A school community is never just a teacher and his or her students.

Parents play an important role, and when there is a group buy-in from parents, students and teachers, truly amazing things are possible.

The emerging East St. John High Parent Teacher Organization is answering that call with similar intentions in mind.

According to PTO President Paula Henderson, the group has grown from 50 to 200 over the span of three months (interested parents meet once a month) and an ambitious attendance goal of 500 seems quite possible.

Henderson, along with a parent-led board of Emma Morris, Daniel Johnson, Traci Gray, Sharone Evans and Kim Holmes, have revived the organization that school leaders said was dormant following Hurricane Isaac.

“We are all parents,” Henderson said when discussing the group’s mission this week with L’OBSERVATEUR. “We work really close with the (school) counselors. They are awesome. They get various speakers from different businesses and financial aid groups to come in. We had a speaker talk about ACT preparation and scholarship information.”

The PTO has highlighted student achievement in each meeting this academic year while also delivering important information directly to parents about graduation, scholarships and topics outside the classroom.

The result is a more engaged ESJ parent population, which should directly result in improved classroom performance as long as everyone stays on the same page.

The group’s next meeting starts at 6 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Leon Godchaux campus and is open to all parents, guardians and supporters of ESJ students.

Henderson said one recent PTO speaker shared that a scholarship open to anyone in the state handed out 20 awards, of which two were ESJ students. Just knowing their child could apply for the financial help, which was obtained at the PTO meeting, was key to the local parents and the students’ success in the students earning the scholarship.

That’s the information the East St. John High Parent Teacher Organization is sharing each month with parents, thankfully to a larger crowd by the month.