Grant Parish School District names new superintendent

GRANT PARISH, La. (KALB) - It is official, Grant Parish School District is getting one of its own to serve as the district’s new superintendent.

Dr. Erin Stokes, the current principal of Pineville Elementary School (PES), is returning home to take on the new role being left open by Paxton Teddlie, who is retiring this year.

“My husband and I have talked about moving back, and me coming back to the parish for several years now,” said Stokes. “It has been a dream of mine. I’m just so excited to come home and see all the people that I’ve known and loved for many years and meet the new faces and lead us into the future.”

Stokes is a product of the Grant Parish school system herself. She began her teaching career in Grant Parish before moving to Rapides Parish, where she worked in the RPSB central office for two years and has served as the principal at PES for six years now.

She hopes to continue building upon the work that is already being done in the parish.

”I’m excited to listen and learn and see where we want to go together in the future, what that vision’s going to look like,” explained Stokes. “I know that part of that is going to be providing opportunities for students and expanding that, but right now Grant Parish is doing some great work, and so I’m hoping to just enhance what is already happening there.”

The Grant Parish School District ranks 15th overall in the state in performance scores. It is graded as a “B” district and has the fifth-highest growth rate.

Stokes hopes to take advantage of grant funding to provide more opportunities for students, as well as the new, four-day school week in order to help retain students. However, most of all, she hopes to invest in the relationships with the people in the parish, who she said are the most valuable resource of all.

”My mission and my heart align with their work and their heart and their mission,” said Stokes. ”So, that’s what I’m most excited about is going into classrooms, seeing the students learn, talking to teachers, seeing what their needs are, how we can best support them because, really, I’m here to serve. And then I also want to spend time with the parents too and dream a little bit and see what we want education to look like for our students in Grant Parish.”

It is a bittersweet departure for Stokes, though, as she will miss the students, families and close-knit faculty she has found at PES.

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