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Submitted Photos/Ochsner St. Mary
St. Mary Parish Hospital Service District No. 2 donated lunch from Paco's to all Ochsner St. Mary employees in appreciation for all they do for the community.

The following are the radio dispatch logs from the Morgan City Police Department. To report unlawful or suspicious activity, call the Police Department at 985-380-4605.
Tuesday, Aug. 10
6:10 a.m. 1400 block Federal; Welfare concern.
7:13 a.m. 300 block Wren; Theft.
7:27 a.m. 1100 block Sixth; Animal Complaint.
7:46 a.m. 4000 Chennault; Alarm.
8:07 a.m. 900 block Seventh; Alarm.
9:34 a.m. 600 block Gen. MacArthur; Search warrant.
10:13 a.m. 2000 block Federa; Animal Complaint.
10:23 a.m. 600 block Gen. Patton; Criminal damage to property.
10:24 a.m. Greenwood under bridge area; Complaint.
11:51 a.m. 6600 block La. 182; Suspicious subject.
1:18 p.m. 900 block Levee Road; Complaint.
1:23 p.m. 400 block Fourth; Escort.
1:24 p.m. 1100 block Gen. Clark; Complaint.
1:57 p.m. 900 Seventh; Complaint.
2:38 p.m. 7300 block La. 182; Complaint.
3:05 p.m. 6600 block La. 182; Suspicious subject.
4:26 p.m. 1200 block David Drive; Alarm.
4:33 p.m. 33200 block Allison; Complaint.
4:35 p.m. Glenwood; 911 hang-up call.
4:52 p.m. 2400 block Apple; Complaint.
5:59 p.m. 1700 block Youngs; 911 hang-up.
6:15 p.m. 1200 block David Drive; Assistance.
6:24 p.m. 1500 block North Third; Medical.
7:06 p.m. 5000 block Railroad; Complaint.
7:27 p.m. La. 182 bridge; Suspicious person.
10:13 p.m. 100 block Canary; Complaint.
11:59 p.m. 600 block Kentucky; Frequent patrols.
Wednesday, Aug. 11
12:40 a.m. Sixth and Arenz; Fire.
2:42 a.m. 1000 block Brashear; Welfare check.
3:04 a.m. 100 block Glenwood; Medical.

FRANKLIN — The St. Mary Parish government administration has plans for the first installment of federal COVID-19 aid. Parish Council members want to hear more them.
At its meeting Wednesday, the council introduced an ordinance amending this year’s budget to account for roughly $4.8 million it has received under the federal American Rescue Plan Act. Another $4.8 million is due next year.
This year, the administration is proposing that about $1.2 million be directed toward one of the goals marked as allowable and desirable by federal authorities administering the funds: improving water and sewer infrastructure.
The remaining $3.6 million would go to replacing revenue lost because of the COVID epidemic.
The administration presented its proposal at a Budget/Finance Committee meeting that preceded the council meeting. That led to questions from the council about why so much of the funding is going into replacing lost revenue.
Parish President David Hanagriff and Chief Administrative Officer Henry C. “Bo” LaGrange said they’ll provide council members with details about the proposal.
“We’re happy to give them that information,” Hanagriff said after the meeting.
Councilman Craig Mathews of Jeanerette said he hopes that public health will be a factor in deciding how the money earmarked for water and sewer improvements will be spent. Mathews mentioned problems with water from a well in the Glencoe area.
The budget amendment ordinance could come up for a public hearing and passage vote as early as the Sept. 8 council meeting.
Also Wednesday, Councilman James Bennett of Morgan City and Hanagriff engaged in a brief debate centering on St. Mary Parish Gravity Drainage District 2A, which serves the Morgan and Amelia areas.
The district has been a source of contention since separate districts serving Amelia and Morgan City were consolidated last year in what Hanagriff said was a move to save money and provide better service.
Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna, who chaired the Morgan City district’s board before the consolidation, has repeatedly challenged the procedure by which the districts were merged and the actions of the consolidated district since then.
Bennett asked Hanagriff why the District 2A board is paying for outside legal counsel when the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office will provide an attorney at no cost for political subdivisions in the parish. Eric Duplantis of the District Attorney’s Office, who serves as legal counsel for the Parish Council, was also the attorney for the consolidated district before the board retained outside counsel.
“There’s no reason to have a paid attorney,” Bennett said.
He said he’ll call drainage district chair Hanko Hoffpauir to every Parish Council meeting for answers if he has to.
Hanagriff said the Morgan City district hired outside counsel before the consolidation. And the board has been attacked and accused of malfeasance, Hanagriff said.
The failure of a ballot measure that would have consolidated the new district’s taxes complicated the board’s business by leaving three separate tax structures in place, he said.
“This board is under a lot of pressure,” Hanagriff said.
Just as the exchange between Bennett and Hanagriff became heated, Duplantis broke the tension with a joking objection to being referred to as a free lawyer. He’s paid by the District Attorney’s Office, he said.
But “the hiring of outside counsel by District 2A is perfectly legal,” Duplantis said.
In other action Wednesday:
—Councilwoman Gwendolyn Hidalgo of Bayou Vista asked the administration to find a way to cut grass in ditches along La. 182 and U.S. 90.
“It’s an eyesore coming into our parish,” Hidalgo said. “It’s time we did something.”
Storm season is also here, she said. “The water is not going to flow.”
—The council voted to remove Jeremy Chesteen from the St. Mary Parish Hospital Service District No. 2 board because of repeated absences from board meetings. A parish ordinance allows for the removal of any member of a political subdivision board who misses three meetings in a 12-month period.
The district serves the east end of the parish and owns the Morgan City hospital operated by Ochsner Health System under lease.
—The council passed a resolution to congratulate Mickey Carmouche, who has been named a 2021 Wastewater System Operations Specialist of the Year South by the Louisiana Rural Water Association
Carmouche has been an employee of the St. Mary Wards 5 & 8 Joint Sewer Commission for more than 20 years. The commission serves the area between Morgan City and Calumet.
—The council received the resignations of Tim Tregle from the Gravity Drainage District 2A board and Rickey Bourque from the Fire District 11 board.
—The council agreed to consider a request from Baldwin Mayor Abel Prejean to establish a no-wake zone on the Bayou Teche from Baldwin’s boat launch to the town limits.
“During times of high water, rapidly moving vessels have caused damage to property and accelerated erosion along the bayou,” Prejean wrote in a letter to LaGrange. “Additionally, they have also endangered fishermen in the bayou.”

Louisiana’s K-12 students are falling behind, according to newly released testing assessments.
The Louisiana Depart-ment of Education tracks student progress through the Louisiana Educ-ational Assessment Program and the revised testing approach known as LEAP 2025. The latest findings cover a two-year period and show a proficiency decrease of 5 percentage points in grades 3-8, and a 5-percentage-point decline in grades 9-12.
“This decrease was felt across all grade levels, content areas and student subgroups,” a DOE statement said regarding elementary and middle school children.
“In each individual subject, the number of students scoring Mastery and above has decreased since 2019,” the department said about high school students.
Louisiana consistently ranks low among states with respect to K-12 education, but a series of hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic has presented additional challenges.
“In the face of immense adversity, students, teachers, administrators and parents showed unwavering resiliency, demonstrating a deep commitment to both safety and learning,” Louisiana Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said.
“This LEAP 2025 data will be invaluable in guiding our instructional, policy, and resource allocation decisions as we recover and accelerate from this unprecedented interruption to student learning,” Brumley said.
The tests are designed to measure student knowledge relative to grade level, and scores are reported across five categories: unsatisfactory, approaching basic, basic, mastery or advanced. Only students scoring mastery and advanced are considered proficient, or ready for the next grade level.
“Simultaneously, learning gaps deepened, as evidenced by a 5-percentage point increase in the number of students scoring Unsatisfactory,” the department said.
Children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and young children across all demographic groups were disproportionately affected over the past two years.
Math scores saw the largest decline compared with English language skills, science and social studies. Algebra I had the greatest single subject decline with a nine-point average decrease.
Like many states, Louisiana suffered school closures amid COVID-19 lockdowns, followed by masking and social distancing mandates when in-person schooling resumed. The unprecedented disruptions adversely affected student gains, officials said.
Louisiana’s 1,300 public schools received $287 million in federal emergency relief last year to cope with effects of the pandemic, while also teaching 17,000 fewer students.
This year, a record $4 billion in federal funding will flow directly to Louisiana’s local school systems pursuant to successive COVID-19 stimulus packages. The initiative includes $800 pay raises for teachers and purportedly will focus on accelerating student learning and educator development.
The $4 billion stimulus funding is in addition to the state’s record $3.9 billion education budget for the 2021-22 school year.
The DOE said the new LEAP results will help school districts apply the taxpayer-funded bonanza with targeted interventions and data-driven support.
Daniel Erspamer, chief executive officer of the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, said the testing results confirm what many parents and concerned residents feared.
“We must act with urgency to support strong plans for recovery and to accelerate progress over the next few years,” he said.
“This will necessitate transparency in how $4 billion in federal recovery funds are spent to support academic interventions, a strong school accountability system to communicate progress toward proficiency, and expanded educational choices for families while that important recovery work is in progress,” Erspamer said.