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We’re half way through the school year already, back from the Christmas break, and we’re ready to finish the school year strong in St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools.

Interim Superintendent Cory Butler has taken the helm for the second half of the year and he led the return to work with a message to employees about the four areas he plans to focus on while he occupies the superintendent’s office.

The first area of focus will be fiscal responsibility, ensuring that the dollars spent by the district are aligned with those endorsed by the Louisiana Department of Education and a good investment for the taxpayers of St. John the Baptist Parish.

The second area of focus will be employee recruitment and retention. He plans to focus on recruiting and retaining quality employees in whichever role they play, from the custodians who maintain a clean and functioning learning environment and the nutrition team members who make sure students are provided with healthy meals to the teachers in the classrooms and the administrators running the schools. Every single person plays a vital role in the education of our students.

The third area of focus will be culture and climate. The goal is to build a team of educators who support each other and who deserve and earn the trust of the district’s parents, businesses and the entire community because they know we are getting the job done in St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools. That trust will be earned by shaping the whole child, not just academically but socially as well.

“We are responsible for shaping the whole child, not just from an academic standpoint but also from a social standpoint. We want to make sure our kids get the opportunity not only to go to college, but to stay there and actually graduate. We want to make sure our kids have the skills to maneuver themselves in and out of classes and in and out of organizations so they can experience the full college experience,” Butler said. “For those that go to two-year colleges or straight into the workforce, we want to make sure they have the skills socially and academically to maintain jobs that are high wage paying. Again, everybody plays a role in helping shape the whole child.”

The last area of focus is one that the district has already made strides in and that is teacher support. The central office will support all teachers, as well as the school leadership teams that support those teachers. The district’s leadership team members will increase their visibility in the schools, getting more “foot soldiers on the ground” as Mr. Butler puts it and using strong district curriculum leaders to better support schools and school leaders.

We’re in the home stretch of the 2019-20 academic year but we’re not done yet. There’s still plenty of time for our staff and our students to finish strong.