By DREW HINSHAW

Staff Reporter

LUTCHER — The school buses are rolling in for another year, and St. James Parish has a new superintendent: Dr. Alonzo &#8220Lonnie” Luce, a Livingston native, and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan- also, a veteran of the South Louisiana school system. Luce graduated with a Ph.D. in Education Administration and Supervision from Louisiana State University. He went on to become the chief information officer of New Orleans Public School, then deputy superintendent of South Carolina’s Greenville Country-until the St. James Parish School Board whisked him back to his stomping grounds, unanimously appointing him superintendent last month.

Students gave him a warm welcome, too. Next door to his office, pranksters had blanketed Lutcher High School with toilet paper- a yearly firs-day-of-school tradition, it seems. With long streams of wipes fluttering from the trees next door, Luce took time out of his overloaded schedule to talk about his life as an educator and the coming year.

So you were deputy superintendent out in Greenville, South Carolina. What brought you back home to southern Louisiana?

Well, several things. One, I wanted to move up and become a superintendent. Two, because family had a lot to do with it. My parents live in Ascension Parish and my wife’s parents live in LaFourche. So those were two of the biggest reasons. Also, I was in a huge district. I wanted to move to something smaller to start off as superintendent.

Throughout your career you’ve had a reputation for incorporating technology into the classroom. Why do you think that’s been such a big part of your philosophy on education?

I think that the right technology can inspire students to learn and motivate themselves. When kids are more motivated to do things, they tend to follow through no matter what obstacles are in their path. These days with all the accountability measures we keep putting obstacles in their path: LEAP scores, more Carnegie units needed to graduate.

Also, it allows teachers to be more productive. You can’t just teach one way for a class of 20 some students. You need to be able to meet the needs of each student and I think this is one of the things that helps.

This may seem like a cynical question, but as a student, your performance is influenced by so many parties: your teachers, your parents, the kids you choose to hang out with, the disciplinarians and guidance counselors at your school. At the end of the day, what difference does a superintendent make in the life of his students?

That’s a difficult question because the impact I’ll have is on the team that will do it. But I see myself as someone who is going to give the teachers the tools they need to make that difference: like a rigorous curriculum that’s relevant. So all I’m going to say is I’m going to lead with integrity.

You know, next door, in St. John Parish you have a high rate of parents sending their kids to private schools for whatever various reasons. Now a lot of people might say that trend has a debilitating effect on the public schools, and still others might say that it’s even bad for the community as a whole. As superintendent, what’s your approach to keeping public schools strong, central and relevant to the community?

Well I think I feel very confident that we will compete with whatever other schools, charter and private schools. Our students compete very well. In fact, we’re seeing students come back into the public school system. And there’s very few parochial schools in our parish.

Our Science and Math Academy has brought some students back into the system. I continue to see us being very competitive, and you know what, we don’t have a problem with competition. I think it makes us better.

People also might say that a school system kind of sinks or swims on its ability to bring parents into the fold and get them engaged in their children’s education. What’s your philosophy on how to bring parents to the table?

I definitely believe the parents, the community, the business community, the churches, all the stakeholders need to be invested in the education of our children. For the sake of our economic development and our culture, they need to be invested.

That’s a very positive thing about St. James. I think St. James really does a good job in keeping people engaged with what we’re doing.

How can parents get involved?

At the school level. Our schools love to have volunteers whenever they can. We can use them just to be there and find out what’s going on in their child’s classroom.

At the elementary level all the parents we see usually want to know what’s going on and be very involved. As middle and high school go on, that’s when we need them the most, and that’s when parents tend to become less engaged. We want them to help us take their kids all the way through.

At the end of the year, what do you plan to have accomplished?

Well, I think to answer that would be premature. When I was interviewing, I did not come in with a 100-day plan on what we’re going to do. I visited all of the schools yesterday, probably most of the classrooms in the entire district. I’m continuing to look at where our schools are and where they need to go.

There are several things I’ve seen already. You’ve mentioned several, like instructional technology. I think we need to move in that direction. We need to look at library needs, too. Those are just a few things and we will create a strategic plan as we move forward.

Finally, you served in Afghanistan. Has your military life influenced your views on Jr. ROTC on campus?

I think it provides more understanding of the characteristics and traits of patriotism. Those are so important. I think we really need to instill character in our children as they grow up.