause exemptions: a medical diagnosis of dyslexia is a listed ground, and other exemptions can be granted when students have documented, sustained intervention over two years; administrators cautioned that the state’s statutory exemptions are specific and that the local School Building Level Committee no longer has the broad promotion authority it had under prior guidance. Board members asked the district to return with details on numbers affected and operational plans for students who may need both credit recovery and literacy tutoring.

The district said it will provide a more detailed plan for literacy summer supports when the state posts final dates and guidance.

Ending: District staff repeated that classroom-level small-group instruction will be the core of tutoring and that the immediate change families will see is reinstated summer fees for course recovery because ESSER funding ended. Officials said they will continue to brief the board as state windows and funding details are finalized.