If it ain’t broke …

Mnemonics are great tools, and as a writer they have saved me from tremendous embarrassment. Like the community that lies between Gray and Thibodaux, for example. A wise copywriter told me that the way to remember the spelling is to pronounce it as Schri-EVER, eliminating misplacement of the “i” and the “e.”

Another, which I learned, during my three years at P.S. 152 in Queens, N.Y., was the distinction between the chief administrator of a school and an ideal to which we should cling. A princi-PAL is your pal, the guy or gal in charge at your school. A principle is something you believe in.

Simple enough.

When it comes to pals, Blaise Pellegrin has proven himself to be such among parents, teachers and students at Ellender Memorial High School in Houma. Kirby Verret, a United Houma Nation tribal elder who has long aided the Terrebonne Parish School District’s efforts at particularly aiding Native American students, has had a lot of nice things to say about this man, whose student body includes many native children.

“Mr. Pellegrin came here … with his motto ‘average is over, exceed and excel,’” Kirby told me. “That went from words to action, he really has turned the school from average to excelling and achieving, and believes in relationships and people working together. I start my day, each day at Ellender, greeting students and trying to find that invisible button to get those who are struggling to get going, and those who are doing great to even accomplishing more. In fact, this positive spirit here has been great for others and myself. Every day, I have small messages I hand out to some students, hoping it will spark something special in the students and yes, I have seen some who only wanted to get out of high school and go to work, now more see college as an opportunity that is within reach. It takes only one willing person who does not want to settle for average to bring about great change for good for everyone.”

Recently announcement was made, that Mr. Pellegrin will not remain at Ellender. The School District has transferred him to South Terrebonne High, whose principal now works in the district office, because the administrators would like to see some of his magic worked over there.

This will likely be a great thing for South Terrebonne. For Ellender High, not so much.

In a letter to the school community, Pellegrin stated — in a diplomatic tone — that the move is not his choice. It is a lateral move, one that comes with no added benefits to anyone’s knowledge.

Ellender parents have scheduled a meeting this week with district officials and are hoping to convince Superintendent Phillip Martin to make other plans, although that doesn’t seem highly likely.

But their passion is evident.

“Within these past four years Mr. Pellegrin, along with the faculty and staff of Ellender, have worked diligently to bring our school from a D school to a B school,” reads a statement composed by an Ellender parent, Kristina Bobbitt, who is organizing the opposition. “We have no doubt that with his continued efforts, Ellender will become an “A” school. Taking this well-respected man away from this school and community makes no sense and will derail the progress of improving Ellender to where we all want and need it to be … We do not agree that this change would be in the best interest of Ellender’s students, faculty, staff and the community that it serves.”

Nothing succeeds like success, and in Pellegrin’s case it appears success has made for some unforeseen change.

It is indeed unfortunate when someone like Pellegrin has performed so well that he is deemed to valuable to remain at the place where he made miracles happen. It is further distressing that when the time came for a new principal at South Terrebonne, the only solution administrators had was to uproot a walking solution and transplant him to a different venue.

Transplantation works well sometimes. Other times it doesn’t.

I am hoping that whatever ultimately gets decided will benefit everyone — at South Terrebonne and at Ellender — but I don’t know how that can be.

They never taught me a mnemonic for it .But I did learn while very young two important adages from Leah Tarulli DeSantis, my dear, sainted mother.

If something is not broken do not fix it. And leave well enough alone.