Is a magnet school for the west bank a problem for Jefferson Parish?

Mixing local politicians and schools rarely ends well in Jefferson Parish. The most recent example is Thomas Jefferson High School, the parish's only public magnet school on the west bank. There are a number of things in Da Paper's article that just don't add up.

The background: Some parents and students at Thomas Jefferson are unhappy with the changes to policies and procedures made by first-year principal Christine Templet:

The changes, including a policy that keeps bathroom doors locked at all times and increased searches for weapons and contraband, have shifted the tenor on campus to one where teenagers are treated more like criminals than high-achieving students, parents and students said. The new policies have also cast doubt on the ability of Templet and her assistant principal Sharon Meggs-Hamilton to lead the magnet school, parents and students said.

"It's more like a prison camp," said Angel Vu, 18, a former senior at Thomas Jefferson who transferred to Cox in December. "That's what everyone calls it."

OK, it's a public school. Some schools are indeed war zones and should be treated more like prisons. Thing is, Thomas Jefferson only has an enrollment of 284 students. That's not a large student body for any school, much less a high school. It's also a magnet school, which implies that the student body is working at academic levels above the average student in the school district. So, why the need for all this:

Students also have alleged that the administration has ramped up the severity of random weapon and contraband searches that are conducted on campus.

While administrators are supposed to sweep classes twice a month, using a wand-like metal detector, students said they have been asked to remove their shoes and administrators have sifted through the contents of their bags and touched them during the searches.

If there's a need for increased random weapons searches in a magnet school, there is a fundamental problem with the district's plans for such schools.

Is Thomas Jefferson really this much of a dangerous place, or is there a problem with management? Da Paper tries to connect the dots between these issues and parent/student dissatisfaction and principal lacking in administrative experience. The fact that Templet is married to State Representative Ricky Templet (R-Gretna), does get my attention. Ms. Templet moves from an analyst/consulting gig dealing with special education to a principal's desk, passing over assistant principals from many schools. Magnet schools are usually considered to be plum positions for administrators. Naturally folks in the high school trenches might be unhappy with such an appointment. This makes it all the more difficult for the district to explain why the wife of a local politician (and ally of the school board member in whose district the school is located) gets the job.

Still, if the district was pressured to appoint this woman to an administrative position, it makes sense to keep her in a small school with (relatively) harmless students. You'd think a principal in such a school would not want to draw too much attention to herself, lest that attention shine light on both herself and her husband. That's why bathroom lockdowns and weapons searches in a magnet school make even less sense. Is Ms. Templet in so far over her head that she can't handle even the top students?

Or maybe the west bank has really become such a disaster zone that a magnet school can't survive. Either way, the district and the school board needs to provide a definitive answer.

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