As thousands of St. Bernard students get ready for the last day of school, their longtime superintendent is also marking the end of an era.
Ms. Doris Voitier announced her plans to retire next month after decades with the school system, which she notably shepherded through Hurricane Katrina.
“I can’t believe how close it’s getting,” Voitier said about her new chapter. “On the one hand, I’m looking forward to it, I’ll be spending more time with family and friends and such, but on the other hand, this has been my life for 55 years.”
Voitier started teaching math at Chalmette High in 1971. She was eventually recruited to the central office before being tapped as superintendent in 2004.
“My whole intent at that time was going to be moving the school system forward academically. I had my plan in place, everything was going to go great I thought, and then Katrina hit,” she said.
The life-altering disaster left the entire parish and school system she served decimated.
“What do you do when you see the whole community destroyed? When every school — from the school systems point of view — not a school that was untouched, that there were no facilities left, no instructional materials left, and more importantly no students and families,” Voitier said.
She decided to take matters into her own hands. She tracked down classroom trailers herself to set up what became the St. Bernard Unified School, miraculously opening up only 11 weeks after Hurricane Katrina.
Her recovery efforts even landed her the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
And in her decades-long career, steering through the storm is understandably her proudest accomplishment.
“Because we not only brought back a school system; we were responsible for bringing back the community of St. Bernard,” Voitier said.
It is evident — then and now — the classroom and the community are what Voitier’s life revolves around. That’s why in retirement, she says she will only be a phone call or a drop-in visit away for anyone who needs her.
And she left students with these wise words: “I want kids to know you can accomplish anything you want in life, hard work, assembling people around you, being kind to people, being in a group with a goal, and you can make just about anything happen.”
Her successor has not yet been named because applications for the next superintendent are still open.
READ MORE:St. Bernard Parish superintendent who led Hurricane Katrina recovery retiring after 55 years
