By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The recently resurected Education Committee of the River Region Chamber of Commerce teamed up to make goodie bags for the new teachers of St. Charles Parish.
The group will distribute the bags on Friday morning at the Professional Learning Center in Boutte. Plans are in place to give the new teachers of St. John the Baptist Parish bags on Aug. 6. Gift bags for the teachers of St. James Parish were distributed on July 10.
The gift bags held note pads, potato chips, pens, highlighters, coupons, flashlight key chains and other items donated by Chamber members. The committee has a tall order ahead in re-establishing itself after being combined with the Public Policy Committee for the past several years, but Chairperson Ronnie Slone already has a wealth of ideas to kick start the community outreach, such as creating an awards program for principals, teachers and students of the year, and re-establishing the committee’s Speaker’s Bureau.
The goal of the committee itself is to monitor and support public, private and parochial schools in the River Parishes, since their main product is a staple of the business industry — educated individuals.
“We’re going to give them a business perspective on education initiatives. If you think about it, the business community is a stakeholder in education. The people that are educated in the K-12 system come to work for us,” said Slone.
The events will take some time to plan and raise funding for, but Slone said he is pretty sure the Education Committee will also be able to organize new teachers’ welcome reception in August. For more information, contact the River Region Chamber of Commerce at 985-359-9777.