Talk about things coming full circle.
Newly hired Title I Supervisor Dr. Carrie Ferguson is back where it all started.
She began her educational career at the old West Monroe Junior High, now the renovated Central Office for the Ouachita Parish School Systems. Her office in the Media Center is the old junior high gym, where she spent many summers as the WMJH Drill Team Sponsor.
But even before that, Ferguson used to run around the old Media Center as a child when her mother was a Title I Supervisor for the district.
Ferguson just completed her 30th year in education, but only the first seven came at West Monroe Junior High. She spent the majority of her career at Riser Middle, first as a curriculum coordinator and then as an assistant principal.
“Most of my experiences have been in a Title I school,” Ferguson said. “Being an administrator, you learn how to come up with solutions, so that’s my philosophy – don’t bring me a problem, let’s find a solution.”
The Title I team is made up of 5 supervisors with the responsibilities divided up among them. One of Ferguson’s main priorities will be ELL (English Language Learners). ELL are students who are unable to communicate fluently in English, most of the time because it is not the first language they learn in their household.
“Riser Middle had over 40 (ELL) students, so that’s been a huge help in transitioning into my new role because I was already familiar with the ELL program we had at Riser,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson is also tasked with Parent Engagement, which she said has been a struggle since COVID.
“No one wants to come to another parent meeting,” Ferguson said. “That’s going to be something I’m really going to have to work on. It’s really going to be my goal to find areas of interest for parents not just to be meeting, but things that can really help them.”
Ferguson had two daughters come through the Ouachita Parish School System and has a son who will be a junior at West Monroe High School this fall.
“I’ll go to ballgames and hear people say stuff like, ‘I don’t even know what my kid is taking next year,’” Ferguson said. “If you’re not in education, you don’t see that side of it.”
Ferguson added that other things that come to mind that parents need to be informed on are the importance of school attendance and filling out government aid for their children to attend college.
“My goal is to find things that parents really need to help their kids succeed and not just meeting to be meeting,” Ferguson said.
A lot of these topics she could also possibly pick her mom’s brain on as far as what she did as a Title I Supervisor. However, there is one thing that she won’t be able to help with – social media.
“It’s going to be totally different obviously because of technology and social media,” Ferguson said. “That’s one area I want to focus on, informing parents about social media, helping parents understand the dangers of social media and their kids. That’s obviously not something my mom had to deal with.”
Ferguson will also be over Policies. She will be a supervisor for Title I Schools Lenwil Elementary and Ouachita Junior High.
THE FERGUSON FILE
1993-2000 – West Monroe Junior High
2000-2001 – West Monroe High School
2001-2004 – Westfield High School (Texas)
2004-2006 – Ruston Junior High, Principal
2006-2007 – West Ouachita High School
2007-2011 – Riser Middle, Curriculum Coordinator
2011-2023 – Riser Middle, Assistant Principal
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