BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) announced Monday (Jan. 18) that its President, Sandy Holloway, its Vice President, Kira Orange Jones, and its Secretary-Treasurer, Ashley Ellis will be sworn in by Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John L. Weimer as Board officers for 2021 on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 8:30 a.m.

BESE notes that the Chief Justice’s participation in the virtual installation ceremony underscores the growing partnership between BESE and Louisiana’s highest court to promote awareness and understanding of the legal justice system in K-12 classrooms.

The installation will be streamed live through BESE's website: https://bese.louisiana.gov and on the Louisiana Supreme Court's website: https://livestream.lasc.org

Holloway spoke enthusiastically of the ceremony and the duties it represents, saying, ”It is a true honor for our leadership team to be sworn-in by our new Chief Justice. I am excited about the work BESE will undertake in 2021 to expand literacy, improve accountability, and conduct a comprehensive review of academic standards in social studies. As we work to build standards that equip students to be informed, responsible citizens, we also embrace the opportunity to collaborate with the court system to enrich civics learning experiences and help ensure positive outcomes for our children.”

Chief Justice Weimer, himself a former teacher of law and ethics at Nicholls State University, commented, “It has always been important to me as a judge to get out into the community, to encourage personal responsibility and respect for the law, describe how our judicial system functions, and extol the benefits of treating all people with dignity and respect."

"Through this partnership between the Louisiana Supreme Court and BESE, we look forward to having our state’s judges continue their involvement in the Louisiana Center for Law and Civics Education’s ‘Judges in the Classroom’ program to share lessons on the law and civic education in our schools, and the Adult Civics Education (ACE) program to reach out to adults in local communities." 

In addition to establishing statewide, academic standards for social studies in K-12 education, BESE is active on the Louisiana Commission on Civic Education, established by the state legislature to educate students of the importance of citizen involvement in a representative democracy, and to promote collaboration among organizations in the state that conduct civic education programs.

Click here for more on the organization.