• Category 2

    Selected in 2020

  • Grades: pre k - 12
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 1,331
    Student Enrollment: 755
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 11.9%
    White/Caucasian: 86.6%
    Hispanic: 0.9%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:25
    % Reduced Lunch: 100%
    % ELL Learners: 0%
    Founded: 1883
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Alice Lejeune
  • CONTACT:
    1557 Speedy Campbell Road
    Pine Prairie, LA 70576
    337-336-2370
    alice.lejeune@epsb.com
Pine Prairie High School
Pine Prairie, LA
The Secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.

Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
Our School communicates with parents frequently. We offer open house opportunities and an open door policy. Teachers communicate home weekly for both positive and not so positive reasons. We utilize social media platforms as well to communicate to the masses.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Our School incorporates an open house program for stakeholders with a presentation of athletics. It's where academic and spirit groups come together to kick off the year. It's called "Present the Panthers." It's an opportunity to introduce our Senior Class as well as have parents visit the campus and teacher classrooms to start the initial parent contacts.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
One of my favorite Socrates Quotes explains it well-
"The Secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new."
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
1-To increase US History State Assessment Scores.
2- To focus on how to close the Covid Gap in all subject areas through tutoring and reteaching missing units to help bridge the gap and recover what was lost.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
Buy-In! Set your expectations high, help your staff get there, and bask in their success. Listen to them. They are your troops on the front lines. Without them, you cannot win the battle!
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
Through offering many different programs we are able to satisfy the needs of our students to help them achieve their long term goals. In evaluating the community's economic structure and work demands we centered our programs to feed into those pipelines. Our community relies heavily on power line companies and trades. As a result, we offer welding, agriculture, electricity, business, and emergency medical technician courses in addition to arts, theatre, and food services. These options are valuable to students and provide them with an opportunity to gain trades and/or certification before graduating. We have also partnered with local businesses and have established a work program for our special education students to assist them in learning valuable working skills.
Explain how ESEA federal funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
Federal Funds are used to offer services such as academic tutoring, equipping our programs with necessary materials and funds for work training programs. Vouchers for certification processes and money to purchase technology to help create 21st-century learners.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
I utilize peer methods. Teachers learn best from one another. I typically provide a "look for" when they are observing one another and challenge them to not only critique one element but also give encouragement on what was good! Once we evaluate data we can best determine our next steps.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
Data is evaluated to see how students are performing on assessments and how they are adjusting to different test structures. Data is also used to find what subject areas are weak and what types of interventions need to occur. We also analyze behavioral data and social and emotional behaviors to assist students beyond the classroom.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
The School Culture lacked a sense of unity as a result of administrator turn over the last five years. To change that the current administration has worked very hard to instill pride in being a panther teacher. Frequent notes of confidence and sweet surprises are used to remind the teachers of their worth. When teachers are happy, students are happy. Different incentives for achievements are also awarded.
Stats
  • Category 2

    Selected in 2020

  • Grades: pre k - 12
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 1,331
    Student Enrollment: 755
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 11.9%
    White/Caucasian: 86.6%
    Hispanic: 0.9%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:25
    % Reduced Lunch: 100%
    % ELL Learners: 0%
    Founded: 1883
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Alice Lejeune
  • CONTACT:
    1557 Speedy Campbell Road
    Pine Prairie, LA 70576
    337-336-2370
    alice.lejeune@epsb.com