IT center to be named for Treen

The St. Tammany Parish School Board will rename the Mandeville Technology Center after former Gov. David Treen.

The board has not worked out the exact wording for the facility’s new name, but they voted unanimously Thursday night to name it in honor of the late governor who passed away Oct. 29.

During his four years as governor, Treen established the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in Natchitoches; encouraged professional growth through continuing education for teachers; raised teachers’ pay; and in general protected the legacy of education in Louisiana.

The board also gave Superintendent Gayle Sloan permission to purchase 10 acres at a cost of $1.85 million on the southeast corner of Lakeshore Village West and North Ring Road. The property will be used to construct a new school, which will relieve overcrowding at Abney Elementary School, when funding becomes available.

In a separate matter, the board approved purchasing 3.81 acres located adjacent to Abney Elementary. This property will be used to temporarily expand the capacity at Abney Elementary until the new school can be built.

The board also awarded a $1.4 million project to construct a new classroom wing at Whispering Forest Elementary School to Ragusa Construction. The same company was awarded a $750,000 project to upgrade the HVAC units at Carolyn Park Middle School.

Prior to any votes or discussions, Robin Mullet was sworn in at the beginning of the meeting to serve as the district 9 representative.

Supervisor of Instruction Peggy Sharpe took advantage of Thursday night’s meeting to recognize parent organizations from two local schools that recently won national awards.

Woodlake Elementary School was the only school in the state to receive a new award given by the national PTA this year. In the past, the group has recognized schools that have parent involvement programs based on the National Standards for Parent/ Family Involvement by awarding them with a Parent Involvement Schools of Excellence Certification.

Of the 11 Louisiana schools that have received this certification since 2003, nine have been from St. Tammany Parish.

This year, the national PTA created a new award to better recognized the role parents play in schools’ achievement.

The certification was replaced with the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Family-School Partnership Award.

Sharpe presented Woodlake Elementary School Principal and National PTA Board member Jean Krieger and Woodlake PTA President Kristin Chou Thursday night with that award.

Salmen High School was also recognized Thursday night as the only school in St. Tammany Parish and one of only 11 in the nation to receive the Mary Lou Anderson Reflections Art Enhancement Grant this year.

This is a matching grant for student centered arts education programs.

Salmen High School’s PTA, in working with talent arts teacher and cultural arts chairperson Nancy Pearson, will use these funds to create an after-school arts club.

Sharpe said this club would provide students interested in pursuing creative endeavors with an outlet to use their talents as well as the teacher support to help them on their way.

The money will also be used to provide workshops for the students and to pay for visiting artists programs and to purchase materials.

At the end of the school year, the artwork the students created through this program will be displayed at an arts expo at the school.

Sharpe said the National PTA stated it chose Salmen to receive this award based on the “creativity and the number of students benefiting from it.”

Sharpe said theses awards highlight just two examples of the work parents are doing in the local schools.

She attributed much of the success of St. Tammany Parish Schools to the involvement of parents.

Out of the 25,000 statewide members of the National PTA, 15,224 come from St. Tammany, with every one of the schools being a member of the national group.