Central resident says ‘yes’ to Amendment 8

Glyn Meranto
October 23, 2006
Larose man convicted on drug charges
November 1, 2006
Glyn Meranto
October 23, 2006
Larose man convicted on drug charges
November 1, 2006

Dear Editor,


A city is only as strong as its public school system, and the school system in East Baton Rouge Parish is in trouble. Test scores from this parish are among the lowest in the state, the dropout rate continues to rise, and chaos reigns in many of our schools.


In many cases, young working families must choose either to struggle to pay for private or parochial schools or to buy a home. Many choose to leave our state or flee to neighboring parishes to seek better educational opportunities for their children and also provide a nice home for their family. We have worked for years in our schools in the City of Central to keep our values intact, our test scores high, and our discipline strong. Last year volunteer organizations at Central High School logged in over 26,000 volunteer hours at the school working for the students. Parents are working, teachers and working, and the administration is working, but the system is not working.

We cannot continue this way. Please let us try something different.


We have worked very hard within the EBR parish school system, but if that system is not working, we must try something different. On a daily basis, we in the City of Central have watched our young families leave. We see the lifeblood of our community slowly slipping away. Now we must take a stand. We want our children and our grandchildren to come home.


Voters in your area can help.

On Nov. 7, East Baton Rouge and the entire state will vote to allow the City of Central to create its own school system. Please give us your support.

We feel that a Central Community School District can flourish just as our neighboring Zachary system has done. (Zachary schools pulled out of the East Baton Rouge District three years ago, and today they rank No. 1 in the state.) We are willing to do whatever it takes to create a strong, viable school system.

In America, we are blessed with choices. There are private schools, parochial schools, and the home-schooling programs are all wonderful – but in order for our property values to increase, for well-established businesses to move here, and for our quality of life to get better and better, we must do something to help public education. We in the City of Central want to do our part to help our children and in turn help Baton Rouge.

Please vote FOR Amendment 8 on Nov. 7.

Sharon Watts Browning

Baton Rouge