Some Louisiana students will soon be celebrating. While students in other states will be struggling this time next spring with state standardized tests or the SAT, St. Bernard parish plans to give its students an entire week off for Mardi Gras:
At a meeting of the St. Bernard Parish School Board's general committee this week, Associate Superintendent Bev Lawrason said a group of administrators and school employees have recommended three school calendar options for employees to consider but that all three call for an entire week of vacation for Carnival, instead of the traditional three-day holiday...Lawrason said school officials are concerned about higher absenteeism among students and employees on school days after Mardi Gras and the effect it has on schools' scores under the state accountability program...In the past, she said, students had standardized testing in the week after Mardi Gras. School officials thought it was wiser for students to return to school, even if only for two days, to get them back into a school mood before the tests began.
Now the tests are given later in the year, and next year there will be two full weeks between Mardi Gras week and standardized testing, she said...Another factor is the decrease in attendance on the Thursday and Friday after Mardi Gras, she said. This year, student attendance dropped 4 percent compared with normal attendance for those two days, she said.
Employee absenteeism rates weren't discussed at the meeting.
Heh.