Moving Forward

There’s no denying that one of the challenges facing St. Landry Parish—and practically every other parish in Louisiana—is building and maintaining a quality school system in the face of growing demands and dwindling finances.

Nonetheless, St. Landry students are presented with new choices and real opportunities as the new school year begins.

Educators are finding new ways to stretch dollars as far as they can, and, importantly, parents and civic organizations are stepping in to fill needs that would otherwise go unmet—most recently and dramatically at South Street Elementary School, where 150 volunteers worked to give the campus a total facelift.

Programs such as the Magnet Academy of Biomedical Sciences and the Magnet Academy of Cultural Arts offer the regular academic courses but also provide exceptional opportunities for students who want to focus their education more sharply on biomedical sciences or on the arts.

New programs in conjunction with Louisiana State University at Eunice and the South Louisiana Community College system’s T.H. 

Harris campus, provide course work for college-bound students that will give them credits toward a degree.

Jump Start, a new pathway to a career diploma, is providing additional resources to St. Landry’s two career and technical education schools.

But perhaps most important, parents and citizens have begun to realize that they must be partners in making St. Landry schools better. That realization is part of what prompted more than 150 volunteer workers to participate in a clean-up, fix-up day that transformed a dingy South Street Elementary into a place attractive to teachers and students alike.

New principal Elsie Simien has been challenged to turn around a school that has been struggling for the past several years. A more rigorous academic program is part of the answer, she said, but it is also important that teachers and students are provided classrooms conducive to learning.

“One of the most important things was creating a learning environment,” she said. “This year, we will expect our students to achieve at a higher level. I had to give them an environment that was conducive to learning, and that meant giving the school a facelift.”

Over the summer, she asked local businesses for contributions to help fix up the campus, not knowing at the time that members of Our Savior Church in Opelousas were looking for a way to help the community. St. Landry school district curriculum developer Claudia Blanchard helped put the school and the church together for a fix-up day.

Simien said she expected about 25 people. Five times that many came, bringing buckets, soap, tools, and willing hands. Most of them were members of the church community, but the work team also included elected officials, police officers, jail trustees, and people from the neighborhood.

“These were people who do not have students going to this school,” the principal said, “yet they were willing to help out. They brought pressure washers. They did carpentry work, 

painting, took down old white boards and hung new ones.”

Using materials donated by Lowes, classrooms and restrooms were cleaned and repainted. New benches were placed in the school foyers. Public areas got fresh coats of paint. Donated landscaping materials were used to plant attractive shrubbery on the campus and create a fountain and pond near the entrance.

Nick Manuel, pastor of Our Savior Church, pointed out that “we had a lot of partners for this project” and said that members of the congregation plan to go back to the school for more landscaping and other work.

“Stories like these are gratifying because they show what can be done when concerned citizens recognize a challenge and accept it,” said Bill Rodier, executive director of St. Landry economic development. “But stories like this are not uncommon in St. Landry. Neighbors helping neighbors has been a tradition here since early days when members of a community gathered to help raise a barn or repair a home damaged by a storm. It’s part of who we are.”