Issues We Are Seeing Unfold

    • Teachers are disciplined for arbitrary and minor infractions, creating a culture of fear and uncertainty.

      • Teachers have been written up for negligible actions such as snack time running over by a minute or wearing sunglasses at a meeting

    • Administration has repeatedly fired long-term, effective and beloved teachers, including the most recent firing of 5th grade teacher Sam Fick

      • This leaves his students and families crushed and without a teacher in the middle of the year. He was bilingual and taught in both French and English.

      • This leaves teachers feeling extremely insecure about their empolyment and creates fear of speaking up for their basic needs

    • The Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent are known to be hostile towards our teachers

    • Because of this unhealthy work environment the teachers fought for a union to protect themselves, and won; however, the administration appears to engage in unfair labor practices - teachers who openly support the union have been fired, which we feel violates Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act

    • As reported to us in November there is no science teacher for grades 6, 8, 10 or 12 (12 grade earth sciences)

    • Since the beginning of the year, Kindergarten no longer has two teachers in the classroom

    • There are some French teachers teaching English language classes

    • The above information comes from the teachers and from union representatives

    • It has been reported to us from teachers that, under the direction of the current administration, the French curriculum has been phased out over the last couple years. As reported from teachers in many of the grades, particularly pK-5th, and from union representation, as well direct parent-teacher conversations during official school informational gatherings, this year, the administration told the teachers to prioritize the English Louisiana Curriculum and has also removed all French textbooks. (As with any typical school providing a language class, there is still a French book for the FLA class).

    • Therefore, subjects, such as math, science, socials studies, etc, have English books. Even in a French directed class, children have English workbooks as their material.

      • It is broadly accepted that foreign language immersion requires speaking and reading in the target language. By not following this structure the school is “language mixing” and that violates the Louisiana guidelines for immersion programs.

      • French speaking teachers try to translate the Louisiana curriculum material into French for their students when they can. It is a time-consuming task, and wholly unnecessary, if we had just kept the French books

    • This also means that in Kindergarten, which is advertised as 100% French immersion, they have English workbooks for math, science, social studies and Leader in Me

      • These students are learning the sounds and look of a new language, which means that when they hear French being spoken, they cannot make the correct connection between what they hear and what they see

    • Over 40 teachers and staff have been fired, non-renewed, or have quit in the last 2.5 years, which is the timeframe of Chase McLaurin’s and Tiguida Mathieu’s leadership

    • Administration has consistently changed the core nature of the French program without transparent and honest school wide communication with parents and teachers

    • As reported from a recent former employee of the school, approximately 15-20% of the student body has left since the end of last school year

  • Violations of IEPs and 504s are a constant struggle for parents.

    If you have an IEP or 504 violation, you need to report it to the proper authorities. Click this link to find out how
    https://louisianabelieves.com/students-with-disabilities/dispute-resolution

    If you want to help us, a group of parents, tally up the number of IEP and 504 violations committed in the last 2.5 years, please email lfnoparents@gmail.com with the following info. This is just to keep count and no one will reply.

    Let us know:
    IEP or 504
    Date of violation
    Has it been reported?
    Has it been resolved?
    Description**

    **We do not need any defining details about your individual student(s). You may choose to leave it as simple as, “the school won’t work with me to get an IEP”, or, “my student has a 504, but it’s not being followed”, or, “my student had a para but they were removed without replacement”.