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S T TA M M A N Y FA R M E R.N E T
St. Tammany schools seek support of $325M bond issue
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W e d n e s d ay, A p r i l 16, 2025
151ST YEAR, NO. 27
50¢N
VOICES COMMUNITY OF THE
BY ANDREW CANULETTE Staff writer
The St. Tammany Parish Public School system, in an effort to fast-track capital improvement projects and potentially save millions of taxpayer dollars, is asking voters to support a May 3 bond issue that would be the largest in the district’s history. The proposal, given the tagline “Building Futures, Securing Tomorrow,” is a $325 million bond issue that involves no tax increases. Rather, it would continue a 13.7mill property tax that would back Jabbia the bonds needed to pay for the work. Superintendent Frank Jabbia said the proposal addresses “critical needs,” including some $251 million to fund major renovations at 23 of the district’s 55 schools. Some of the schools due for upgrades have not seen substantive physical improvements since they were built, a handful of them more than half a century ago. A major thrust of the upgrades would be elimination of portable classrooms that long have been the bane of teachers, students and school leaders. Jabbia has said he wants every class conducted in a suitable and permanent school building, not the portables that have been used, in some cases for decades, due to spikes in student population. The district now has more than 36,000 students and 6,000 employees. The remaining $74 million on the May 3 bond issue would go to one of three areas. Approximately $32 million would fund upgrades to school safety and security systems, including alarms, intercoms, electronic door access points and cameras. The money would also provide new computers to teachers and students, software licensing and more. Another $12 million would finance district transportation, including purchase of new buses for regular education and special needs populations. The district has prioritized the transition from the owner/operator bus driver system to an in-house fleet. The plan also earmarks $30 million to create a STEM Discovery Center in Lacombe adjacent to Northshore Technical Community College. Programming there initially would be open to high school juniors and seniors from throughout the
PHOTOS BY MATTHEW DOBBINS
ABOVE: Slidell Sings! voices on March 29. TOP: Pam Lisotta, who dreamed Slidell Sings! into reality, exults as the concert came to a successful finale.
Slidell singers gather to sing for the joy of it BY SARA PAGONES Contributing writer
“I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony,” the refrain rang out from a choir of 32 men and women, from teenagers up, who had gathered at Slidell Little Theatre to be taught to sing that song and four others in as close to perfect harmony as they and their four directors
could manage in just five hours of rehearsal. Director Pam Lisotta beamed as she conducted the selection, exhaling a sigh of relief as the final notes sounded and then breaking into an exuberant grin as the audience burst into applause. She had every reason to smile. Her brainchild — Slidell Sings! — had pulled off its inaugural event, a one-day choir that culminated
in a free concert. The idea that the self-professed lover of choral singing had come up with had worked beautifully. It began as a conversation with musically inclined friends sitting around a table at a wedding reception. The conversation turned to the wealth of vocal talent in the Slidell area, and the concept was
ä See SING, page 4A
ä See BOND, page 2A
Prisoners worship with lay ministers from Mandeville
Actor shares his story of abuse with Hope House supporters BY KADEE KRIEGER Contributing writer
Acclaimed actor and director Anthony Edwards, known for his portrayal as Goose in the 1986 hit “Top Gun” and his Emmy-nominated role as Mark Greene in the NBC dramatic series “ER,” has spent the past eight years in front of different types of audiences while sharing his story as a child sexual abuse survivor and advocate for other survivors. He brought his story to more than 300 supporters of St. Tammany’s Hope House Children’s Advocacy Center during its annual Champions for Children fundraiser on April 9, encouraging those attending to continue their work helping abuse victims come forward so
their healing can begin. “There are 1 in every 6 men who are sexually abused or assaulted by the time they are 18, and the average time it takes for them to talk about the trauma is 30 to 50 years,” Edwards told the group gathered at the Fleur de Lis Center in Mandeville. “We need to create communities where they feel that they can tell someone without a stigma, without fear. It’s all of our responsibilities to make this happen — it should be a national effort.” Edwards told the group he knew he was “preaching to the choir” about the issue of child abuse. Hope House conducts forensic interviews,
Contributing writer
PHOTO BY GRANT THERKILDSEN
Actor and activist Anthony Edwards addressed the Champions for Children Hope House event April 9 honoring those who support children and families. It also helped raise money for a second ä See HOPE, page 4A interview facility on the northshore.
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BY KIM CHATELAIN Every other Wednesday, two men from Mary, Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Mandeville are sent to prison. Not by a judge, at least not one in a black robe, but by an even higher authority. The way they see it, the men are sent on a 50-mile, midweek trek to the B.B. “Sixty” Rayburn Correctional Center in Angie on a mission from God. They are part of a six-member ministry
ä See WORSHIP, page 2A
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