[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18163-18164]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         RECOGNIZING LOUISIANA'S MADISON PARISH SCHOOL DISTRICT

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, now I will speak about what I came to 
the floor to speak about. We have had a very difficult time in 
Louisiana and Mississippi and the gulf coast this year, in part because 
our resources are short because our country is involved in so many 
other things, and I can appreciate and understand the dilemmas. But we 
still have a great effort underway to rebuild Louisiana, Mississippi, 
and the gulf coast. So we have been moving steadily ahead in fits and 
starts because, of course, this was an unprecedented disaster. And 
while it really wasn't a natural disaster for Louisiana, it was a 
manmade disaster because our city went under water and the region, 
counties in Mississippi and parishes in Louisiana--for instance, one of 
our parishes, not New Orleans which we have heard a lot about, but St. 
Bernard Parish which sits right outside of New Orleans, 75,000 people 
live there, and every home was destroyed and every church was ruined 
and every business was destroyed. They were ruined not just because of 
the storms and the hurricanes which come and there is nothing much we 
can do to stop them, but because the levees broke which the Federal 
Government is supposed to maintain, and because of spending money in 
other places and not protecting people in their homes.
  So as my colleagues know, we had water 15 feet high that stood for up 
to 6 to 8 and sometimes 10 weeks in some places. Our communities have 
been struggling with how we might better approach the recovery should 
something--and I see my colleague from Seattle, WA--should a tsunami 
hit Seattle, which is a major, very important American city, or should 
a category 5 storm hit Long Island like it did in 1938

[[Page 18164]]

when only a few hundred thousand people lived there but now millions of 
people do. We need to do a better job of responding. So Congress has 
been involved in that for this last year, and I predict will be 
involved in it for many years to come until we get it right.
  But one of the things that we did get right is that the northern 
parishes of Louisiana came to the aid of those from the southern 
parishes, and one of those parishes that I am here to speak briefly 
about is Madison Parish. It is a small parish up in the northeastern 
part of our State, and it is a poor parish. It has great natural 
resources and very vibrant and vital agricultural land, but it is quite 
poor, generally. It is a district with only 3,000 students in school. 
But as the people fled from south Louisiana and south Mississippi and 
southeastern Texas to flee from the rising water of the storms, many of 
them found their way to Madison Parish.
  Madison Parish superintendent Michael Johnson led this effort to 
absorb several hundred students into a very small school system that 
was already overburdened. The storm didn't, of course, hit Madison 
Parish directly but, of course, indirectly they were impacted by some 
high winds that made it up to north Louisiana, and were mostly impacted 
by students and families who ran there for shelter. There were many 
shelters put up. Superintendent Johnson, as many superintendents in 
north Louisiana, reached out their hands and, without a lot of help, 
without any textbooks, without a lot of information about how this was 
supposed to happen, took the children in. Not only did children find a 
safe place in Madison Parish school systems to attend school because 
their schools in south Louisiana were ruined, but with all of this, 
Madison Parish was one of the parishes that improved their test scores 
substantially on the last LEAP test given in Louisiana. Not only did 
their scores improve, but students and educators in Madison Parish at 
the same time were welcoming evacuated children with open arms.
  Madison Parish is not the only parish that saw a substantial rise in 
test scores this year. Beauregard Parish has also done well. We are 
very proud of all of our school systems that did better in a very 
difficult year, but most certainly we are proud of those small, poor, 
rural school systems that, with good leadership, are making substantial 
progress.
  We don't talk enough about education on the floor of the Senate, in 
my view, and we don't often at all talk about the small areas of our 
country that are making extraordinary progress in less populated areas. 
We talk a lot about New York and Chicago and Los Angeles, but we don't 
always get to hear about small places that are not even recognizable 
sometimes to many people on the map. But since I visited Madison Parish 
recently and had a great tour of north Louisiana, I thought I would 
take a minute to come and praise publicly this particular 
superintendent and to call attention to many of our superintendents 
who, despite the fact that we keep cutting their Federal funding, are 
managing to meet these high standards and to lift their children up and 
to make their school system and others better for the future of our 
States and our region.
  Superintendent Johnson has been the impetuous for Madison Parish's 
recent success. Interestingly, Superintendent Johnson was working as 
superintendent of schools for New York City's District 29 when 
terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. 
Superintendent Johnson took over in August before Hurricanes Katrina 
and Rita hit and proceeded with the same positive energy he embodied in 
New York. The Madison Parish School District now has improved their 
LEAP test scores by reducing the percentage of students scoring 
Unsatisfactory and increased the percentage of students scoring Basic 
and above. They have also reduced suspensions at the elementary and 
middle school levels.
  Not only have their scores improved, but the students and educators 
of Madison Parish have welcomed the evacuated children with open arms. 
Under Superintendent Johnson's leadership, they used their resources to 
provide the children lunch, buy clothes, books and other necessary 
items. They provided increased after school programs so these students 
would spend less time in shelters and have some sense of normalcy. The 
students and staff helped the displaced children and teachers begin to 
replace their personal possessions and helped them work through their 
feelings in the crisis. This was something that Superintendent Johnson 
understood very well from his experiences in New York and added to his 
success in caring for the children taken in after Hurricanes Katrina 
and Rita by Madison Parish.
  As students come back into southern Louisiana and begin the new 
school year, I would like to recognize how beautifully our students 
were welcomed into schools systems like Madison Parish. Superintendent 
Johnson and his community are an example of the best in our society--
the generosity and compassion that is found in the hearts of our 
people. I also want all of us to look to the Madison Parish School 
System and to Superintendent Michael Johnson as an example of how a low 
performing school can, not only turn their scores around, but offer 
help to those students who are less fortunate.
  Thank you to all students, teachers, principals and superintendents 
who have taken that extra step and worked harder, improved their test 
scores and opened their arms and hearts to those who were affected by 
the storms. We should all live by this example. In closing, I would 
like to express my gratitude to the Madison Parish schools system and 
to Superintendent Michael Johnson for taking education seriously and 
improving their test scores while providing a safe, healthy learning 
environment for all children.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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