Harding elected President of Terrebonne Parish School Board

Last night, the Terrebonne Parish School Board elected Gregory Harding as president. 

A member of the board for over 20 years, Harding has held the position before. 

For his current tenure, Harding said after the meeting, he is looking forward to the Terrebonne Parish School District (TPSD)  “conquering” the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping the students, faculty and staff safe. 

Harding also touched on other challenges TPSD needs to address under his term, such as redistricting, beautification of schools, deciding what direction to move the district in as Superintendent Philip Martin’s contract expires in 2022 and local violence — especially in the Black community. 

“You guys probably have looked at the news with all the violence that we have in this parish: young African-American men killing each other,” he said to his fellow board members and attendees. “It is devastating.”

The board president said there needs to be an innovative program that reaches out to students in grades seventh through ninth. 

“I think we as a school district have to do a better job at identifying these kids at a younger age because it’s a lot cheaper to educate them than to incarcerate them,” he said. 

“When you look at what we do here, they are entrusting us with our kids’ futures,” he told the Times after the meeting. “And I think it’s very important that we do the best we can to educate our kids and help them move on to have profitable careers.” 

Harding takes over the role following the two-year term of Debi Benoit, who is the first woman to hold the position in the district’s history. 

Also at last night’s meeting, Dr. MayBelle Trahan was selected to be vice president.