The superintendent of St. John the Baptist Parish in Louisiana has introduced a middle school reform program in which elementary schools would add grades seven and eight to their buildings. The idea is aimed at stemming an exodus of sixth-graders from the school system.

At recent forums parents told officials that a lack of neighborhood junior high schools caused many to seek private education. The superintendent’s plan would allow most parish students to attend middle schools in their neighborhoods. At least one board member is preparing a competing reform plan that would seek to create a series of neighborhood schools. The district’s executive director of business and finance, Felix Boughton, is expected to introduce a bond issue to finance construction. Boughton said, “...we’ve been losing students since 1994, so we have to do something to stop them from leaving.”