Grade levels may change at Eaton Park, Herod in Abbeville

The Vermilion Parish School Board gave the approval to begin “thinking out of the box” as a way to improve the academics at two Abbeville elementary schools.
At a school board education committee meeting on Monday, the committee gave the OK for assistant superintendent Ellen Arceneaux to go forward with an “out of the box” idea that may improve the academics of the two Abbeville elementary schools.
The school board is now looking into changing the grade structure of Eaton Park Elementary and Herod Elementary.
Right now those two schools are from pre-k through fifth grade.
Arceneaux proposed that one elementary school be only pre-k to second grade and the other elementary school be third grade through fifth grade. It would go into affect next school year.
If the “out of the box” idea is approved by the regular school board next month, then one elementary school would have 623 students (pre-k through second grade) and another school would have 487 students (3rd grade through fifth grade).
It is too early in the game to figure out which elementary school would house what grades.
Arceneaux said there is still problems to figure out before any decision is made. There are transportation issues to work out, along with what school would be better for what grades, she added.
“Is this the direction we have to go to bring up school performance scores?” asked board member Ricky Broussard.
“Yes,” replied Arceneaux.
Paul Hebert, the assistant superintendant in charge of personnel, said no teachers would be laid off if the change takes place. He did say a teacher who teaches one grade level may have to teach another grade level at a different Abbeville school.
The education committee gave Arceneaux the backing to begin studying the positive and negatives of the “out of the box” idea. The school board will have to make a decision soon because of time, she said.