Schulz named a Louisiana Principal of the Year finalist

Special to the Beauregard News

Chad Schulz, principal of South Beauregard Elementary, has been named a 2024-2025 Louisiana Principal of the Year Finalist. He has been chosen as one of nine colleagues from across the state for this honor.

The Louisiana Department of Education sponsors the Excellent Educators Award Program annually to recognize the state’s most exceptional administrators. Those principals who are committed to creating an environment for student success, who demonstrate innovative leadership qualities, and who support teachers to help students achieve at their highest levels are considered for the program.

Schulz has been an educator for twenty-four years, serving the past seven years as principal of South Beauregard Elementary. He started his career in education as a fifth grade teacher at Pine Wood Elementary, the same school he attended as a child. He was named the 2003-2004 Pine Wood Elementary Teacher of the Year.

Additional honors include the Region V LACUE Educator of the Year in 2014, and the Beauregard Parish Elementary Principal of the Year in 2020 and for the 2024-2025 school year. In 2020, he was named a Louisiana Principal of the Year Semi-Finalist, Finalist, and was selected as the Louisiana Elementary Principal of the Year, one of the top three named in the state.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education, his Masters in Elementary Education, and a post graduate certification in Educational Leadership from McNeese State University. After serving eleven years in the classroom, he was appointed Assistant Principal and then Acting Principal at Merryville High School. His time at the K-12 school helped him see the big picture of a student’s educational journey, helping him develop strategies to provide skills and support for student success. He was appointed assistant principal of SBE in 2014 and principal in 2017.

Schulz’s focus for his K-3 school is early literacy. He knows that a solid foundation in literacy is a direct predictor of student success. He invites authors to read to students, he promotes literacy through art depicting favorite characters and stories in the hallways, and the school hosts an annual literacy night that sees hundreds of community members engage in activities that promote literacy. Schulz is focused on providing strategic skills and reinforcements so that the students who pass through the doors of SBE have the best foundation for their future.

Schulz’s philosophy that ‘leadership without love is not leading’ informs his decisions and actions as Principal of SBE. A high-five in the hallway, a note of encouragement left of a teacher’s desk, taking a knee to speak to a child on her level, or filling the hallways with colorful art are all acts that are just as important to Schulz as effective curriculum, professional development, and data interpretation.

SBE was named a 2023 “Top Gains” school by the Louisiana Department of Education, a success he attributes to a school culture that supports teachers as professionals and encourages them to be creative in developing lessons that engage their students. He ensures that teachers remember their purpose and keep their love for teaching by allowing them the creative freedom to implement their unique ideas into classroom learning.

“Amazing things can happen from saying ‘Yes’ to teachers and to their ideas,” said Schulz. “I believe in our teachers as professionals, which serves as a win-win for our teachers, our students, and our school community as a whole.”

As a finalist in the 2024-2025 Excellent Educators Program, Schulz and his 24 semi-finalist colleagues from across the state will be honored at a Gala in New Orleans in July, where the Elementary, Junior High, and High School Principals of the Year will be named along with the overall Louisiana Principal of the Year.