By Amber Barker
Debbie Abrahm has always had a love for teaching.
She remembers playing school with her siblings, and even helping teach her younger brother how to read. So, it’s no surprise that her involvement with education has continued more than a decade after retiring as an educator. She’s hoping it will last another four years, should she be re-elected Nov. 8 to the Lincoln Parish School Board for District 12.
“I’m running because I have a deep concern for all children’s safety and their quality of education,” said Abrahm, who has been on the school board since 2010. “I have always wanted to be a teacher. I don’t know if it was a certain teacher, I just love working with children, seeing them learn and comprehend in a fun of way.”
Abrahm taught for 36 years –at Gibsland Elementary, Hillcrest and Glen View. But she wasn’t quite ready to hang it up after retiring in 2010. That’s when she was elected to serve on the school board.
“I just wanted to stay involved in education and keep up with all the new programs that were going on at that time,” she said. “We have a great system of educators, and we all work well together. I think we work well together on the board, communicate well, and understand each other. And if we don’t understand we talk it out until we come to a decision.”
Abrahm, whose three adult children are products of Lincoln Parish Schools, wants voters to trust in the experience she brings to the table.
“I want voters to know I’ve been involved in education 36 years plus and am well versed with parental and educator concerns. And I believe my experience has been evident in working with the district and helping address a lot of concerns,” Abrahm said.
Doug Perry is hoping his experience and his desire to be an advocate propels him to serve District 12 in the next term. Perry, who retired in June as an agriscience teacher, has 36 years of teaching but wanted to remain involved.
“I’ve always been interested as a parent and as a teacher, so when I retired, I got to thinking of ways to still be involved in the community and school system. I felt the need to keep serving,” said Perry. “I thought maybe I can be a voice for the people of my district. Some people are not good advocates for
themselves when issues come up so I thought I could be that person, an ear to listen.”
And while teaching didn’t start out as Perry’s calling, the experience his high school junior and senior year with an impactful agriscience teacher and a couple of student teachers from Louisiana Tech started the wheels turning.
“I had some conversations with university staff and they kind of encouraged me to head in that direction, but I went all through school in undergrad saying I’m going to do this but really don’t want to teach,” he said.
That was until Perry did student teaching at Dubach High School and Track Kavanaugh – since retired from Lincoln Parish Schools, current instructor at Tech – helped solidify his decision.
“Watching him and his relationship with students, seeing how students worked for him and reacted to him turned a light bulb on that this is something that might be worthwhile,” he said.
Perry’s involvement in Lincoln Parish Schools began after a year and a half at Jackson High School in south Louisiana. His Lincoln Parish tenure includes teaching 22 ½ years at Simsboro, followed by 12 at Choudrant. At both, he was named Teacher of the Year. In addition to his experience in Lincoln Parish as an educator, his daughter attended school there.
“My biggest passion is helping students develop and seeing them mature. Most of my students I got as freshmen, and seeing those students evolve and mature was extremely rewarding,” he said.
“The primary thing about serving on the board is to be an advocate, help be a voice, bring the message of the community to the central office, administration, and school board. I think our school board does a great job, being very proactive with a lot of the issues, and they are taking a lot of good steps to keep students safe.”
Perry plans to visit with as many people in the district as possible, talk with friends and family who live in the district, as well as friends of friends. He also plans to put signs out and do a lot of door knocking to introduce himself in the next few months.
“I don’t have a platform, I’m not running with an agenda, I’m just running to try to stay involved and try to help be a voice for the community.”
