DeSoto Parish School System

DeSoto Parish Schools Families,

On behalf of the entire DeSoto Parish School System, I would like to say thank you to our community for another fantastic school year in which we saw students, teachers, and coaches do some pretty amazing things at all levels. We started the year by rolling out several new initiatives that have taken shape over the course of the school year.  Our #DigitalDeSoto initiative kicked off the installation of new smart boards in all classrooms and culminated with administrators, teachers and staff completing training to become Google level 1 certified.  The #TeachDeSoto initiative brought us the DeSoto Promise, our grow our own teacher program, aimed at recruiting, training and hiring our own teachers.  It also gave us a renewed focus on recruiting, training and retaining math teachers across our district. We also saw a tremendous outpouring of participation during #DeSotoServes week where thousands of dollars and hundreds of items were donated to charitable organizations across our communities. 

As always, our administrative teams are now assessing the work of this school year and have already begun developing their mission plans for the upcoming school year. We will continue looking for ways to make our schools better, with student safety remaining our number one responsibility. Our School Resource Officers, Administrators and staff will once again participate in training to continue to make our campuses safer and give you, the community a sense of security when it comes to educating your children. When it comes to school safety, we are in this together. As always if you see, hear, or know something, PLEASE say something! 

In conclusion, I know many parents feel that summer is a time for children to "take a break from learning," but I would like to encourage parents and grandparents to keep their kids learning. You are their first teacher, and the one with the greatest influence over their lives. This journey of changing our communities for the better is a collective mission that we must wholeheartedly share.  We thank you for joining us in this most worthy endeavor. Like the person who trains daily to get in better shape, the learner must continue reading and learning to keep his or her brain in shape. Parents and Grandparents who encourage their children to read by modeling reading and providing books for them will see a tremendous improvement in overall learning. Summer should not be a time to stop learning, but a time to switch gears for a while and continue learning differently!

Thank you for entrusting your children to DeSoto Parish Schools. We are truly blessed to be a part in shaping the lives of the future of our community. I hope everyone will have a safe, fun, and awesome summer! 

For Students’ Sake,

Clay J. Corley
Superintendent