Local school among 6 in state nominated for national award

In its tiny corner of the Bayou Region, it typically takes quite a bit for Pointeaux-Chenes to get noticed.

But when it accomplishes something no school in Terrebonne Parish has done in 25 years, people certainly turn their heads.

That’s because the small and isolated community is home to one of only six schools in the state to be nominated to join the community of Blue Ribbon Schools.

Schools can be nominated by being high performing or for closing the achievement gap, and Pointe-aux-Chenes Elementary has been nominated in the latter category.

With 117 of the 156 students enrolled in the school last week qualifying for free or reduced lunch, the school qualifies as a Title I school. But thanks to the hard-working teachers and administrators who led Pointe-aux-Chenes Elementary to an increase of 6.6 points and ascension from C school to B school in the latest data released by the Louisiana Department of Education in October, those obstacles don’t become excuses.

“Our students face a lot of adversity because they’re from a small area, and we have all the trials and tribulations of being a Title I school, and these children kind of almost start at a disadvantage because of things that they may be lacking, but by working with the children individually on their weaknesses, we’re able to have them feel some success and we’re able to be more prescriptive in the remediation that we’re providing to them,” said third grade teacher and school Teacher Leader Erica Yanner.

A system that the school implements to aid in student achievement is a folder system. If a student misses similar problems on multiple occasions, it is noted in the student’s folder. School employees from Principal Sandra Sevin on down will sift through the folders and cross reference the issues to see if other students share the same problems.

“They’ll pull those folders and those kids sometimes individually, sometimes in groups if more than one has that misconception, and they’ll work with that child and listen to them and listen to their thinking. You can grasp their misconception and correct it right there,” Sevin explained.

That, and other factors, have contributed to the school improving its students’ reading comprehension skills tremendously in the last few years, and it’s all possibly due to the long hours Sevin and her staff put in.

“Our bell rings at 2:45 p.m., but that parking lot is going to be full till like 4:30,” said the principal. “They are constantly preparing for their students so that they can prepare them. I can’t say enough about them.

They really put extreme effort in their work. I don’t even know how to put it into words how hard they work.”

It’s that small-town, close-knit feeling that keeps the staff working hard, according to fourth-grade teacher Holly Hebert.

“I think our community is so small that we know everyone’s parents. We know everyone’s grandparents, and so we’re really tight knit, and that’s helped us keep close. I’ve taught their older brothers and sisters, so we already have a relationship starting day one. Everyone just kind of pulls together,” Hebert said.

Sevin said her teachers are always looking for the best methods to help students achieve. For the school’s Teacher Leader, every day is an opportunity to provide students with an opportunity to better the lives of students who grew up in a very similar situation to the one she did.

“It’s very important to me, this award, because I came from a small town very similar to this,” said Yanner, a Grand Isle native, “and a lot of people I may have gone to school with did not complete higher education. That’s OK cause you can have a skill-based job, but I want to give my students the advantage in whatever career path they choose that they can stay true to their cultural roots and be a crabber or a fisherman but they also have something to fall back on. They have critical thinking skills that they can be successful in whatever they do.”

The school also boasts four retired teachers who chose to return, at starting teacher salary, no less.

Poine-aux-Chenes Elementary rewards students for effort and achievement with Honey Money and Extreme Effort Tickets. The students can redeem the tickets for prizes or experiences of increasing value, teaching students the value of saving.

“It becomes at first they’re rewarded. Then, they internalize it, and when they get those successes, they just want to do more. We all want success. We all want that pat on the back too, so we give them that,” Sevin said.

As for the school’s reward, it has until March 20 to submit a National Blue Ribbon Schools application, and it will find out in September if it wins. In order to win, Pointe-aux-Chenes Elementary must demonstrate that it is in the top 15 percent of all Louisiana schools for reading and math based on its progress in closing achievement gaps between school’s subgroups and the state’s all-students group over the past five years and for each of the school’s subgroups, the performance of all tested students in the subgroup must be in the top 40 percent of all schools in the state.

“I think my school, Pointeaux-Chenes Elementary, should be a Blue Ribbon School because we have great faculty,” said fourth grader Breannah Baudean. “We have great faculty because they go above and beyond to make sure each student succeeds. I also think we should be a Blue Ribbon School because all students and staff work extremely hard to do their best.”

Baton Rouge Magnet High and LSU Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Ben Franklin High in New Orleans, Martin Petitjean Elementary in Rayne and South Crowley Elementary in Crowley are the Pelican State’s other 2015 nominees.

Since its inception in 1982, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program has recognized more than 7,000 schools. Pointe-aux-Chenes Elementary hopes it is among the next group.

“It’s a peaceful little school, small town; you just have a warm feeling here,” Sevin said. “We want to be seen as an educational facility where students are always learning, always engaged but we also want to see those relationships, that they’re happy learning and they’re enjoying their time in school.” E3

Fourth grade teacher Holly Heber (left) guides her class through school songs at Pointe-aux-Chenes Elementary.

RICHARD FISCHER | THE TIMES