Education

As Spanish-speaking population grows, New Orleans nonprofits help families with young kids

By JONI HESS | Staff writer
7 hrs ago

At the early learning center in New Orleans where Rubmarie Pacheco’s daughter attends, there’s an unspoken distance between her and the teacher.

Budget cuts could threaten Louisiana's early ed, dual enrollment programs, officials warn

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO | Staff writer
9 hrs ago

Potential state budget cuts could leave less money for early childhood education and threaten a popular program that lets high schoolers take college classes at a reduced price, top Louisiana …

Northlake community singers to perform Motown

BY SHEILA GRISSETT | Staff writer
Oct 11, 2024

The Northlake Performing Arts Society, a 30-year-old community chorus with members drawn mostly from throughout St. Tammany, will soon hit the stage in Covington singing "Signed, Sealed, Deliv…

Student government leader encouraged student voters, brought safety and orgs together at Xavier

By MARGARET DELANEY | Staff writer
Oct 11, 2024

Dr. Cramin Wiltz II graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans in 2005. After his graduation with a degree in chemistry and a minor in biology, Wiltz received his doctorate o…

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Praising New Orleans' charter schools, policy expert calls district-run school a 'mistake'

By MARIE FAZIO | Staff writer
Oct 11, 2024

A prominent public policy expert argued during in an event in New Orleans Thursday that the city's decentralized system of public charter schools is a vast improvement over traditional school …

New Orleans plans to turn a 100-year-old firehouse into affordable housing, childcare center

By JONI HESS | Staff writer
Oct 9, 2024

Construction is set to begin on a blighted, century-old firehouse on Louisiana Avenue that will become New Orleans’ first city-owned property to include both affordable housing units and an ea…

‘Kids are talking to each other.’ Teachers, students embrace Louisiana’s cell phone ban

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO | Staff writer
Oct 9, 2024

While planning a field trip to a student-athlete leadership conference in September, Kassie Binkley doubted that her high schoolers could make it through the day without their cellphones, as t…

State tests will be shorter for Louisiana students this year. Here are the changes.

By PATRICK WALL | Staff writer
Oct 9, 2024

Louisiana students are in for a pleasant surprise this spring: shorter state tests.

Fall for Art in downtown Covington

BY SARAH G. BONNETTE | lContributing writer
Oct 8, 2024

Fall for Art will give art lovers plenty of opportunities to see creativity on display. They’ll even get the chance to get creative, too.

St. Tammany Parish Fair traditions alive and well

BY SHEILA GRISSETT | Staff writer
Oct 8, 2024

The St. Tammany Parish Fair returned this month, celebrating its 115th anniversary since debuting as a pet show in 1910, then morphing the next year into the St. Tammany Stock, Poultry & P…

St. Tammany Library sending patrons to the park

BY JACKIE RIECKE _ Contributing writer
Oct 8, 2024

Across the nation, libraries have modernized their collections, from hardcover books to eBooks, streaming movies and music and online classes. Other libraries have extended what can be checked…

Louisiana education officials share plans to improve student reading, math, attendance

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO | Staff writer
Oct 8, 2024

Louisiana’s top education officials laid out ambitious goals for improving the state’s schools Monday, including raising test scores and reducing absenteeism, and announced a statewide tour to…

As Louisiana colleges brace for budget cuts, a student leader sounds the alarm

By MARIE FAZIO | Staff writer
Oct 7, 2024

Kennedy Orr, a senior at Southern University, has seen firsthand what insufficient funding can do to a public university. A dwindling number of professors in her department offer core courses …

From math teacher to FBI informant, Ken Ducote took part in New Orleans school history

By MARIE FAZIO | Staff writer
Oct 6, 2024

Ken Ducote, who has been a fixture of New Orleans education for decades, often tells a story from his time working for the Orleans Parish School Board. At a board meeting in the 1990s, a paren…

20 years later, Loyola SGA president Martina Mills Smith is a veterans law judge in DC

BY SERENA PUANG | Staff writer
Oct 6, 2024

Martina Mills Smith is now a veterans law judge who holds hearings about disability benefits in Washington D.C.

Poet Jericho Brown, Louisiana native with New Orleans ties, wins MacArthur 'genius' grant

By MARIE FAZIO | Staff writer
Oct 5, 2024

Jericho Brown, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who grew up in Shreveport and has ties to New Orleans, was selected as a 2024 MacArthur Fellow, a prestigious award often referred to as a "genius grant."

Young artists of St. Tammany explore Madisonville history for Gitz contest

Staff report
Oct 4, 2024

As part of remembering longtime leader Peter L. Gitz, town-sponsored contests this year encouraged students to explore Madisonville history via their own talents.

St. Tammany Public Schools Communications team wins awards

Staff report
Oct 4, 2024

The St. Tammany Parish Public Schools' Communications Department was recognized recently with 11 awards from the National School Public Relations Association and an additional three awards fro…

Louisiana’s colleges need $2 billion in repairs. See the projects they want to tackle first.

BY ASHLEY WHITE | Staff writer
Oct 3, 2024

Broken elevators. Leaky roofs. Ancient flooring.

Louisiana wants students in grades K-12 to learn the basics of computer science

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO | Staff writer
Oct 2, 2024

As digital technology and artificial intelligence play a larger and larger role in everyday life, Louisiana wants students from kindergarten through high school to learn the basics of computer…

Local students shine with 22 named National Merit Semifinalists

Oct 2, 2024

St. Tammany Parish had an impressive showing on the recently released list of National Merit Semifinalists.

St. Tammany Parish Fair and ag science connects kids

BY JESSICA SAGGIO | Contributing writer
Oct 1, 2024

Pearl River High senior Zoey Symons could talk for days about her goats. All 15 of them, although her favorite is Hikorii, who has been Symons' “pride and joy” since getting her five years ago…

St. Tammany students build their own antivape campaign

BY KADEE KRIEGER | Contributing writer
Oct 1, 2024

The Superintendent's Student Advisory Council representing all eight St. Tammany Parish public high schools launched a poster and social media campaign this week pleading with friends and clas…

Where is Dillard SGA President Brandon Bowers today? Opening up walls in his Chicago home.

BY SERENA PUANG | Staff writer
Updated Oct 5, 2024

Before Brandon Bowers was the 2004-2005 student government president at Dillard University, he was in the first generation of his family to go to college. Today, Bowers works in the health car…

Mandeville school one of only 7 in Louisiana named to National Blue Ribbon 2024 list

BY BOB WARREN | Staff writer
Sep 30, 2024

The student assembly in the gym at Mandeville’s Woodlake Elementary on Monday morning opened like countless others.

Partnership between Tulane, HBCUs seeks to increase diversity among nutrition experts

BY DESIREE STENNETT | Staff writer
Sep 30, 2024

Just 3% of registered dietitians are Black even though?nutrition-related chronic diseases disproportionately impact communities of color.

Higher education could face large budget cuts. Here's how leaders say residents can voice concerns.

BY ASHLEY WHITE | Staff writer
Sep 30, 2024

Ahead of the looming possibility of large budget cuts, Louisiana’s higher education leaders are stressing the importance of continuing education, and asking residents to spread that message.

$23 million is coming to New Orleans, Jefferson Parish schools for new electric buses

By MARIE FAZIO | Staff writer
Sep 30, 2024

Transportation companies in the New Orleans area plan to convert dozens of diesel burning school buses to fully electric and low-emission options, part of a national push to replace traditiona…