JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — The Jefferson Parish School Board could be closing eight of their schools due to declining enrollment.
It comes after a third-party consultant recommended to the Jefferson Parish School Board that they close seven of their schools and shuffle students around elsewhere. One of the schools closing is Grace King High School, Eyewitness News spoke to one parent who says this is simply unfair.
Mario Oliney has a teenage son at Grace King, he says the closure makes no sense.
“I don’t think it would be fair to the students or the parents," he said. “He plays sports so transitioning to a new team with other players, they are already solidified at their school its difficult for other kids coming in to try and make the team."
Meyer Engineers, Ltd. assessed school buildings and how many buildings had students in them.
Schools recommended for closure are Grace King, Gretna Middle School, G.T. Woods Elementary, Helen Cox High School, Joshua Butler Elementary, Mildred Harris Elementary, and Washington Elementary. The Haynes school building will close and the program will move to the current Grace King building.
Sandra Hauer, Jefferson Federation of Teachers Interim President says so far there hasn’t been a lot of feedback from members, but the main concern is job security.
“My main concern is job preservation. Making sure our teachers, our educators, our support staff, our custodial, cafeteria, our secretaries have jobs,” Hauer said.
She says the federation will be working with HR to help teachers through this transition. Eyewitness News reporter Eleanor Tabone asked Hauer how many jobs are posted or advertised in Jefferson Parish Sandra.
“The last time I looked at the teacher vacancy numbers they were somewhere between 150-175 and I know with the support staff they had anywhere between 100 and a 150,” Hauer said.
She says this plan could possibly help with the region's teacher shortage. Parents on the other hand say they could now be traveling out of their neighborhood just so their child can get an education.
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