VIDALIA — Elementary school students will get a taste of high school standards this May when it’s time for graduation.

Concordia Parish School Board members agreed Thursday to standardize the requirements for taking part in a graduation ceremony.

“In the past, we didn’t have a policy dealing with graduation, for instance for kindergarten or for eighth-grade or any of those graduations that a principal may try to have,” said Superintendent Paul Nelson.

“What this policy does is that it makes the same requirements to participate in high school graduation the same for any graduation. In other words, you can’t participate in kindergarten graduation if you haven’t met all the requirements to be promoted through kindergarten.”

Requirements to advance from one grade to another have not changed, Nelson said, but all students in all schools in Concordia Parish must meet the same requirements to walk.

For instance, an eighth-grade student would need to pass all the state’s standardized test, as stated in the parish’s Pupil Progression Plan, to be able to take part of the ceremony.

In other news from the meeting:

– The school board will not change the amount it asks for in taxpayer dollars through its ad valorem taxes.

– Enrollment will be easier for parents in the military as well as non-traditional families.

“We want to streamline the process to make it easier for parents and grandparents to enroll children,” Nelson said.

“We have some folks in our area who have been deployed for instance, and have information from the Judge Advocate General’s office with the military, but don’t have what we could consider a court order giving custody to a grandparent.”

Nelson said Concordia Parish schools should also be more flexible in deadlines for enrollment for people waiting for legal documents, such as proof of a change of address.

“We don’t want a kid to be waiting a week or two out of school,” Nelson said.