09/Sep/2009
Providing Leadership in 2009
“Expect the Best” is the motto for the 2009 school year at Zachary High, according to new principal Scott Devillier.
This motto includes a half dozen new faces who recently began playing leading roles in the administration of the school, as well as the other faculty, staff and students.
“It must come from within,” Devillier said. “As faculty and
staff we need to help our students expect the best from themselves and as
teachers and administrators we must expect the best from them and also from
ourselves.”
A New Roads native, Devillier spent nine years at Catholic
of Pt. Coupee, teaching and coaching football and baseball. He eventually moved
to
Now returning to Zachary High as the new principal, Devillier said the team of teachers and administrators at his new school is the best he has ever seen. “Every one of us is working very hard to help our children be more successful in school and in life.”
Devillier said one of his first challenges has been the major
remodeling work going on at the school. It has offered him almost daily
obstacles but the work has progressed well so far.
In about two weeks, ground will be broken on the
new 40,000-square-foot double gymnasium facility which will take about a year
and a half to finish.
In November,
Devillier expects to begin the new Performing
Arts Theater Complex. He said the
New Basketball Coach
The new ZHS basketball coach is Kirby Loupe who comes to
Zachary after nine years at Port Allen High.
Coach Loupe played basketball at
“My wife is Assistant Principal at Port Allen High so we are
still living in Addis, but we will soon be moving to Zachary,” explained
Loupe.
Coach Loupe said ZHS lost all five senior starters from last year’s Bronco basketball team. Although those players certainly helped the Broncos finish third in the district last year, Coach Loupe has faith in his new lineup.
“We have a couple of excellent senior players this year, and you can look for us to be competitive,” Loupe said.
The new coach urged everyone to come out to the games because he said the Broncos will be a fun group to watch as they grow and develop character.
Assistant Principal
Central native Wes Watts is the new ZHS assistant principal.
After graduating from
He was the basketball coach and athletic director in Central for three years and dean of students for eight years.
In his first year at Zachary High School Watts called the
long standing Central-Zachary rivalry a very good thing.
“That is what athletics is all about,” he
said.
The new athletic director at Zachary High is Joey Sanchez, former athletic director at Redemptorist High for the last three years. “I was at Redemptorist a total of 11 years as teacher, assistant football coach and head boy’s basketball coach,” he explained.
Coach Sanchez said he wants the entire athletic program to be value-centered. “Our goal and our intention will be to put a good product on the field that represents the Zachary community well,” he said.
His job as athletic director will be keeping the coaches headed in a positive direction. He said young people today want to be challenged in a positive way and the days are long over when a coach could get what he wanted by doing a lot of hollering and screaming.
“We want to create an athletic program to rival our top
flight academic program that has us first in the state,” he said.
“We want to be proud of our kids on and off
the field, and we have the great coaches in position to take us where we need
to be.”
Football Coach
The new head football coach at Zachary High is Neil Weiner. Coach
Weiner played high school ball at Catholic High of Baton Rouge where his dad
was Coach Dale Weiner. He was at
“This is my first time coaching in 5A and I am really
looking forward to that,” he said.
“We are
not going to intimidate anybody with our size this year, but we have a very
good group that includes 23 seniors who are working very hard.”
Weiner said this is the first year for some of his seniors, but five are returning starters. These young men helped the team win the district in 4A. “But this time it is 5A and it is a whole new ball game,” he said.
“I will tell you the same thing that George Washington said
when they asked him if he actually thought he could win a battle with his
rag-tag group of volunteer soldiers – I won’t promise victory, but we will
fight very hard and we will deserve to win,” he said.
Dean of Students
Coach Chris Carrier is the new dean of students at Zachary High. He is an LSU graduate who was the starting safety for the Tiger football team from 1983 until 1987.
Prior to ZHS he was at Dutchtown High where he was head of in-school
suspensions.
He held a similar
disciplinary position at Catholic High of Baton Rouge for nine years, and
right out of school he taught at St. Louis
Catholic in
“The decorum in the halls between classes is directly
connected to the fact that faculty and staff must be proactive rather than reactive
when it comes to discipline,” he said.
“It is not hard to understand that every student must get to class on
time and every student must be doing what they are supposed to do when they are
supposed to do it.
There's nothing hard
about that.”
Carrier earned a general studies degree from LSU. He said his experience with athletics taught him a great deal about self discipline and his real love is mentoring young people and preparing them for a successful and happy life.
That same sentiment was expressed across the board by all of the new administrators at Zachary High.
It is apparent that the school’s excellent reputation for
top quality is very well understood by each of the new administrators.
The new people realize they are in a place
where excellence is neither surprising nor accidental.
No doubt that is what happens when we
Expect the Best!
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