Everything America is or ever hopes to be depends on what happens in public schools. Parents entrust their most prized possessions, their children, to the teachers and support personnel in order to receive an education that will help to guide them on their journey through life. We teach them to read. We teach them to add and subtract. We nurture a love of art and music. We provide their daily needs of food for their bodies and academics for their minds. We take pride in their accomplishments and try to help lift them up when they fall in any way. We foster respect for self and for others. We build confidences and we build community leadership for the future. We introduce them to the past and prepare them for what is to come in a world they have not come to grasp with as yet, but will in their time.

We have chosen to serve as professional educators knowing that we play a vital role in shaping America’s future, yet we know our responsibilities do not end there. We are the keepers of the flame and the guardians of the future of education for all those who would come after us. We ensure the standards of excellence in our work and set the standards for those who hope to join us as guardians to the most precious resource in America today, our children. It is a big job and we are only able to succeed at it because we stand shoulder to shoulder and get the job done together.

We also have come to understand that in order to succeed we must stand up for ourselves, our profession, and for the institute of public education. Our voice is the LPAE. Our strength is the LPAE. Our association is the LPAE. Together with our brothers and sisters in the LAE and the NEA we stand tall and proud. We belong to the Lafourche Parish Association of Educators, the Louisiana Association of Educators, and the National Education Association. On the local, state, and national levels we stand up for our profession and we are advocates for the children of America.