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On the Record with Bossier Schools | Season Four | Episode Twelve · On the Record with Bossier Schools

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  Welcome to this episode of On The Record, your official source of information from Bozer
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  Schools.
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  It may have looked like a winter wonderland, but for school districts throughout North
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  Louisiana, it was Elsa's revenge.
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  Just look at all the sheets of ice falling off one of our elementary schools.
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  Digging out of the deep freeze took a lot of muscle, literally, because at Bozer Schools
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  we took matters into our own hands to get our students back into class.
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  Let me say this, I guess we took the bull by the horns or maybe we took the shovel by
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  the handle.
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  I like that.
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  There you go.
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  Hi everyone, welcome to On The Record with Bozer Schools.
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  I'm Jason Rowland.
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  And I'm Sonya Bales.
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  Thanks so much for joining us.
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  We hope that you are okay and were able to weather the storm because, you know, not everyone
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  was as lucky.
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  What about our neighbors in Northeast Louisiana, for example, where significant ice and sleet
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  caused trees to fall on structures and also for there to be massive power outages?
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  You know, take for instance this video we have of an awning at an elementary school
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  in Wachita Parish that actually just collapsed and caved under the weight of the ice.
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  I spoke every day to my good friend, Mr. Todd Geis, who's the superintendent of Wachita
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  Parish Schools, and he would keep me updated on the number of schools that now had power.
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  They would have one more and water and all the issues they faced.
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  Somebody described that area as it looked like a war zone where the trees had snapped
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  and so many things that went wrong with power.
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  But credit to them, a very resilient community to the east of us, where on Tuesday they returned
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  to school despite a lot of odds and a lot of things stacked against them.
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  Yeah, they definitely had the odds stacked against them.
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  Just looking at that bus awning, I mean, that's incredible video just seeing it go down like
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  a stack of dominoes.
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  And I tell you what, that's what we were facing too.
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  And while we had to cancel school for a week, luckily we did not have any structural damage
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  like they did.
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  We didn't have any burst water pipes or any power outages.
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  But, you know, well into that week, we still had roads that were impassable, even though
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  once they, you know, started thawing out, we still faced another problem.
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  That being our 300 plus buses had their hoods and the doors frozen shut, which made them
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  inoperable.
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  Transportation Director Aaron McGee visited with us to explain why we could not put buses
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  on the road that week.
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  They're not allowed by law to get out on the road.
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  They have to do that pre-trip inspection in the morning and in the afternoon.
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  So it's every single time a bus moves.
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  They have to do that.
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  And that means opening the hood, checking to make sure there's no leaks or anything
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  like that.
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  And then they have to inspect all the lights.
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  And so they're walking down the sides of the buses where that ice was.
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  We just were really afraid that some of our drivers would fall and hurt themselves.
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  Not only did we have to take the transportation piece into consideration, we want to give
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  a massive thank you to our maintenance department.
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  Mr. Stacey Roger and all the guys worked early on Friday morning, late into the weekend to
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  make sure that all of our schools were safe.
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  We had to look at things such as playgrounds and awnings and bus coverings and cafeteria
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  coverings, everywhere students would congregate, any type of concrete pads.
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  We had to look at those and basically try to clear the ice from everything where a student
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  may step.
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  Take Plantation Park, for example.
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  I know we got a chance to go down there and help Ms. Stroud and her team.
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  But her entire bus ramp, where kids and their sidewalk, was just covered in a sheet of ice.
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  And she has so many walkers at her school that the ability to get to school even would
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  have been a hazard for the majority of her school student population.
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  So she and her custodial staff, her admin team, took shovel to hand.
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  This whole area was solid, covered.
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  And this is our bus ramp.
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  And in fact, when I got here and parked over there, I couldn't even get into the building.
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  So I had to go through the grass to be able to get into the building.
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  We have, most of our kids are walkers, and that's a sidewalk they would have to cross
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  to get to the school.
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  And it was solid with ice as well.
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  One other thing, I want to thank our community members.
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  We had tons and tons of community members that saw what was going on on our, air quote,
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  working day.
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  And they showed up, tractors, sledgehammers, shovels.
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  Community members got involved to help us to make sure we could have our schools open.
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  You know, things simply just weren't thawing as fast as we wanted them to.
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  And we weren't going to risk bringing students on our campuses until it was safe.
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  And we realized that Friday was the only day that we had the temperatures were going to
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  plummet again on Saturday and Sunday.
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  And if we didn't take advantage of that one day, Monday we were going to be in the same
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  position.
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  And other districts that didn't do what we did, they were still out of school on Monday.
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  So I am so thankful to all of our faculty and staff, our departments, our employees,
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  everybody that jumped in.
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  And it took a true team.
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  It was a great team effort.
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  And I thoroughly enjoyed seeing people actually working.
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  I just, I love that.
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  I love that about the spirit of our employee.
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  They're not afraid to get their hands dirty.
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  They're not afraid to get down and do whatever it takes so we can have school.
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  That's right.
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  And I also saw you at every school site that I visited with a shovel in your hand as well.
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  So come along for our district work day as we go de-icing and shoveling with Roland.
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  So as you mentioned, that district work day really made all the difference because all
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  of our students and staff were able to return that following Monday, February 2nd.
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  And so, of course, now the question is, what everybody's been asking is, how do we make
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  up for that lost week of time?
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  You know, we talk about snow days and we really don't measure in days.
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  We have instructional minutes and we have some built in, but do we have enough?
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  Well, make up and lost are two words that really, they don't fit in the same sentence.
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  I guess there's irony in both of them.
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  First of all, you can't make up something that's lost.
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  We will never get the days back in January.
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  What I mean by that is, if we were just to stack days at the end of May, they're not
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  critical instruction days like we have in January.
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  Because that comes after testing.
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  It's after testing, it's after graduation, it's after all the things that none of those
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  windows or timeframes are going to change for any of the students in Bossier Parish.
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  You know, the state's not going to change the testing window, we're not going to change
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  the ACT date, we're not going to change graduation, none of that stuff changes.
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  So the days that are lost are just that.
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  So as you mentioned about minutes, there are things that we can do that we can be creative
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  in the schedule, in the current structure of each school schedule, and that's what we're
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  looking at first.
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  We've also applied for a waiver with the state in the past, when there's been a state
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  emergency, sometimes the state has forgiven those minutes, and the schools just take it
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  upon themselves, or districts take it upon themselves to really hustle to get back up
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  to speed and to try to get back on pace as quickly as possible.
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  That is the main thing that we have to do, is to get back to our pacing guide, where
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  we are, where we're supposed to be the second week in February, and we need to get there
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  and get caught up as fast as possible.
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  And that's what we are aggressively trying to do.
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  And that can mean kind of shifting minutes around during the school day, right?
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  We can grab some minutes from lunch, we can shorten some transition times, we can grab
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  some playground time here and there, we can use some enrichment time and slide that back
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  into the core time.
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  We're really focused on the core subjects, the tested grades in subjects, and so those
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  are the areas where we really want to try to recapture as much as we can, get caught
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  up to the greatest extent of our ability.
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  And some people may ask, well, why even make it up, you know, recapture that time?
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  There is a state requirement of so many instructional minutes that we have to have per school year.
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  And without that waiver, you know, we're going to work hard to hit that mark.
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  And so we're optimistic about all the opportunities, but whether we get the waiver or not, we're
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  still motivated to get our students as equipped for statewide testing as they can be.
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  And so that's just the spirit of Bossier Schools teachers and what we're trying to do.
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  The good news is they came back ready to learn, our teachers came back ready to hit the ground
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  running, and they have definitely been doing that.
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  So more to come, obviously, on that part.
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  Now, hopefully no more winter weather, though, because there's an old wise tale, supposedly
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  if it stays on the ground for longer than three days, there's the likelihood that you'll
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  have a second bout.
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  I did say that out loud, I shouldn't have, I should knock on wood, right?
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  Knock on wood, because I've had more than one person say that to me this week, and I've
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  looked at them like this every time they say that.
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  We don't want no more, I like the 75 degrees today and the 70 degrees tomorrow, let's get
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  back to Louisiana weather, right?
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  Cold one day, hot the next.
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  That's what I want to see.
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  That goes right on into the spring.
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  That's right.
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  Well, we're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we are going to meet you
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  in art class at Mediview Elementary, where they've been chosen as a global ambassador school.
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  And we are shining the spotlight on someone who tries to shy away from any accolades,
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  but deserves all the praise, Parkway Band Director Mark Minton.
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  Stay with us.
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  I'm Kim McGirt with Bonneville New Bank, we are proud partners with Benton High School.
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  Win the day, go Tigers!
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  Hi, I'm Ed Wilson with Bonneville New Bank, proud partner of Planned Dealing High School.
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  Win the day, and go Lions!
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  Hi, I'm Jason Smith with Bonneville New Bank, we've been partners with the Bossier School
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  System for over four decades to win the day.
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  Go Vikes!
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  Students at Mediview Elementary are expressing their artistic side as global ambassadors
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  for Crayola Creativity Week.
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  Mediview is one of only 15 schools nationwide to be chosen for this honor.
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  All 400-plus students were able to take part in virtual book readings with celebrities,
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  even NASA astronauts, then participate in daily activities using the loads of Crayola
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  supplies sent to art teacher Cherise Kelly.
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  I hope that they find something, some way to express themselves, whatever that may be,
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  whether it's painting, coloring, cutting and crafting, whatever it is.
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  And also that they realize that it doesn't matter how old you are, whatever, shoot for
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  the moon and you'll land among the stars, and you know, nothing's impossible.
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  Opportunity is out there.
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  Parkway Band Director Mark Benton is not one to toot his own horn, so we will do it for
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  him.
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  He's been chosen as Bossier School's latest Gold Star winner, and we had the opportunity
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  to drop in on his band class recently to surprise him with the news.
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  During his 28 years at Parkway, Mr. Benton's pride of Panther Land Band has racked up countless
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  awards and so has he personally.
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  What matters most to him, though, is winning the kids.
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  He believes strongly in the transformative influence music can have on our young people.
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  Mr. Benton has a legion of fans, both past and present students, parents and musicians
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  from all around the state.
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  Just one of the tops, literally, in the country as far as band directors.
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  As parent Tiffany Robinson shares, there are teachers who teach music and then there are
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  teachers who change lives.
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  Mark Benton is one of those rare few who does both.
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  Now we could go on and on about the powerful testimonials that people shared about Mark
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  Benton, which is why he is so deserving of the incredible honor of being Bossier School's
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  Gold Star.
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  On that note, see what I did there?
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  That's a wrap of this episode of On the Record with Bossier Schools.
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  with Bossier Schools.
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  Thank you for joining us.
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  Until next time, you are up to date.
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  This has been a Bossier Schools production.
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  Join us next time when we go On the Record with Bossier Schools.