Lafourche District 5 school board

The District 5 Lafourche Parish School Board representative race pits two-term veteran Stella Lasseigne against challenger Charlotte Gaubert, who believes in political term limits and cutting back the number of members on the school board.

“I feel strongly about term limits for politicians,” Gaubert said. “I also feel that the Lafourche Parish School Board, which is a 15-member board compared to [nine in Terrebonne and 11 in St. Mary’s], should look into cutting back and making it a smaller board.”

Budget issues have dominated school board election talk, and Lasseigne said she is working on insurance problems, which make up a large portion of the budget, but she also wants to improve the district’s capacity to teach students modern skills.

“I want to have programs and policies to help students develop 21st century skills,” Lasseigne said. “Also, I’m on the Pre-K board, and I am very much interested in continuing enhancement of pre-school program.”

Lasseigne is the chairperson for the Policy and Procedure Committee, serves on the Insurance Committee and is the president of the Louisiana School Board, another elected position. She said she is also looking into helping students deemed at risk for dropout complete their education.

“We look at the test scores, which have gone up in Lafourche Parish,” she said. “The drop-out situation is probably at a standstill, but we have a pilot program, where we look at students at-risk for drop out and implemented a buddy system for eighth-grade students who failed the LEAP.”

Gaubert wants to open the lines of communication in order to maximize student education.

“I encourage parental support in education system,” Gaubert said. “I believe in being available to the parents, students and teachers and listen to their views in improving our schools.