Elsik high school counselors

Four Baton Rouge high schools, led by Liberty High, are home to the bulk of the ninth-graders who have signed up this fall for new dual enrollment courses meant to set teenagers early on the path to college .

Liberty, Glen Oaks, McKinley and Tara high schools have a total of 728 students registered so far to take college-level courses being offered by Baton Rouge Community College. They account for two-thirds of the nearly 1,100 students in Baton Rouge who’ve put these courses on their schedules for the fall as part of the school district’s Pathways to Bright Futures initiative.

On the flip side, seven high schools — two of them small alternative schools — each have fewer than 50 ninth-graders participating in the program. The school with the least participation is Baton Rouge Magnet High, where 16 ninth-graders have signed up, followed by Woodlawn High with 27 students participating. They are by far the largest high schools in the school district.

Signups so far represent close to 40% of the incoming ninth-grade in the East Baton Rouge Parish school system. They range from about 3% of ninth-graders at Baton Rouge Magnet High to more than 80% at Liberty High.

By taking dual enrollment courses starting in ninth-grade, students can potentially earn college credit while still in high school, perhaps enough to earn an associate’s degree while still in high school.

The school system released these numbers pursuant to a public records request by The Advocate. School officials initially denied the request, saying they would not release such information until sometime in mid-July, arguing early release of the numbers, which are not complete since fall courses are still being scheduled, could be “misconstrued or misunderstood by the public.” They relented a few days later.

Indeed, the numbers are changing. The latest count, dated June 28, shows that 1,083 students had signed for dual enrollment courses for the fall. An overall district count from eight days earlier, showed 69 fewer students signed up.

All are ninth-graders except for a few 10th graders from Glen Oaks High, a school that piloted the program last year. At that high school, about 80 ninth-graders enrolled last fall for dual enrollment courses, representing about 75% of the eligible students in that class. Fifty-five ninth-graders continued to take dual enrollment courses in the spring.

Like last year, the dual enrollment courses for ninth-graders, an earlier start on such courses than is typical, are being offered by Baton Rouge Community College through a partnership with the school system.

Sarah Barlow, BRCC’s vice chancellor for academic and student affairs, said the community college is still determining staffing for the courses it will be offering this fall, a process that won’t be complete until August, and the courses will be led either by BRCC faculty or by qualified teachers from the participating high school. It appears the classes will be largely taught in-person as opposed to online.

“At this time most of the schools have requested on-site courses,” Barlow said.

Although school leaders are carrying on under the assumption that Pathways to Bright Futures will roll out districtwide in line with Superintendent Sito Narcisse’s plan, Narcisse has struggled to persuade a majority of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board to support his potentially pricy plans.

On June 16, the board declined to approve Pathways expenditures for the 2022-23 school year — the motion to approve did not get a second.

Board meeting rules specify that items that fail have to wait at least 60 days before the board can reconsider them. In this case, Aug. 16 would be the earliest the board could take it up anew. That’s a week after students return to school and two weeks after teachers return.

The rules, however, allow for the board to reconsider killed items if the board agrees by a two-thirds — six members — vote to suspend its rules . That could happen when the board meets again. Its next scheduled meeting is July 14.

The district has estimated that Pathways to Bright Futures will cost about $2.5 million in year one, rising to $5.6 million in year four. Actual costs will be greater or less depending on how many students end up participating, how many courses they take and the costs of those courses.

One predictable cost is about $1.5 million a year to employ 14 program coordinators, one for each of the participating high schools. Four traditional high schools had fewer than 50 ninth-graders sign up, meaning those coordinators will have fewer students and classes to oversee. Like Baton Rouge and Woodlawn high schools, Istrouma and Belaire also have had limited uptake, with 43 and 34 ninth-graders signing up, respectively.

The school-by-school numbers released last week list only 13 high schools. An exception from the list is EBR Virtual Academy, an online school that had about 150 ninth-graders last year. In December, the school system changed vendors for providing instruction in the upper grades, shifting to Arizona-based ASU Digital Prep . ASU’s proposal said it would let students take dual enrollment courses — the online program offers dual enrollment courses through Arizona State University.

School officials said they are checking to see what the dual enrollment plan is next school year for EBR Virtual Academy.

The disparate signup numbers for individual high schools may be indicative of the controversy that has surrounded Pathways to Bright Futures since Narcisse unveiled it in December.

Baton Rouge Magnet High, the largest high school in the district and its highest performing, was the center of the early fight, focused on concerns that the program would have the effect of greatly reducing the availability of Advanced Placement courses .

Many of the parents there favor AP because it is often given more weight than dual enrollment during the college admissions process, particularly by out-of-state schools.

After much criticism, Narcisse in February downscaled the program. He reduced from 20 to 4 the number of college-level courses students are expected to take, or one a year. And that lone advanced course no longer needed to be a dual enrollment class. Instead, it could be an Advanced Placement or a career-oriented course.

Even with that concession, few Baton Rouge Magnet families have signed on to dual enrollment.

Still, the 16 ninth-graders there who signed up for dual enrollment this fall is more than last year when zero students at the high school went that route. Instead, 1,223 students at the high school, more than three-quarters, took AP courses last year.

Belinda Davis, a parent of an incoming ninth grader at the high school and a member the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, said she still has concerns about the district’s insistence on trying to require ninth-graders to take at least one college-level course.

“I have a ninth grader who is totally capable of taking an AP class right away, but that varies by child and that’s part of the reason why I object to this,” Davis said.

Liberty High, which like Baton Rouge Magnet is a dedicated, or schoolwide, magnet school, has taken a much different path. There, 261 ninth-graders at present have a dual enrollment course on the fall course schedule.

Liberty High has had a longer history of having students take dual enrollment — last year 42 students took such courses. Liberty’s acceptance of the program is also perhaps a reflection of family ties. Principal Brandon Levatino is married to Latasha Levatino, who is one of the top Central Office administrators over Pathways.

Following behind Liberty, McKinley and Tara high schools have shown keen interest in Pathways, with 173 and 167 ninth-graders signing up for the fall. They represent roughly 60% of those schools’ likely incoming ninth-graders.

Matthew Chambers may well be the proudest man in the Silverstone grandstands this weekend.

Last Friday, the Essex-born father’s 18-year-old daughter Chloe graduated from high school. On Saturday, she’ll race the legendary circuit for the first time.

The W Series , officially, has six British drivers. Chloe likes to think she makes at least a fractional difference to that tally.

“Silverstone is like a half home race for me,” said the American, who was adopted from China at 11 months old and became a Guinness World Record-holder by 16.

“I think a lot of people don’t realise how much British heritage I have. My dad’s mom lives in Kettering, we go to England on family vacations.

“I’m excited to race there and actually experience what England is mainly known for. Just the whole way they embrace motorsport, literally everyone who lives there has an interest in it, or at least knows something about it.

“In the States, if you mention something about Formula One to someone, there’s a chance that person might not even understand what that means.”

Chambers’ Jenner Racing teammate, two-time and reigning W Series champion Jamie Chadwick , will look to extend her record-breaking run of W Series victories to six on Saturday.

Chadwick leads a trio of Brits at the top of the table with 75 points, while Abbi Pulling sits in second with 38, five ahead of Alice Powell. Chambers picked up her sole point on opening weekend in Miami, and has set a personal goal for a top-five finish, “maybe a podium as well” with five rounds remaining after Silverstone.

She’s aware of the resources she has in her W Series-dominating teammate and celebrity owner Caitlyn Jenner, herself a former driver, but Chambers remains determined to carve out her own identity.

“[Jamie] has given me some little nuggets here and there,” she said. “But I think it’s just really cool to be able to work with her and Caitlyn and have two people I’ve looked up to for a while.

“I think that, just generally, I don’t think she actually needs to tell me anything. I think I can learn things from just simply watching.”

Chambers grew up watching F1 with her dad and started karting aged eight.

It wasn’t long before she picked out a favourite driver. “Lewis Hamilton!” she said, so surprised by her own enthusiasm she began to laugh.

“Oh my god, yeah, Lewis Hamilton. I think when I grew up it was mainly because I liked his helmet. It stood out a lot, and the car looked very cool. So I picked him and stuck with it.”

That admiration has only deepened. Hamilton has spent his week embroiled in a media maelstrom after it was discovered Nelson Piquet used a racially offensive word to describe him on a podcast.

“I’ve been surrounded by these attitudes and targeted my whole life. There has been plenty of time to learn. Time has come for action,” Hamilton tweeted.

It’s the seven-time world champion’s advocacy, not his helmet, that ultimately earned Chambers’ respect.

“He obviously brings tremendous, tremendous amount of talent,” she said. “And I think the way he is able to use his voice and cause discussion in the community is something that [the sport] hasn’t really seen as much as it has now.

“And I don’t think that’s with just Hamilton, it’s with other drivers. They’re using their platforms to combat climate change and that kind of thing.”

So far, Chambers and Hamilton have been like single-seaters passing in the night. Three years ago, they both featured on the same David Letterman-hosted show, but on different segments. She once sat right in front of his dad in the audience for an interview—and this weekend, the drivers will share a third circuit.

Whether or not their paths do eventually cross, Chambers, whose LinkedIn page lists her job as “race car driver” would love to use her platform just like her hero.

“Obviously women in sports, that’s the biggest one” said Chambers, listing the causes most important to her.

“I also represent the Gift of Adoption Fund. I use that to showcase adoption in an environment that doesn’t actually see a lot of it.

“I think to be able to showcase not just women in sports, but also people who are adopted in sports, those two combined make the perfect recipe.”

Cap and gown cast aside, race suit on. ‘Half home race’ though it may be, Chambers is full steam ahead.

There will be a police presence at each school in a Virginia county after a board of supervisors approved a request in the wake of the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

In a 6-0 vote, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors approved a $150,000 fund for additional officers to be stationed at the eight schools in the area during a meeting on Monday, June 27.

The funds will mean at least one school resource officer (SRO) will be at each school in the county. But, the board’s approved measure does not extend to the towns of Christiansburg and Blacksburg, which are not covered by the county’s decision.

In response to board member Sara R. Bohn asking why $150,000 funding was needed now, Sheriff Hank Partin said he wanted to fulfill a campaign promise he made in 2015 to have at least one SRO in each school in the area.

Partin then referred to numerous shootings that have occurred in places of learning across the U.S. including the recent massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 21 people were shot dead .

He said: “Obviously now, because of Texas, because of [Sandy Hook] Newtown and because of [Virginia] Tech.

“I can’t tell you how so many events have affected me and have affected our deputies, but what I can tell you is—and this is not Monday morning quarterbacking anyone or any agency—what I can tell you is with us, it doesn’t matter if it is one or 51. Somebody’s going to be in that building

“That somebody might be dead but we’re going to slow it down until the cavalry gets there.”

Partin later said, however, that he could not guarantee there would be an SRO at every school every day of the school year due to possible sickness.

The sheriff also mentioned the need for more vehicles but said he would bring that up at a later date.

Ahead of the unanimous vote, Vice-Chair Mary W. Biggs said: “I have always wanted this. I am hoping that the two towns will get one SRO officer per school.

“It’s really bothered me and I got to see when we had the officer in our elementary school, the impact that that one individual made in our school with K through five and the relationships he developed with those children.

“You start there and it builds up through middle and high [schools]. And these folks, at least the ones I encountered are well trained to do their job and interact with kids. I think it is critically important. I certainly support having all of our county schools covered.”

Newsweek has contacted the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office for comment.

Following the shooting in Uvalde, Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin said his administration wanted to secure schools in the state.

The governor said he wanted to enhance budget funding for school security, according to WCVE-FM.

He said: “The reality is there’s going to be a lot of politics around this from both ends. We need to get to work right now on these things that we have already agreed on.”

As schools re-opened in nearly 25 districts on Monday — after shutting in March due to the Covid-19 lockdown — only five per cent students across the state were present.