After multiple substitute motions to align the Rapides Parish School Board 2025-26 calendar with dates for the Rapides Parish Fair, members decided to delay action until a special meeting later this month.
The board had approved sending one option created by Superintendent Jeff Powell’s administration to the public for review and comments, intending to vote during its Tuesday regular meeting on calendars for the next academic year and for 2026-27, too.
Member Sandra Franklin started the 35-minute conversation when she said the board needed “to start investing in our young people and options.” Louisiana is a state heavily invested in agriculture and forestry, she said, and students should be educated about that.
Franklin also wanted to vote on just the 2025-26 calendar, instead of two academic years. She later made a substitute motion to do that, but said she didn’t want to vote on the present 2025-26 calendar option because she wanted dates changed to align with the fair.
That substitute motion did not go to a vote.
Out of the 141 anonymous public comments received, just four concerned the fair, said Powell, and none of them actually stated they wanted the fall break and fair to coincide so that students could go.
What the comments said:
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“Do not worry about the Fair.”
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“Make the fall break align with the parish fair. Choices should have been given to staff, parents and the community instead of shoving calendars down our throats.”
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“I would like to the 2025-2026 calendar year to coincide with the fair. My children go to their father’s, out of state, for the Easter break and would like to have them for the fair.”
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“I do not support changing the dates to align with the fair. That is ridiculous to even consider.”
Powell told Franklin that the district supports the fair and that many students attend it on field trips through their schools. But he cautioned that closing schools on those dates might not accomplish what she seeks.
“If you close school on the days of the fair, you have zero guarantee that any parents are bringing their students to the fair,” he said. “In fact, because we’re in school, many students who we know would not be afforded the opportunity to go to the fair are afforded the opportunity to go.”
Member Wilton Barrios said students already are out of school too many days. That interferes with their “consistency of learning,” he said, voicing his disapproval of adding more time off or switching to a four-day school week.
Jimbo Thiels, chairman of the Rapides Fair Association, spoke to the board. He said just 6.3% of the population works in agriculture for 330 million Americans and that more farmers are getting out of the business.
He said the association’s mission is to promote agriculture in Rapides Parish and mentioned its close ties to programs like 4-H. He said they can’t expect the board to allow students to bring their cows to school to show them off.
“But we do have the Rapides Parish Fair,” said Thiels. “And I can promise you that there’s a lot of educational activities that students can get by attending the fair, as well as adults.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Thursday: Rapides Parish Fair
PHOTO GALLERY: Friday at the Rapides Parish Fair
He said he doesn’t see why at least one day of the fall break couldn’t coincide with the fair.
Barrios made a substitute motion to have the two-day fall break align with the fair. That item didn’t move to a vote, either.
Member Linda Burgess, along with Buddy McCall, also said they’d only like to vote on next year’s calendar. And they said they had received comments from people upset that they didn’t have multiple options to consider for future calendars.
Powell said, in the past, his staff would build a calendar that meets all state requirements — “a perfect calendar for what we need to get done — and then modified it to give several options. But he said most people always chose the original version, so that was the justification for presenting the one calendar this year.
He said he’d gladly accept any other suggestions for the calendar.
Other public comments touched on a four-day school week, which is what some surrounding parishes do. But Powell said he would not be in favor of that because, among other things, studies that show juvenile crime rates increase by 20% when districts switch to four-day weeks.
“That’s not something that I want to experience in Rapides Parish,” he said.
He also mentioned the high cost of child care, brought up earlier by McCall, and said there are 8,000 elementary school children in the district. He said there aren’t enough daycare slots to accommodate all those children.
Member Mark Dryden, newly elected as the board’s vice president, pointed out that just 141 comments were received when the district has 22,000 students.
“That’s a very, very small percentage,” he said.
McCall made a substitute motion to add the calendar item to the agenda for a Jan. 21 special board meeting that will be held before committee meetings. It passed unanimously.
This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Fall break for the fair? Rapides School Board debates, delays vote