Shannon warned of possible closure

Superintendent Leonard Armato told M.D . Shannon Elementary School’s faculty and staff this week that the possible closure of the school will be on the St. Mary Parish School Board’s special meeting agenda Thursday.

Both Armato and Human Resources Director Ricky Armelin met with M.D. Shannon Elementary School Principal Shantell Toups on Tuesday to inform her “that one of the agenda items would be closing a school on the east end and west end of the parish,” Toups said.

Shannon is the school on the east end, Toups said. J.A. Hernandez Elementary is the school on the west end.

The school board commissioned an architect to conduct an analysis, which indicated that closing Shannon was more cost-effective than closing either Wyandotte or Julia B. Maitland elementary schools, Toups said.

“And one, it’s because of the building’s age,” Toups said. “It’s an old building.”

Shannon is a Title 1 school. Of the 164 student population, 92 percent are economically disadvantaged and 14 percent receive special education services.

Sixty-six percent of the students belong to minorities.

“A lot of the teachers at Shannon have spent their careers here,” Toups said. “I’d say it’s the best kept secret in the parish. These teachers are like family. And I know a lot of schools claim that but here you feel it.”

“We are truly a family,” said M.D. Shannon Elementary fourth-grade teacher Tonya Davis said. “Our students aren’t just students, they are our children.”

After the announcement, teachers asked the following questions:

—Was consolidation the absolute necessity? Did it have to be a consolidation?

—And if it had to be a consolidation, why Shannon over other schools in our parish?

—And if consolidation, what does it mean for veteran teachers?

The teacher questions were “not answered in particular because at this point, in order to answer those questions, it has to be voted on by the board,” Toups said.

“Our faculty will be divided and dispersed,” Davis said. “We don’t know where. We don’t know how. They couldn’t answer any of our questions.”

“And they can’t speculate what will happen if it may not even happen,” Toups said. “They just reiterated that it was an option to be discussed. It’s not definitive that Shannon will close or Hernandez, for that matter. But it will be a discussed item.”

If Shannon does close, students will be sent to M.E. Norman and Wyandotte. However, Shannon has 15 extra classrooms capable of housing Norman Elementary students, Shannon kindergarten teacher Mallory Fuhrer said.

Toups brought the meeting with the officials to a close in order to emotionally protect the faculty.

“My faculty got very emotional,” Toups said. “So in order to preserve the professionalism and dignity of my faculty I just asked that we go ahead and close up the meeting and discuss as a faculty what we needed to do on our end.”

Toups said the main concern for Shannon employees is doing what is best for the children.

“It was devastating to hear that our students will be dispersed, broken up,” Davis said. “They’ve been together since pre-K so to have them go to different schools with different teachers with different facilities, it worries us because these are our children.”

“When we’re looking at what needs to be done in our parish to save money, it cannot be at the cost of the children,” Toups said.

The consolidation of schools and salary cuts are the biggest monetary items on the agenda list, Toups said.

If schools consolidate, teachers were informed everyone would still have a job, Toups said. “They’re not sure where at this point.”

Last year, Shannon students exceeded the district and state performance in the percentage of students who achieved the basic level on standardized assessments. A slightly smaller percentage of Shannon students achieved the mastery level than in the district and the state.

Discussions about closing Shannon have been going on for about 15 years. But this time around, the news was a definite shock.

“It’s pretty emotional for everyone,” Toups said. “We will fight for our children till the end.”

Five other officials assisted Armato as he met with the school faculty. They were Armelin, director of human resources; Teresa Bagwell, assistant superintendent of schools; Michael Moncriffe, supervisor of federal programs (Title 1 and 3); Debra McClarity, supervisor of special services; and Mary Ann Hebert, supervisor of Elementary Education.

The special board meeting will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 25. A public hearing for comments begins at 6 p.m.

Anthony Streva is the board representative for District 10, where Shannon is located.