15 Quotes by Richard Hartley

When the paper mill closes, the parish will lose more money because people will move or work in other parishes, and less tax money will stay in the parish--which means the schools will lose money coming to them. Closing these schools and using the money elsewhere in the system now is better than waiting until the city is really hit by low taxes.

We've got to develop a plan on what we'll do when the mill closes. We can't bury our head in the sand and pretend like it's not going to happen.

There is not a trend of population growth in these areas. In order for a school to stay open, there must be an adequate amount of students there, and an indication that the population will grow to have children attend in the future. The sales tax projection is not meeting expectations. Every city has an expected amount of money expected to be taken in from local tax, and the two areas aren't meeting tax expectations.

It was a productive meeting. The group agreed to submit suggestions regarding the closing/consolidation of schools, but they know it's pretty much done.

Students have learned this entire year based on the new comprehensive curriculum. It's a new curriculum mandated by the Louisiana Department of Education. We teach all of our classes based on this new curriculum. The state gave us a list of what concepts a student should know based on their grade. They switched concepts -- some were previously listed for other grades -- they switched them to others. Also this new curriculum adds more hands-on activity.

All the students will be with the same classmates and teachers they had before the Easter holiday began.