Student numbers up in West Calcasieu
Heather Regan White / The American Press
Though overall Calcasieu Parish school enrollment numbers are down, West Calcasieu is reporting an increase over last year. According to an unofficial tally reported by the Calcasieu Parish School Board, West Calcasieu has an increase of almost 100 more students — 5,961 to 5,888 total enrollment from the 2017-18 school year. Holly Holland, CPSB public information officer, said those increases came from E.K. Key and W.T. Henning elementary schools and Sulphur High School. Parish-wide enrollment at this time stands at 30,747 — excluding pre-K students — down 109 from last year’s total enrollment of 30,856.
<strong class="tag TTL">CPSB website</strong>
In an effort to increase parent notification and engagement, the CPSB has added a new “Connect with CPSB” page on its website, Holland said.
<p class="indent">“We know that many of our parents-guardians find information on social media, so we’re branding these official CPSB pages so the public knows they belong to us,” Holland said. “There are still other pages out there that aren’t reflected on this site yet. We’re still working on getting them identified and branded, but so far it’s working well.”
<p class="indent">Also new to the website this year is a graphic notifying parents of potential weather-related school closures.
<p class="indent">“In the next week or so, we will be releasing a similar document informing parents of how and when they’ll be notified of crisis drills and crisis incidents,” Holland said. “It will serve the same purpose as the weather graphic — to let parents know what they can expect from us.”
<p class="indent">She said the CPSB is also working with the West Calcasieu Chamber of Commerce on a college preparation conference for West Calcasieu high school students. The event is set for October.
<p class="indent">“There will be different sessions about preparing for the life change, including a student and parent panel,” Holland said.
<p class="indent"><strong>Online</strong>: <span class="text_link link_wrap type_url" data-link-type="URL" data-link-target="http://www.cpsb.org">www.cpsb.org</span>.