SLU Education Students Provide Free Tutoring Sessions in Fall

Middle school and elementary students in grades 2-8 will have access to seven weeks of free tutoring classes with teacher candidates from Southeastern Louisiana University during the Fall 2010 semester.

The tutoring sessions will be held at the Livingston Parish Literacy and Technology Center in Walker.  Students in grades 2-5 may choose to attend a one-hour session beginning at 3 p.m. or 4 p.m., while students in middle school may come anytime between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.  The Fall 2010 sessions will begin after Labor Day, and veteran parish teachers will supervise all sessions.

Persons interested in registering for the tutoring services should contact Erin Arnold at erin.arnold@lpsb.org.

Foundation Donates 10 AEDs to Parish Schools

New Orleans Family Strives to Save Other Children

            LIVINGSTON, La. - Ten Livingston Parish schools with athletic programs are the beneficiaries of new automated external defibrillators(AEDs), thanks to the generosity of a New Orleans family whose 17-year-old son died from sudden cardiac arrest in 2005.

The family of the late Chad Barcia created the Chad Barcia Athlete Awareness Foundation, which each year raises funds to purchase and donate AEDs to school athletic programs in an attempt to save other student-athletes from the same fate as their son.

The Barcias opted to donate AEDs to the Livingston Parish Public School System this year after Jennifer Wilkinson, the school system's nursing coordinator, contacted them about the need in the parish.

 "We were very glad to get the call from your school system, and to know that your school leaders want to protect your students as much as possible," said Nancy Barcia.

"It is our goal to try and keep other parents from suffering the loss of their child with the help of AEDs and other medical tests that can help to better identify heart-related problems," she said.

Wilkinson said those schools assigned to receive the AEDs from the Barcia Foundation include Albany High, Denham Springs Freshman High, Holden, Maurepas, Springfield High, Southside Junior High, Walker High, Walker Freshman High, and Westside Junior High.

Wilkinson said Denham Springs High, Doyle High, Doyle Elementary, and Live Oak High already have AEDs on their campuses, and she is working with a local community organization to provide another 14 AEDs to schools in the Walker area before the end of the school year.

"It is our intent that every school has at least one AED on campus," Wilkinson said.  "I am passionate about making sure all schools in Livingston Parish have AEDs on site and readily available in an emergency."

"We have numerous students with heart conditions and staff that are at increased risk for cardiac arrest.  Having AEDs on site could mean the difference between life and death," she said.

Barcia noted that her son died in March 2005 while playing in a rugby game. He was a junior at De La Salle High School, where he also played football.  She said her son's chances of survival would have greatly improved had an AED been on site when his heart problem occurred.

Barcia said her foundation funds the donation of about 15 AEDs per year.  She said only 30 percent of schools in Louisiana currently have AEDs on site.

Cardiac Science, the manufacturer from which the Barcia Foundation purchased Livingston Parish's AEDs, states in its brochure that 365,000 people each year in North America fall victim to sudden cardiac arrest, including 7,000 children.

The American Heart Association states that defibrillation within three minutes of SCA raises the chance of survival to 70 percent.  When a shock is delivered within one minute, survival rates can increase from 5 percent (waiting for emergency medical personnel to arrive) to as much as 86 percent.

Roger Mattei, the territory sales manager for Cardiac Science, demonstrated the use of his company's AED during a recent school board meeting, as part of the Barcia's presentation.  He showed how the device provides verbal and visual instructions to the persons using it, and that the device has safety measures that ensure the patient receives the appropriate shock level.

"We know that following a sudden cardiac arrest, people are scared and there is chaos.  But time is critical.  That's why our device is easy to use.  It instructs the rescuer to apply the defibrillation pads, and then the device analyzes the patient's heart rhythm and ?knows' when to deliver the shock.  Or in some cases, it knows not to deliver the shock.  After the shock, the rescuer is prompted to deliver CPR until emergency medical help arrives, with a built-in metronome that sets the pace for proper chest compressions," Mattei said.

Wilkinson said Cardiac Science sells its AEDs on state contract to public school systems for $1,350 each.

#01-10 AED Donor - Nancy Barcia of New Orleans announces that her family's foundation has donated 10 AEDs to Livingston Parish Schools, as her husband A.J. Barcia holds a photo of their son Chad Barcia, who died in 2005 from sudden cardiac arrest.

#01-10 AED Manufacturer - Roger Mattei, a sales manager for Cardiac Science, the nation's largest manufacturer of automated external defibrillators (AEDs), demonstrates to Livingston Parish School Board members the easy use of his company's device in an emergency situation.

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Livingston Parish's School Performance Score

Recalculated Higher; Correction Boosts District's Standing

Originally, back in October, Livingston's score for the 2008-2009 school year was said to be 101.3 - denoting a two-tenths of point drop from the previous year.  However, the district's score will be higher than 104.4 after the corrections are input into the state's calculation, reflecting more than 3 points of growth overall and restoring Livingston Parish back among the state's top 10 performing districts.

"Livingston Parish has always been fortunate to be a Top 10 School System.  We appreciate all the assistance provided to us by the State Department of Education in the recalculation of our score," Superintendent Bill Spear said. 

"Our teachers and administrators work hard to provide each child with a quality education.  They take pride in being one of the best.  This acknowledged correction by the state means a lot to them and it says a lot about the effort they put forth each day," Spear said.

Spear said school officials identified two errors in the state's scoring process that incorrectly and adversely affected Livingston Parish's overall score.  One of the errors has been corrected, and has been input into the system, currently boosting Livingston Parish' score to 104.4.

"The other recalculation will take longer, but we are assured by the state department that once it is corrected, our score will go even higher," Spear said.

Each year, the state releases scores for all public school districts in Louisiana.  These scores are based upon a matrix of calculations and multipliers that weigh student scores on accountability tests, attendance and drop-outs. 

           
Spear said he and his administrators were perplexed by the state's original report, which showed the parish having a significant increase in dropouts.  Just the year before, Livingston Parish was reported as having one of the best graduation rates in the state.

           
As it turned out, one of the parish's high schools that houses grades 10-12 on its campus was being calculated as having a 9-12 grade configuration.

"Of course there was no ninth grade class at that school, which caused the state's formula to calculate an entire ninth grade class as dropouts," Spear said.

He said state officials noticed the miscalculation when they were configuring the score for that individual school.  However, they did not make the correction when they calculated the district's overall score.  

"It has now been corrected," Spear said.

Spear said additionally there were issues in the manner in which the state department tracks Adult Education students and how that tracking is calculated into the dropout rate.

"The State Department of Education is in the process of correcting that data.  We know this will make our District Performance Score go up even higher.  We just don't know how high at this time," Spear said.

Spear noted that nearly every school in Livingston Parish - 35 out of 39 - increased its School Performance Score, according to the state's latest accountability report.  Another school maintained the same score from the year before. 

Twenty-four of the Livingston Parish's schools rank as three-star schools, meaning they have earned 100 points or higher in the state's scoring formula.   The district's other 15 schools have two-star ratings.