By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — The local business community honored the St. John the Baptist Parish Public School System’s district students, teachers and principals of the year during an Education Awards Luncheon.

The first-of-its-kind event was organized by the River Region Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Mara thon Petroleum Company.

Honorees were Elementary Student of the Year Christopher Taylor, Middle School Student of the Year Kennedy Gerard, High School Student of the Year Judy Chen, Elementary Teacher of the Year Angela Davis, Middle School Teacher of the Year Brandy Vaughn, High School Teacher of the Year Yong Suk Lowery and Principal of the Year Phyllis Clark.

St. John Schools Superintendent Kevin George gave the keynote address, “A Report Card on Education.”

“We want to be a top 10 school district in the next five years,” he said. “Everything we do is geared toward that.”

He said the district is already moving in an upward direction, with half of the district’s schools named as Top Gains Schools, meaning the school performance score improved at least 10 points. The district also boasts two A rated schools and one B school.

The district is also making progress on recovery for the two schools flooded during Hurricane Isaac, George said. Bid documents for East St. John High School are scheduled to go out the first week of June and design work for Lake Pontchartrain Elementary School is in progress.

Other sponsors of the Education Awards Luncheon were Postlethwaite and Netterville, Dow, Valero, NALCO, Motiva’s Norco Manufacturing Complex, Preferred Home Mortgage, Louisiana Federal Credit Union and The Slone Group.