Cecilia High School

FACTS: 1. CHS has the highest SPS score of the three high schools in St. Martin Parish. 2. CHS has the highest average ACT score in St. Martin Parish. 3. CHS has the best EOC test scores in St. Martin Parish. 4. ALL teachers added more value than expected on the recent "value-added" teacher assessment. 5. CHS has the second highest rate of academic improvement in St. Martin Parish. 6. 100% of the teachers are certified and high-qualified according to the No Child Left Behind Act. 7. CHS has the best discipline of the three high schools in St. Martin Parish according to parish discipline data.
--Submitted by a teacher

I graduated in 2004 from CHS and I found my education to be more than adequate. You get what you give in my opinion. The teachers were always willing to help me, engage me, and encourage me in my studies. The community is to blame for the failed students in my opinion. I never realized how lazy and uninvolved our community was until I went to LSU and felt the love and support of a real community. Luckily for me my parents put a real focus and importance on education. I think children will achieve the standards set for them, if you set the bar low that's what they'll set out to achieve. It's time for the community to stop pointing fingers and get more involved than just attending Friday night football games.
--Submitted by a student

I am an alumni of the Cecilia education system. Though the curriculum and teaching approaches have improved over the past five years, Cecilia, as with many of the schools in the area's public system, is still not yet up to the national standards. Now living and attending school outside of the state, I am becoming more and more aware of the disadvantage that St. Martin parish students are being handed. The curriculum and education standards are not yet set to those of the national level. Students graduate with little to no options for advancement or knowledge of opportunity outside of the parish let alone the state of Louisiana.

It is a shame to see so many individuals degrade such a great school...I graduated in 2000 and, in comparison to all other students entering college from local schools, I feel that the staff at Cecilia High prepared me for the rigors of college education. Unfortunately the school did go through rough times due to inept administration a few years back, but I feel that the school is on the right path again. In comparison to all other high schools in St. Martin Parish, CHS has the most diverse student body and some of the best educators-period. Leave it up to the few Cecilia 'elite' who think they know anything and everything about how a school should be run to ruin the name of my alma mater- if they were as 'educated' as they first thought, they would realize that a world exists outside the bubble of Cecilia and Grand Anse.
--Submitted by a former student

This school does need help! Principal is always defensive if questioned by a parent and tries to turn conversation into a agrument. He has a tough job and he needs alot of good help not the inadequate personnel he has under him now. CHS will never prepare your child for college let alone the 'real' world unless some changes occur. Teachers have their 'pets' and unless your kid is one of them, they won't have a chance to have a decent GPA no matter how hard they work.
--Submitted by a parent

Class size runs closer to 30 than 15. Subs are used for too often and there days when students sit in the gym because a teacher did not arrive. Record keeping is terrible. A student is sent to detention and the parent cannot find out why. You go to the school two and three times to meet with a teacher and she is not there, You speak with the principal, the counselor and the teacher and no knows why a student is sent to detention. The answer 'She must have done something' The staff seems to resent parents questions. When an English teacher does not know that Edger Allen Poe wrote 'The Raven' something is wrong.
--Submitted by a parent

I attended Cecilia High school during the 1997-2000 scholastic years and found it to be way below the national educational standards. It is not only below average as far as teaching, but students also lack educational motivation from the community as well as the state as most LA public schools do. Entering college, I found that I was not adequately prepared for even the average college curriculum. This school as well as many others in the state of LA need assistance.
--Submitted by a former student

Educational quality was low, student participation was low, school cleanliness was low, disciplan was minimal, staff effort was poor, food was horrible... Overall, not the greatest facility to send a student to.
--Submitted by a former student