Community Was at the Heart of Cenac Deal
February 13, 2019
Terrebonne Recreation Issues Persist, but Some See Progress
February 13, 2019
The past 12 months have marked unquestioned progress for both the Lafourche and Terrebonne Parish School Systems.
Both parishes made progress — both in the classrooms and with its facilities. In Lafourche, we also saw a leadership change and a drastic move by a new school board to begin the process to shrink in size from 15 members to 9.
LAFOURCHE SCORES HUGE ACADEMIC LEAP, WHILE TERREBONNE ALSO PROGRESSES
The Lafourche Parish School District is officially one of the best in the entire state of Louisiana.
The school system earned an “A” rating and 90.5 points from the Louisiana Department of Education — a mark that was third among school districts in the state.
The “A” grade and solid ranking mark the continuation of a steady climb for Lafourche, which placed No. 14 amongst school districts in 2016 and 13th in 2017. In the 2018 rankings, Lafourche finished only behind the Zachary Community School District and Ascension Parish.
Former Lafourche Parish School Superintendent Jo Ann Matthews, who retired at the end of last year, said the high marks were a byproduct of the “total team effort” approach that her employees have bought into over the entirety of her tenure.
“We are very proud of this rating,” Matthews said. “Our success is a direct result of the commitment of our teachers, staff, students and parents — and their dedication to high academic standards and the pursuit of excellence.”
In the same scoring system, Terrebonne Parish schools received a “B” grade — the same grade they earned in 2017. They earned 83 points — ranking 20th in the state.
But Terrebonne had five total “A” schools — H.L. Bourgeois, South Terrebonne, Terrebonne, Dularge Elementary and Mulberry Elementary — something that Superintendent Philip Martin said was a source of pride.
LAFOURCHE SCHOOLS GET NEW SUPERINTENDENT
The past year also was a year of transition for Lafourche schools.
Louis Voiron took over as Superintendent of Schools after Matthews retired following a lengthy and successful tenure in the position.
Matthews’ last day on the job was the ending to the fall semester. Voiron took over the next day.
It’s a position he earned after a near-lifetime working in the school district.
He was the Lafourche Human Resource Director before his appointment. He’s spent the past 23 and a half years working in the district.
“I want parents to know that my top priority is having their children’s best interests in mind,” Voiron said when taking over the position. “I want to ensure that we have an environment that cultivates caring and understanding for kids.”
Voiron earned the position in a narrow school board vote, beating out fellow finalist Aubrey “Bubba” Orgeron by one vote.
Voiron said one of the biggest points of emphasis he will have in the early stages of his tenure will be to steady the budget shortcomings that Lafourche has endured in the past several years due to drops in sales tax collections in the parish.
In recent years, Lafourche has had to cut employees to try and offset the deficit. The school attempted to pass a tax to fix its issues, but were narrowly shot down by voters.
“The current financial situation that we are in and the current status of losing teachers to surrounding districts, that is a challenge we are not going to fix overnight,” Voiron said. “But through collaborative efforts with the community and through collaborative efforts with the community and the school board, we are going to have to address stabilizing our general fund, and educate everyone on what the different funds are comprised of.”
The school board that Voiron inherited is also new and they’ve enacted drastic change. In their first meeting together in January, the newly elected officials voted to shrink the school board from 15 members to 9 — a decision that will now head to Baton Rouge for approval.
TURF HIGHLIGHTS TERREBONNE PROJECTS FOR 2019
After years of fighting, Terrebonne Parish athletic coaches let out a collective sigh of relief this past fall when the school board voted to lay turf onto the parish’s two public high school football fields.
In October, the school board allocated $2 million out of its Buildings, Food Service and Transportation Fund to pay for the project, which, officials say, will be completed by the 2019-20 athletic year.
News of the decision to pass turf brought joy from coaches who’d struggled to keep grass safe for several-straight years because of overuse.
Studies show there should be about 25-30 contests per year on a field. Terrebonne High School’s field alone has more than 130 events from August-May, according to football coach Gary Hill.
When it’s a wet summer and fall, fields get wet and are never given ample time to dry, which causes mud-games, dead grass and either cancellations or slick, unsafe fields.
“It becomes a safety issue, first and foremost,” Hill said. “We want to make sure that we’re taking care of our student-athletes. We do the best we can, but with the amount of activities on our fields, there’s nothing we can do to keep up. This isn’t about just football. This is about football, soccer, track, baseball and softball — they can all use it. Band uses it. It’s great for everyone.“ •
BY CASEY GISCLAIR
