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volume 116, Number 27 Sunday, OctOber 7, 2012 75 CeNts

The Livingston Parish NewsWatson, 3 others

apply

“It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”

By Mike Dowty The Livingston Parish News

DENHAM SPRINGS — Juban Parc 8th grader Meghan Burns not only exemplifies that saying, she proved this past week that being nice and being impor-tant can go together.

It was her sweet nature that motivated football players Dillon Boyle and Matthew Guzzardo to start a campaign to get their classmate with Down’s Syndrome elected Homecoming Queen.

Dillon, a cornerback, wide receiver and running back for the Jaguars who likes to

“run over people,” said he got the idea of promoting Meghan last year while watching television. That program fea-tured another school electing a girl with Down Syndrome as Homecoming Queen. He enlisted Matthew and other classmates to do the same for Meghan. The job turned out to be easy.

“I just think it’s amazing that the kids would rally around her like that,” said her mother, Daphne Burns. On the other hand, Burns was not entirely surprised.

“You can have the worst day in your life and go see her and it all changes,” her mom said. “She’s just so happy. That’s

just her thing. She doesn’t have bad days and she never meets a stranger.”

The student body apparently sees those qualities in her as well, as they gave her 90 percent of the votes.

Meghan found it to be quite a thrill to make the homecom-ing court and stand on the field at Yellow Jacket Stadium Wednesday for the homecom-ing game. However, she had no expectation then that her name would be called to wear the crown of queen. When it happened, she beamed, but she took the honor and

Queen of Juban Parc

By Natalie Truax The Livingston Parish News

LIVINGSTON — Stress and frustrations are ram-pant across Livingston Parish Public Schools as teachers and administra-tors try to decipher the require-ments of the new teacher evaluation system with little guid-ance from the state De-partment of Education.

Director of Curriculum Dawn Rush and members of her cur-riculum teams explained the new requirements, demonstrated the Human Capital Information Sys-tem (HCIS) and described the frustrations teachers and administrators are

facing during a two-hour presentation to the School Board Thursday.

“The stress level in the schools these days is remarkable,” Rush said. “Every principal says the

School Board to interview Superintendent candidates P

QUEEN Page a3

TEACHERS Page a6

NaTaLie Truax | The News

this formula from the state for calculat-ing teacher performance was posted thursday night during a meeting of the Livingston Parish School board. It has educators scratching their heads.

Teachers stressed by new measures

By Natalie Truax The Livingston Parish News

LIVINGSTON — Assistant Superintendent John Watson is the lone lo-cal candidate of four who have applied for the Livingston Parish Public Schools Super-intendent of Schools. The school system has never hired an outsider as its Superintendent.

Watson, a 30-year vet-eran with the system, has served in varying

capacities including teacher, coach, assistant principal and prin-cipal at schools in Denham Springs, Watson and Walker and as the hu-man resources supervi-

Watson

SUPERINTENDENT Page a3

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Last year’s Homecoming Queen Whitney Fourrier crowns Meghan burns as this year’s queen at Juban Parc Junior High School. as Meghan waves, her escort reggie Henderson enjoys the moment along with Principal Jeff Frizell.

suNday, oCtober 7, 2012 the liviNgstoN parish NeWs A3i

the raucous cheering from the stands in stride, as she does with everything.

Meghan said when she at-tended homecomings in the past she imagined what it would be like to wear that crown. She never dreamed such an honor was possible for her. Even when she joined the court this year, she had no expectation that her name would be called. When it was, she rewarded spectators with a smile even bigger than usual.

“I wasn’t nervous,” she insist-ed. “I was excited.”

“She’s always nice to every-body, hugging everybody, saying hi,” said Matthew, explaining the main reason he became one of her many friends in school two years ago.

“She’s just a good person,” Dil-lon added.

Appropriately, she belongs to a school organization called the “Buddy Club.”

She is also accomplished in her own realm as an athlete. Last summer she won two golds and a silver medal in the state Special Olympics in Hammond. She participates in everything from 50-yard dash to long jump and softball throw. She is also an avid LSU softball fan and at-tends all the Lady Tigers games she can.

Her mother notes that her sec-ond of two daughters is also up

for a “Yes I Can” award from the Livingston Parish School Board this year. Daphne found out when Meghan was 6 weeks old that she had Down’s Syndrome. At first that was devastating news, but over the years the mom learned how to cope with the extra responsibility and has come to appreciate the gift that

Meghan’s personality has been.“I wouldn’t change it,” mom

now says confidently.A poster in Meghan’s class

says: “Expect to be accepted for who you are.”

In her school, that’s more than a poster. It’s an attitude that Meghan teaches and her school has learned.

mike dowTy | The News

Juban Parc Junior High School Homecoming Queen Meghan burns enjoys the company of her friends, football players dillon boyle (left) and Matthew Guz-zardo, who orchestrated her landslide election at school.

sor at the Central Office.When the position was last open in 2008,

Watson applied but graciously stepped aside for the sake of School Board unity as one of three candidates to avoid a stale-mate over the superintendent of schools appointment.

Bill Spear, who was appointed unani-mously at the time, will retire in early 2013.

Other candidates include Dr. Charles Michel of Metairie, Afreda Hygh of Shreveport, and Dr. Donna Alleman of Pierre Part.

Michel, who currently serves as super-visor of special education in Lafourche Parish schools, has 28 years in education experience ranging from teacher, assis-tant principal and principal at schools in Louisiana and Texas.

Michel has also served as the assistant deputy superintendent of accountability for the Recovery School District in New Orleans.

Hygh, with nearly 20 years of experi-ence, has served as teacher, assistant principal and principal at schools in Ba-ton Rouge, New Orleans, Texas and Caddo Parish. She currently is a teacher at Fair Park High School in Caddo Parish.

Alleman, director of outreach for the Louisiana Schools for the Deaf and Visu-ally Impaired, has 27 years of experience as a teacher, transition consultant, as-sistant principal and preschool coordina-tor in Assumption Parish and St. Mary Parish schools.

Alleman has also served as a teacher at the Louisiana School for the Deaf in Ba-ton Rouge as well as its interim director.

The board scheduled interviews for Oct. 9 and Oct. 10, beginning at 6 p.m. The board will interview Michel and Hygh on Oct. 9 and Alleman and Watson on Oct. 10.

The board will appoint the new superin-tendent at its Nov. 8 meeting.

In other action, the board:•Accepted the low bid from John Blount

Construction for upgrades to the Spring-field High School baseball and softball complex.

•Granted tax-exempt status for the project for additional parking at Denham Springs Freshman High.

•Adopted and deleted a number of Liv-ingston Parish Public School policies due to legislative changes.

•Granted authority to advertise for sale of waste water treatment plants at Gray’s Creek Elementary and Lewis Vincent Elementary.

MAUREPAS — FEMA an-nounced Thursday it will keep its Disaster Recovery Center in Maurepas open through Oct. 17. The recovery center had initially been scheduled to close last week before FEMA said it would keep the facility operating indefinitely ev-ery day except Sundays.

The center is located at the American Legion Hall at 24195 LA. Hwy.

22 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday.

After the center closes, Hurricane Isaac sur-vivors in Livingston Parish can still contact FEMA online at www.di-sasterassistance.gov or via web-enabled phone at m.fema.gov.

Applicants may also call 1-800-621-3362 or (TTY) 1-800-462-7585. Those who use 711 Relay or Video Relay Services

may call 1-800-621-3362. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

For more information on Louisiana disaster recovery, visit online at www.fema.gov/disas-ter/4080 or www.gohsep.la.gov. You can follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/femaregion6 or on Facebook at www.face-book.com/FEMA. Also

visit our blog at www.fema.gov/blog.

More than 193,000 residents have regis-tered with FEMA in the 24 parishes designated for FEMA Individual Assistance grants. In Livingston Parish, more than $6.4 million has been approved for eligible residents among the 4,939 Livingston Par-ish residents who have registered.

Queen inspires school with her friendliness

FeMa Maurepas center stays open

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Watson once stepped aside for Superintendent

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