Matthews: Laf. schools improving options for college, career diploma

Lafourche Parish high school students will have the opportunity to graduate with some college credit or work skills with the opening of the new Career Magnet Center in Lockport next month.

According to Jo Ann Matthews, superintendent of Lafourche Parish schools, the new facility is just one of the things going on in the parish to better address the needs of students. “We have a lot of irons in the fire,” she said, talking about student services, faculty and staff development, facilities and money management. Matthews’ long-term goal is to make sure “we maintain our students; and I want our students to be productive and to help our parish grow.”

“A school system shouldn’t bury its head, but look at reality. There is diversity of need and want; and we have to ask how we can address the needs of our community and our students,” Matthews said. She, along with her team of educational leaders, met with representatives of industry and the work force, asking what was needed. One of the responses to the needs, she said, is the option students in Lafourche Parish have for the college pathway curriculum or the career diploma. With the new Career Magnet Center, students can graduate with college credit or the knowledge necessary for advanced placement tests or credit hours toward certification in areas like cosmetology or allied health.

“We are developing new facilities, like the Career Magnet Center, but students at North Larose Elementary will begin the new school year in a new building,” she said. Students enrolled at Lower Raceland are also enjoying the benefits of a new building and soon a new school will be built for students in Chackbay, and a new elementary school will be built in Bayou Blue when a suitable location is found.

With a “proactive board,” she said, the district has been able to do some innovative things to meet the needs of the overall community; like school choice options. “You know, parents want choices for their kids, so there’s dual enrollment and advanced testing placement.”

In addition to traditional schools, there are two charter schools, Bayou Community Academy and the Virtual Academy of Lafourche. These schools address needs that weren’t being met, she said. “We’re here to meet the needs of students, whatever it takes.” The Virtual Academy, which opened in the fall 2012, offers students from kindergarten through 12th grade online classes and on-site learning sessions. Bayou Community Academy offers a college preparatory curriculum for students in pre-kindergarten through 8th grade.

Louis Thibodaux, vice president of the Lafourche Parish School Board, said everything has improved since Matthews became superintendent. She’s managed the school district during some difficult times, he said, but “we’ve managed to stay in business and probably will continue.”

Security is another issue of concern, she said, and “thanks to our voters, we have added additional resource officers and metal detectors to our schools.” In May, parish voters approved a property tax increase, amounting to about $3.2 million per year, to be moved from bond repayment to safety and security in Lafourche Parish public schools. “We’re also piloting a system where we can alert parents about when kids are getting off the busses.” The system has also installed cameras on its busses.

Matthews is transparent, and keeps the board informed, especially on legal and legislative issues, Thibodaux said. “She’s very transparent, an exceptional person and she communicates well.”

Another challenge, Matthews said is the language barrier some students have. “We have some students who are non-English speaking, and we are working very hard to address those needs. We have hired teachers who are trained and certified in other languages, and we’ve bought translation software.” Communicating with students is only one matter, Matthews said, because there is also communicating with the parents, so language skills are also important for front-office personnel. The school district is also converting its call system to include multiple languages.

“We’re tight on money, like everyone else, and we’ve had to make some hard choices, like a reduction in force when we needed it,” Matthews said. The recent legislative session was a “hard one,” she noted, because the district stood to lose a significant amount of money with the watercraft inventory tax credit. “I have to commend our assessor, Wendy Thibodeaux, with pulling everyone together, the parish council and the school board to keep everyone involved and keeping us informed. We fought the good fight, and came out well in the end,” she said. But, Matthews added, the fight over money is not over, but every year it will be a fight for funds.

“We have to let it be known that we are fighting on behalf of the children, not for money to put in the bank,” she said. Legislators would be well served, she explained, that teachers create bankers, chief executive officers, chief financial officers…it all begins with a teacher and education.”

Academically, Matthews said, “The district has done well with graduation cohort rates. We want to make sure that continues, the big thing is that we always have to delve deep and try to figure out what’s going on in the state at any given time—and we do that well. I pride myself on our employees; they do a good job and work hard to get the job done.”

“We are preparing for the new standards, whatever they may be and have to work hard to transition our teachers to them. Teaching methods also change, and we’ve had to retrain and retool veteran teachers,” she said. At the end of last school year, leftover emergency days were use for training for teachers, para-professionals and bus drivers. “It’s important that everyone enhances his or her skills,” she said.

LEAP scores have been hard to track, she said, because the test questions keep changing. “The test that will be given in March 2016 will be different from the one we gave last March,” she said, “so we haven’t been able to draw a base line, so that may mean changes in training.”

Matthews said since she took over the superintendent’s job in 2005, the parish’s test scores have risen. In 2005, the scores were below all of the area parishes, and now the scores put Lafourche Parish second only behind St. Charles.

Matthews knows she’ll be busy for at least the next three years. At last month’s board meeting, the board approved a contract extension to the end of March 2019; without a salary increase, and Matthews will begin the state’s deferred retirement plan in March, which means the money that would have gone toward retirement will go into an account from which she can draw once she retired. “Actually the district will be saving money with this agreement,” Matthews said.

Thibodaux, who’s spent 16 years on the board, said Matthews is “well worth the money. We have had good superintendents, but she’s probably the best I’ve served under. Choosing her as superintendent was a wise choice for us.” Thibodaux said the board’s legal counsel had advised that Matthews’ salary would eventually price her out of the system, in terms of salary and she knew it. The lawyer said that was not uncommon. Thibodaux said Matthews approached the board with the retirement proposal and some new board members had expressed concern over her salary. Matthews will make about $220,000 annually, which puts her among the highest paid superintendents in the state.

Jo Ann Matthews