The Health and Saftey of Our Students is at the Center of Everything We Do

We are given the care of just over 19,000 students each school day. This is an awesome responsibility that we take very seriously and that occupies a great deal of our time, attention and resources. From managing the efficient and safe transportation of our students, to ensuring that our buildings are clean, to the food we serve at lunch, our minds are always on ensuring that we have created an environment that is safe and conducive to learning.

This summer we were especially focused on two areas that we felt could potentially occur in our schools: a seriously sick or injured student, and an intruder. Both are serious matters and both received our most serious focus this summer.

In the matter of a sick or injured student, Terrebonne General Medical Center made their staff and trainers available to 200 of our athletic coaches, teachers and school nurses to learn how to recognize the symptoms of a concussion, how to administer first aid, how to perform CPR, and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED).  Concurrent with this training was a gift from the Chad Barcia family of thirteen AED’s that ensured the availability of these life-giving devices to each of our 36 schools. The Barcia family, who live in Metairie, have made it their mission to provide AEDs to schools based on their personal experience of the loss of a son who might have been saved had an AED been present at his school.  We appreciate this most heart-felt gift given to our students in his honor.  In addition to this gift, Terrebonne General Medical Center also donated six AEDs to our schools.  All Terrebonne schools will now be equipped with AEDs with personnel trained to use them.

In the matter of a possible intruder, there were four training sessions held this summer at Mulberry Elementary where the resources of the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office, the Houma Police Department, the Terrebonne Parish District Attorney and Acadian Ambulance were utilized. With almost 300 teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals and secretaries joining in, we worked through the details of how best to manage a situation of such grave importance.

While our focus is education, nothing is more important than the safety and welfare of our students and our team.  We thank everyone who contributed so much to these preparations and we hope above all, to keep these skills merely in reserve, knowing that our students are safe and ready to learn.

Philip Martin

Superintendent