Saints capture win, students celebrate by staying home

History was made on Sunday as the New Orleans Saints outpaced the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17, to claim their first ever Super Bowl victory. After falling short nearly three years ago in the NFC Championship game with a loss to the Chicago Bears, the Saints finally garnered the biggest win of all.

“When [Porter] caught that interception and ran it back, I knew. Peyton’s (Manning) pretty magical but he wasn’t going to pull anything off after that,” said James Knox, a Houma-native and local Saints fan.

Nearing 51 years of age, Knox said he has been a fan of the team his entire life, even with the team’s somewhat stammering history.

While the Saints’ feat has undoubtedly had major effects on football fans across the state, the triumph has also managed to create a few kinks for local schools, even in the Tri-parish area.

Attendance numbers plummeted Monday for schools in Terrebonne, St. Mary and Lafourche. Unfortunate for local students, schools were open for business despite the Saints historic win.

After running a report Monday morning, Lafourche Parish School’s supervisor of child welfare and attendance Frank Pasqua was somewhat stunned to see the number of children who didn’t show up for classes. “Today, we were running at about 75 percent,” said Pasqua.

Lafourche has 28 schools and about 14,600 students. According to Pasqua’s numbers, about 3,650 students were absent Monday.

Pasqua said the number of “missing” students was more evident in Lafourche high schools, where the older children were more likely to stay up late and celebrate.

For schools in Terrebonne and St. Mary, things didn’t look much different.

Linda Joseph, child and welfare attendance supervisor for Terrebonne, said schools in the parish saw a 17.23 percent drop in attendance following the big game. “I’m pretty sure some children stayed up late with their parents watching the post-game show and things like that,” she explained.

With the alarm clock ringing early in the a.m., students simply didn’t want to get up.

Numbers released by the Child Welfare and Attendance Office in St. Mary showed an 83.76 percent attendance rate, mirroring the trend in Terrebonne. Officials said they “assumed” the drop was because of the Super Bowl.

“I’m sure if you look across the state there are a lot of similarities [in the number of absences],” noted Joseph.

The day after the NFC Championship game against the Minnesota Vikings, schools also saw a decline in the number of students who showed up ready to study. But nothing like what was witnessed Monday.

“I’m sure there were some legitimate illnesses mixed in, but the numbers are pretty significant,” said Pasqua. On a typical day, schools in Lafourche see about 96.1 percent attendance. The day after the championship, it was around 94 percent.

“I guess a lot of people didn’t expect the Saints to win,” added the supervisor. “Right now, I think the whole state is celebrating. They’re all very happy for the Saints and for the state of Louisiana.”

However, the celebrations must come to an end. Officials throughout the Tri-parish area said they expect numbers to return to normal sometime soon.