Lafayette Parish School System — Policy Analysis 2026
Grand Total
61 / 106
57.5%
Base Score
52 / 96
Extra Credit
9 / 10
Score by Section
| Section | Score | Max | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Culturally Responsive Training | 1 | 8 | Notes |
| Clear & Consistent Policies | 8 | 8 | Notes |
| Restorative Justice Practices | 1 | 8 | Notes |
| Bias Awareness & Mitigation | 4 | 8 | Notes |
| Culturally Relevant Curriculum | 4 | 8 | Notes |
| Community Engagement & Collaboration | 8 | 8 | Notes |
| Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion | 1 | 8 | Notes |
| Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Practices | 5 | 8 | Notes |
| Data Collection & Analysis | 6 | 8 | Notes |
| Student Voice & Leadership | 0 | 8 | Notes |
| Equitable Access to Support Services | 7 | 8 | Notes |
| Continuous Evaluation & Improvement | 7 | 8 | Notes |
| Extra Credit | 9 | 10 | Notes |
Suggestions to Improve the Score
Every item below its maximum, worst gap first, with the reviewer's own notes as the rationale.
Show suggestions (29)
- 1.1 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Mandatory cultural competency training for all staff — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation was found of a mandatory, district-wide cultural-competency training requirement for all LPSS staff; existing trainings found (CPI de-escalation, trauma-informed) are not specifically cultural-competency focused.
- 1.2 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Mentorship programs for culturally diverse staff — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). LPSS has a general new-teacher induction program (TIPS) and a UL Lafayette residency/mentor program, but no evidence of a mentorship program specifically targeted at culturally diverse staff was found.
- 1.3 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Culturally relevant PD resources in staff learning — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No LPSS-specific professional-learning catalog or resource list showing culturally-relevant PD content could be located; search results returning such catalogs belonged to other districts.
- 3.1 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Restorative circles/conferences to repair harm — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public LPSS documentation of formal restorative circles or conferences district-wide was found; the district's documented behavioral framework centers on PBIS and CPI de-escalation rather than restorative conferencing.
- 3.3 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Curriculum integrates conflict-resolution skills — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No LPSS curriculum document was found that explicitly embeds conflict-resolution/restorative skills instruction district-wide.
- 3.4 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Peer mediation program — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No evidence of a formal peer-mediation program in LPSS was found in public sources.
- 4.1 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Implicit bias training for staff — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation of implicit-bias training specifically (as distinct from general behavior/de-escalation training) for LPSS staff was found.
- 5.2 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Teacher PD on integrating diverse perspectives — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No LPSS-specific professional-development offering on integrating diverse perspectives into instruction was found in public sources.
- 7.1 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Ongoing anti-bias/equity training — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No evidence of an ongoing, recurring anti-bias/equity training series for staff was found in public LPSS sources.
- 7.2 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Workshops on culturally responsive teaching — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No specific LPSS workshops on culturally responsive teaching were found in public sources.
- 7.4 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Participation in equity-focused conferences — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No evidence found of LPSS staff participation in equity-focused external conferences.
- 8.2 [Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Practices]: Safe, supportive spaces (mindfulness/sensory) — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No LPSS-specific documentation of mindfulness rooms, sensory rooms, or similar calming spaces was found.
- 10.1 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Student advisory councils/leadership groups — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No evidence of a district-wide student advisory council or leadership group (distinct from individual school clubs) was found.
- 10.2 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Student feedback informs policy/procedures — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No documented mechanism for student feedback directly informing LPSS policy was found; the Superintendent's Advisory Panel is composed primarily of parents, educators, and community/business members.
- 10.3 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Students facilitate restorative processes — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No evidence found of students facilitating restorative processes in LPSS.
- 10.4 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Student-led peer education — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No evidence of a formal student-led peer-education program was found; the Educators Rising program pairs students with adult mentors rather than peer-to-peer education.
- 1.4 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Regular feedback/measurement on training effectiveness — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). LPSS has surveyed staff about professional-development effectiveness (e.g., a COVID-era survey found <cite index="148-9,148-10">a majority of staff at 57% said they participated in professional development opportunities offered over the summer by LPSS, and about 42% of staff agreed that professional development offered in the summer helped them become more effective</cite>), but no r…
- 3.2 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Staff training in restorative practices — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). LPSS implemented trauma-sensitive de-escalation training broadly: <cite index="195-4">Using a program designed by the CPI, the Lafayette Parish School System has trained nearly 5,000 individuals over the last four years throughout the district's 45 schools—from parents to bus drivers to teachers to custodians</cite>, which overlaps with but is not identical to restorative-practices training.
- 4.2 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Processes to review discipline data for disparities — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). State law requires that <cite index="80-9">the state Department of Education shall publish annually... data regarding disciplinary removals disaggregated at the state, system, and school level and also disaggregated and capable of cross-tabulation by the characteristics of gender, race, disability, English language learner status, and economically disadvantaged status</cite>, and LPSS staf…
- 4.4 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Diverse perspectives & materials in curriculum — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Official curriculum materials include diverse historical perspectives, e.g. units that <cite index="87-3">explain the goals and tactics of African American civil rights activists... and analyze differing viewpoints of prominent</cite> figures, and content on the Harlem Renaissance and civil rights expansion.
- 5.1 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Curriculum materials reflect student backgrounds — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Social-studies curriculum maps embed African American history content district-wide, and Lafayette High School offers an elective dedicated to this history (see 5.4), but comprehensive evidence across all subjects/grades reflecting all student backgrounds was not found.
- 5.3 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Community collaboration for supplemental resources — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). LPSS partners with community organizations that supplement learning, e.g. <cite index="161-3,161-4">business leaders, volunteers, nonprofit organizations and regional partners continue to invest their time, expertise and resources in support of LPSS students... helping expand opportunities, strengthen learning experiences and connect students to future career pathways</cite>, though not…
- 7.3 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Equity topics in staff meetings/PD — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). LPSS's stated belief statements include that <cite index="68-7">diversity enriches our school system</cite>, suggesting equity is a stated value, but no documentation confirms it is a regular agenda item in staff meetings/PD.
- 8.4 [Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Practices]: Partnerships to expand mental-health services — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). LPSS operates its own mental-health services department and the parish has participated in state AWARE behavioral-health initiatives (<cite index="121-11">Locations: New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Mandeville, Lafayette, and Shreveport</cite>), but a formal roster of expanded external mental-health partnerships was not fully documented.
- 9.2 [Data Collection & Analysis]: Regular audits of discipline practices — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). District staff have briefed the Board on suspension/expulsion procedures and recent statutory changes, e.g. <cite index="84-1">At a Lafayette Parish School Board retreat, district staff presented the procedural difference between long-term suspension and expulsion and explained how appeals work for each</cite>, but no evidence of a formalized, recurring equity-focused audit was found.
- 9.4 [Data Collection & Analysis]: Transparent reporting to stakeholders — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). State law requires LDOE to publish disaggregated discipline data by system and school, and LPSS gives parents direct access to discipline records via Parent Portal, but there is no confirmation of a separate LPSS public discipline-equity report.
- 11.4 [Equitable Access to Support Services]: Systems to remove access barriers — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). LPSS provides bilingual family-engagement materials (e.g., <cite index="115-4">Plan de Participación de Padres y Familia</cite>), indicating some effort to reduce language barriers, though a comprehensive barrier-removal system was not documented.
- 12.1 [Continuous Evaluation & Improvement]: Standing committee/task force for discipline equity — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Each school is required to maintain <cite index="131-5">a school climate team (formerly PBIS Multi-Tiered Systems of Support team) which meets monthly to review behavioral and related data</cite>, but no district-wide standing committee specifically focused on discipline equity was found.
- EC5 [Extra Credit]: Comprehensive 8-Point employee retention plan including a 'Wellness Wednesday' initiative for staff well-being — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). <cite index="211-1,211-2">'Wellness Wednesday,' now in its second year as a cornerstone of the district's comprehensive 8-Point Retention Plan... continues to prioritize the health and well-being of LPSS employees</cite>, an indirect but notable support for staff (and by extension student) climate.
Source Documents Used
Show source documents (1)
| Document | Date | Local Copy | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lafayette Parish School System Scoring Sheet | 2026 | Open file | file:///C:/_CSSD/CSSDWebsite/cssdisc.org_htdocs/DistrictPolicies/Lafayette_Parish_School_System/2026/Lafayette_Parish_School_System_Scoring_Sheet.xlsx |