Stephensville teacher position reinstated

Henri C. Bienvenu
henri.bienvenu@techetoday.com

Breaux Bridge – Students at Stephensville Elementary School in Lower St. Martin Parish will enjoy the benefit of an additional teacher during the 2014-15 school year.
St. Martin School Board members agreed last week to restore the teaching position cut last summer after hearing from recently appointed principal Bryan Staton report of the efforts he and his staff, along with support from parents, are making to increase enrollment at the pre-K to grade 8 school.
Despite the number of grades housed at the school, it has the lowest enrollment of any school in the parish.
The number of students attending the school had dropped from 161 in 2012-13 to 132 this past year. But Staton said he is expecting the student count to increase to at least 143 during the coming school year.
In addition to cutting the teacher slot for the past year, board members last summer also eliminated a full-time custodian position and part-time food service technician and said they would further decrease the number of teachers at the school by two positions over the 2014-15, 2015-16 school years.
Board president Russell Foti of Catahoula, whose district includes Stephensville, offered the motion to restore the teacher position. “We’re trying not to combine grades (at the school),” he said in pleading his case.
A small delegation of Stephensville parents, who had traveled the 90 or so miles from the Morgan City area, applauded the board’s action.