ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / July 7, 1999

RESERVE- Even though he just took over as the superintendent of the St.

John the Baptist Public School system, Chris Donaldson seems relaxed in his new role. Looking fit and at ease one would never guess that he hasjust taken over the reins and responsibility of educating 6,800 students in 11 schools throughout the parish.

His calm demeanor is due to the people that help him out.

“That’s our strength,” he said. “There are a lot of dedicated, good people inthe system.”A native of St. John Parish, Donaldson has been an educator since 1969when he started out as a social studies teacher at East St. John HighSchool. From there he has moved up to principal of three different schools,supervisor of Child Welfare and Attendance for the school system, associate superintendent and finally superintendent.

After 30 years in the field of education, Donaldson is serious about the welfare of his new charges.

“I want to be seen as somebody who really cares about what our students are doing, ” said Donaldson. “I want to be somebody who can encourage thestudents and make them believe they can achieve.”He cites poor test scores as one of the weaker points of the system and the biggest challenge to his tenure as superintendent.

“Student achievement is not what it should be,” Donaldson admitted.

But he is working on plans to help the students achieve better scores.

“What we need to do is simplify. Make each school accountable, and makesure the curriculum is aligned with the benchmarks that are mandated so that our students will have the same opportunities as other school systems when given the standardized tests,” he said.

He also added that developing a staff that understands the benchmarks of the standardized tests and knows how to motivate the students is also a big factor in his plan.

Donaldson cites the Texas public school system as an example.

“Texas had a lot of success when they went to school accountability,” he said. “They were at the bottom, and now their system is ranked near thetop.”But Donaldson doesn’t put all his faith in standardized tests.

“Unfortunately, and this is not the best thing, everybody is being judged by these standardized tests nationwide.” he said. “Certainly the tests are oneof the criteria for how well a school is doing, but success is not just that one test. “Success for Donaldson is this: “How well the students do when they leave school. Are they able to get a good job and contribute to the community?Are they able to continue their education and go on to college if they want?” This type of success, as well as success on standardized tests, is what is important to Donaldson.

In order to accomplish these goals, Donaldson has to solve another big problem within the system: student attendance.

“We have to make students realize that going to school is important,” he said. “We have to show them that we care and that we want them tosucceed.

“A lot of kids have had a bad experience with school and they aren’t motivated. They don’t think that people care about them. After awhile thestudents think they can’t learn, the teachers think they can’t learn and the parents think their children can’t learn.”According to Donaldson, parents, students and teachers have to set high expectations and believe they can accomplish the goals set before them.

He plans to have focus groups with the parents of fourth- and eighth- graders, the two grades that have to take the standardized tests, at the beginning of the school year. He wants to encourage the parents to focuson high-stakes testing and make the parents understand that if their children do not pass these tests they will not be promoted to the next grade. The parents have to get involved in motivating and encouragingtheir children, he said..”This can be done,” he said, “but everybody has to be involved to make it work.”Donaldson also said he also needs the support of the public in St. John tohelp him improve the public school system. Teacher pay is an example ofthe need for public support.

“We need to do something with teacher pay because we can’t compete with the surrounding parishes,” he said. “Right now we are working with 100uncertified teachers in our system, and this is a big problem.

“Teachers that we’ve had for a couple of years, who are excellent, as soon as they have a chance they take off for higher pay in neighboring parishes.” Lack of certified, qualified teachers is bad for teacher morale, and this in turn has a poor effect on student achievement.

When asked what legacy he would like to leave in the St. John PublicSchool system, Donaldson sat back in his chair and pondered for a second.

“What I would like to see is the system turned around where our students are achieving at the rate they should be,” he said, “and the general public in St. John feeling good about and supporting public education.”

Return To News Stories