BESE member Boffy speaks to Abbeville Kiwanis Club

Holly Boffy has served on the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) since being elected in 2011.
There have been no lack of issues when it comes to education in the state during the time Boffy has served, including heavy debate on Common Core standards.
She discussed some of those issues Tuesday with the Abbeville Kiwanis Club during the group’s weekly meeting.
“For the last four years that I have served on the board,” Boffy said, “our goal has been to graduate our kids from high school to where they are college and career ready.”
Increasing standards has been a way to ensure that.
“You should all be able to name the standards for student learning because they have been in the news so much lately,” Boffy said of Common Core standards.
Debate on Common Core has indeed been highly publicized throughout the state.
“It has been a huge shift,” Boffy said. “Why has the shift been so difficult for many people? One of the reasons is that they are higher standards. They were written to be higher standards. Instead of our students having to hold onto a lot of things, we really want our students and educators focused, so that our students graduate being college and career ready. Gaps in student knowledge created a barrier in implementation.”
Boffy said part of the issue is that Common Core is simply something new.
“Another challenge is that it is change,” Boffy said. “Anytime we make changes in our personal lives or professional lives, that comes with difficulty.
“We have received some difficulty as schools have been moving towards the change in student standards.”
Despite a few bumps, Boffy said she is pleased with the transition.
“I am really proud of our educators,” Boffy said. “I am especially proud of the way our state has worked to involve our educators in the change. We have a group of teacher leaders that is 5,000 strong.”
Boffy, a former teacher, ran for BESE board with teachers in mind.
“I ran to focus the board on the classroom,” Boffy said of the 11-member board. “I felt like there were some who didn’t have the classroom experience that I had and not qualified to make some of the decisions that they were making.
“I wanted to focus on the classroom and I think the evidence of success there is that the fact that we have relied on our teachers in implementation.”
Common Core standards were reviewed in 2009 and adopted by BESE in ‘10, a year prior to Boffy being elected. She said to completely throw out Common Core standards now would be taking myriad steps back.
“Part of the issues we have had is actually getting them implemented,” Boffy said. “If someone were to write a whole new set of standards, we would be starting a square one of implementation.
“That is especially difficult on our teachers, students, school and districts.”
Boffy said she recognizes there are concerns with the standards.
“We are on a seven year cycle with standards,” Boffy explained. “One of the things our board did, in our March meeting, was begin a review process of standards a year earlier. Instead of scrapping the whole thing and starting over, we are going to create committees of educators to examine the standards one by one. We are going to have conversations about the content of standards. A lot of the things you hear about are based in politics and not based on what is going on in the classroom.
“We are working on a professional review process of the standards.”
Common Core has not been the only polarizing issue in education. Charter schools, ones that operate independently of the local school district have received a share of discussion. Boffy said she does not expect Vermilion Parish to see charters open any time soon.
“I don’t expect that there will be any charter schools in this area unless the people want to bring them here,” Boffy told the Kiwanians. “In order for a charter school to be developed, you have to have a non-profit board. The board has to select a charter management organization and someone who wants to lead that organization. It’s a very involved process.
“I have not seen that interest from citizens in Vermilion Parish to bring any charters here.”