Reinventing the Elementary School Model in a Single District

Nicki McCann, a long-standing educator in Caldwell Parish, proposed a bold plan to address the district's educational challenges. The plan, which involved transforming three elementary schools into 'center schools' serving a limited number of grades and drawing students from a broader geographic area, was met with mixed reactions.

McCann, who started her career teaching kindergarten at Union Central and served as its principal from 2005 to 2014, sent her own children to the school despite being zoned for another. She believed that excellent schools for all kids were critical to the parish's survival and had made Union Central the highest-performing elementary school in the district for a time.

The plan, if successful, would address the need for mentoring for newer teachers and the end of the need for kindergarteners and 5th graders to share bathrooms unsupervised. However, some teachers, such as Dallas Abrams, were initially opposed to the restructuring due to concerns about behavior issues and the impact on their own children's ability to learn.

McCann knew that some thought she didn't always acknowledge the tough stuff, and this was a point of contention for some. But she responded to these concerns and promised to incorporate community feedback into a 'full plan', which she would share before the April board vote.

The educators' advocacy for the proposal was key in getting it approved, but it failed to win the backing of Baron Glass, the lone Black member of the school board, due to concerns rooted in the district's initial desegregation effort. Glass believed that restructuring could force Union Central students through the same ordeal as they experienced during past integration efforts.

Despite these challenges, McCann continued to work on the proposal and addressed rising anxiety about behavior problems by promising teachers more opportunities for collaboration and adding art and music classes to each school, giving teachers 90 minutes a day of planning time instead of an hour.

After the tense board vote, all seven members, including the proposal's opponents, pledged to make the new structure a success. Two years into the new model, Caldwell became Louisiana's most improved district in progressing students at all grade levels and subjects to 'mastery' level on the state assessment.

The strategy of combining schools is a fraught prospect and has faced opposition in places like Richmond, Va., suburban Illinois, and Washington, D.C. However, McCann believed that the Caldwell community would support the restructuring if they thought it would help all students succeed.

The Caldwell Parish Elementary School, previously known as the 'Black school', has struggled with its identity despite having at least half white students for decades. Three years ago, the school was experiencing academic decline and low enrollment, leading to strain on other schools in the district.

The next day was a tough one at Union Central, as teachers felt demoralized after hearing in such stark terms how their community felt about the school. But McCann's approach to seeking buy-in for the proposal was different from her earlier, top-down approach, as she consulted with district leaders and reached out to the principals of all three schools for their support.

The educators' advocacy, coupled with McCann's determination, paid off. Class sizes have reached about 18 to 19 students across all elementary schools, as opposed to the 25 or 26 at Caldwell's most crowded schools before the restructure. The 6th graders, the first to go through 5th grade as a combined cohort, arrived at Caldwell Parish Junior High more academically and socially in sync than any before them, according to teachers and leaders.

As Caldwell Parish moves forward with this transformative plan, McCann's vision of greater 'unity' across the parish by providing a more racially and socioeconomically integrated education appears to be taking shape.