New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy Principal Cecilia Garcia gave the school’s board of directors a report on how students did in state end-of-course testing at a meeting Thursday.

Garcia told the board that more than 60 percent of students scored “Good” or “Excellent” in all subjects tested, which are algebra, geometry, biology and English. Less than 5 percent of students scored “Needs improvement” in most subjects, with algebra the exception at close to 10 percent.

To track student improvement throughout the year, Garcia uses benchmark exams designed by the school itself.  In subjects not tested by state end-of-course tests, students showed comparable improvements on the school’s assessments, she said.

The school also was commended by the Louisiana Department of Education as one of 20 schools in the state that set high bars for teacher performance under the Compass evaluation system.  Garcia said the announcement pointed out schools that gave themselves difficult student learning targets, rather than just setting easy goals and meeting them.

President Terry Ebbert reminded board members to send him the names of any new candidates for the board to replace Maj. Gen. Walter Paulson, who moved out of state, and other board members who may want to move on after serving for several years.

“I’m anticipating some folks that will be looking to exit the board, and we should be prepared for that,” Ebbert said.

Also discussed at the meeting was the progress of ongoing building construction.  Davis said that, while an initial Oct. 1 deadline for having power to the new building had not been met by Entergy, he expected that the new Oct. 15 deadline would be, and said the new facility was around 80 percent complete.

Present were board members Maj. Blake LeMaire, Carol McCall, Marcellus Grace, Gen. Jack Bergman, Capt. Dave Whiddon.  Members James Reiss, Maj. Gen. Walter Paulson, Courtney Bagneris and Eades Hogue were absent.