RESERVE, La. — Gov. Bobby Jindal recently recognized Heidi Trosclair, a teacher at East St. John High School, for participating in the Louisiana Leaders Fellows Program.

The Louisiana Leaders Fellows Program is a major part of the state’s effort to develop effective leadership. Twenty-one teacher leaders were paid up to $70,000 a year, plus a $10,000 summer stipend, paid over a span of two summers, to serve in K-12 schools as full-time educational leadership residents while simultaneously enrolling in the fellowship’s intensive full-time university program that allows them to become certified principals.

Gov. Jindal praised Trosclair and the other participating teachers during a press conference at the University of Louisiana at Monroe earlier this month, where he announced that The Wallace Foundation recently awarded a $3.4 million grant to the Louisiana Department of Education to develop and support programs that foster great educational leaders in the state.

“We know that the key to strengthening our children’s education is to put a good teacher in every classroom, and ensuring that we have innovative educational leaders is critical to supporting the efforts of our dedicated teachers,” Gov. Jindal said.

Over the past three years, funding from The Wallace Foundation has been utilized to support a variety of educational leadership initiatives. State education officials credit improvements gained through these grant resources as a major contributing factor to Louisiana being recognized by the Southern Regional Education Board as the only state to progress in six key policy areas pertaining to the preparation of principals.

“Effective school leadership doesn’t just happen; it requires an intense effort to grow and nurture potential leaders,” State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek said.

Dr. Courtney P. Millet, superintendent of St. John the Baptist Parish Schools, commended Trosclair for being a part of the state’s program.

“We are very proud of Ms. Trosclair’s completion of this very rigorous training, and we are glad to have a St. John the Baptist Parish educator among these 21 outstanding state leaders,” Dr. Millet said.

Trosclair is also a National Board Certified Teacher, a designation that denotes the nation’s top educators who have completed a one-year continuing education program to become more effective teachers.