The fearless leader

Prescott Middle School has been labeled academically unacceptable for almost a decade, a fact that put pressure on the state to step in and take over.

Since 2005, however, Prescott has seen significant gains in student test scores and school morale. It just may be too little, too late.

Interim principal Shonel LeDuff doesn’t think so. LeDuff, who is currently filling in for principal Andria Joseph, hopes to prove the naysayers wrong when test scores are announced early this month.

“This year the students have a message,” LeDuff says. “They have something to prove to everyone in EBR and to the state: We’re a team, this is a family, they nurture us, they teach us, they’re making us into young men and women—lifelong learners. And they want to show everyone that we’re getting the job done.”

LeDuff came to Prescott as a seventh-grade math teacher in 2005, leaving behind George Washington Carver Senior High School in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward following Hurricane Katrina. She admits she was not aware of her new school’s academic infamy.

But she caught on quickly. “I began to dig and take a look at the school’s report card and the school performance score,” she explains. “However, I didn’t know the history of how it got to that point until I spoke with several of the teachers.”

That didn’t deter LeDuff. She’s been an active member of the faculty ever since. Although her enthusiasm for Prescott is infectious, she arrived to the campus when Patriot pride was at an all-time low, and teacher turn-around was at an all-time high.

Two factors common in low-performing schools are low teacher retention and poor professional development. The school system began a rigorous professional development program which helps teachers better monitor student data, set up learning stations and modify lesson plans to create success for all learners. In the three years since, under a reconstitution plan instigated by the East Baton Rouge School Board, Prescott has been born again.

It wasn’t long before teachers bought into Prescott’s future, LeDuff says. Today they work diligently and with a sense of urgency, with students taking ownership in their education, even participating in advanced classes. The school’s parent-teacher organization has seen an almost 100% increase in its membership, LeDuff says.

But the underlying challenges are substantial. Of Prescott’s 511 students, nearly 90% qualify for free and reduced lunch.

The school continues to receive negative press, and with a looming state takeover the future remains uncertain for all involved. Still, the faculty, staff and students remain hopeful. Teacher and student morale are at an all-time high, LeDuff says, and she’s all smiles as she talks about her school.

“We’re going to continue doing what we need to do,” she says. “We’re a team here. The students and teachers will continue working hard. We can’t stop the momentum we’ve got going.”

But in order to be considered not unwell, if not altogether healthy, Prescott would need a combined LEAP score of 60 from the recent tests. It’s LeDuff’s hope such a score would shock state officials they’d rethink their takeover. But that kind of score would be an extraordinary improvement: Last year Prescott scored 38.4, so Prescott’s eighth-graders would have to pull off a LEAP miracle to avert the impending state takeover.