School Board Considers Closing EB Williams Stoner Hill Elementary Due to Low Enrollment and Declining Achievement Scores

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) – The Board of Directors of Caddo Parish School is considering closing an elementary school in Shreveport.

On April 18, the school board will consider consolidating EB Williams Stoner Hill Elementary with Creswell Elementary. If approved, this change would take effect for the 2023-24 school year.

superintendent dr T. Lamar Goree cited the following reasons for the consolidation:

• Enrollment has fallen from 255 in 2015 to 166 students today
• In 2016, when the board closed Barret Paideia Academy, the board expanded Stoner Hill’s attendance zone and assigned 143 students to the campus to increase enrollment. This was sized correctly and led to a 57% increase in students to Stoner Hill. Instead, the student population increased from 255 before the change (2015-16) to 270 the next year (2016-17), followed by a further decline each year thereafter.
• Due to enrollment declines, Stoner Hill currently has one class per grade level
• Of the seven regular school classes, one is taught by a fully certified teacher, five classes are taught by teachers pursuing teacher certification, and one class is taught by a long-term substitute
• EB Williams Stoner Hill’s performance score is down 17.8 points since 2018, including 7 points last year
• Students scoring at or above their grade level have declined 18 percentage points in English and 23 percentage points in math over the same period. This is in part due to a large number of uncertified teachers who do not have the quality education, experience, or substantive knowledge to provide students with the instruction needed to succeed.

Stoner Hill enrollment analysis Proposal for attendance zones based on data as of October 1, 2022 (Caddo Parish Public Schools)

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