All parties agree to shift students in deseg case

Following a series of pre-trial negotiations, all parties involved in the desegregation suit brought against the St. Martin School Board have agreed to a plan that would reconfigure Catahoula Elementary School, shift students between that community and St. Martinville, and also transfer more than 200 students from two Parks schools to three schools in Breaux Bridge.
A statement released Friday by attorney Pam W. Dill, who represents the school board, said the plaintiffs, represented by the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund Inc., and the U. S. Department of Justice, acting as a plaintiff-intervenor in the case, last Friday accepted a proposed consent order awaiting the approval of federal Judge Elizabeth E. Foote.
A hearing was scheduled for Tuesday morning, Jan. 19 in Lafayette.
Dill said Friday the Court was not expected to issue a decision regarding the proposed consent order immediately but that the matter was expected to be settled in time for implementation with the 2016-17 school year.
The proposed consent order adheres to proposals agreed to over the past several weeks by the school board to include:
•Changing Catahoula Elementary School from its current preK-grade 8 configuration to preK-grade 5.
•Transfer of approximately 73 mostly white Catahoula students in grades 6-8 to St. Martinville Jr. High.
•Adjustment of Catahoula/St. Martinville attendance zone for grades 2-5 to take in an area on the east side of La. 347/Cemetery-Resweber Hwy. from just south of St. Martinville north to the Boon Lasseigne Road which would result in the transfer of about 39 black students from St. Martinville Primary to Catahoula.
•Adjustment of the Parks attendance zone to move 220 students currently attending Parks Primary and Parks Middle schools to Breaux Bridge Primary, Breaux Bridge Elementary and Breaux Bridge Jr. High schools. The area affected extends from just north of Parks along the east bank of Bayou Teche to Ruth Bridge Hwy that includes homes along Hebert Lane east to La. 347/Poydras Hwy and several neighborhoods on the east side of the highway.
A split board narrowly approved these changes during two special meetings held over the past several weeks.
The changes are being vigorously opposed by most residents in the affected areas.