Terrebonne Schools – A Point of Pride

It’s mid-July and summer is in full swing.  While the mind of most of the community is focused on days at the beach, picnics in the park and fun on the water, at Terrebonne Parish School District, our minds are focused on an upcoming school year that is now just weeks away. We are excited about what the New Year will bring and look forward to the return of our teachers, students and our staff.

Part of our anticipation of the upcoming year, is based on how well we ended the last year. It was a great year for Terrebonne schools with accomplishments and accolades that any school system would be proud of.  Here are some of the highlights.

Terrebonne’s Schools were ranked by the Louisiana Department of Education as “B” rated schools.  We actually are a high B school system ranking a strong 5 percentage points above what’s required to achieve this designation. We are sitting within striking distance of being ranked an “A” school district, with four of our schools having already achieved an“A” ranking.

Of the 74 school districts in Louisiana, Terrebonne’s schools are consistently ranked among the top 25 percent. For example, our District Performance Scores have improved every year for the past five years with each year being better than the last. Put another way, if we were the New Orleans Saints, we would have been in the playoffs each and every year for the past five years. That’s exciting stuff by anyone’s standards.  Are we going to the Super Bowl?  Maybe not this year but like the Saints, we are working hard to strengthen our team meaning that anything is possible.

We also are within three percentage points of having 80 percent of our student graduate and are ranked as one of the fastest-growing school districts in Louisiana in terms of student achievement. In fact, through our Advanced Placement classes, 30 percent of our students typically have earned college credit by the time they graduate.  We are expecting that number to almost double in the years ahead.

While the news is good, certainly there are plenty of challenges.  Attracting the very best teachers is one of those as budget constraints place us 49^th out of 74^th in teacher compensation.  Even though we have some of the best and most committed teachers in the state, many of whom have been with us their entire careers and tell us they have no intention of changing, we feel honor bound to take care of those who take care of our kids and who are the core of the good news we share with you now.  

We are most grateful to our community for supporting our schools. You make all that we do possible and we look forward to new input and involvement in the upcoming year. But for now, it is after all still summertime.  Our best advice for now then is to have another slice of watermelon, have some iced tea and relax.  We are looking forward to seeing you all again soon.

Philip Martin
Superintendent