DeSoto Serves to make a difference in the lives of our students by instilling a sense of community and responsibility, providing a positive and collaborative culture, and promoting excellence through innovative educational experiences and service to others.

Superintendent's Message:

There’s something special about this time of year in DeSoto Parish. Our schools are alive with learning, our fields with competition, and our community with pride.

This year, our academic focus for the first quarter has been to ensure a strong Culture for Learning exists in every classroom across every school in the district. When routines are consistent, expectations are clear, and students feel cared for, learning takes root. That’s how we live out our mission, DeSoto Serves to make a difference in the lives of our students—and how our core values of high performance, positive and caring culture, small-town traditions, and making a difference come to life each day.

We know success doesn’t happen by chance. It takes teachers who inspire, leaders who support, families who encourage, and community partners who believe in our students. Together, we are building the kind of schools where every child has the chance to succeed and grow.

Thank you for standing with us and for continuing to invest in our students and our schools. That is the DeSoto Difference, and it’s how we are #WinningTogether.

With gratitude,

Clay Corley
Superintendent

Readers Are Leaders At NDLE

At North DeSoto Lower Elementary, students are discovering that leadership and literacy go hand in hand—and that sometimes the most exciting prize of all isn’t candy or toys, but a good book.

Principal Russell Tabor remembers the spark of the idea clearly. “I was up here one summer three years ago, brainstorming ways to get kids more excited about reading,” he said. “I thought—there are vending machines for everything. I wonder if there’s one for books?” A quick Google search later, the idea for the school’s “book vending machine” was born.

The Griffin red and blue book machine doesn’t take dollar bills. Instead, it accepts something far more valuable—leadership tokens. At first, students earned tokens for showing strong character. Today, those same tokens are tied directly to Leader in Me, the school’s whole-child framework that emphasizes character, leadership, and literacy. Students who demonstrate habits like being proactive or showing responsibility can be nominated by a teacher, earn a token, make a selection from the vending machine, and walk away with a brand-new book to keep.

The excitement is contagious. “We want our kids to know that readers are leaders,” said counselor Stephanie Arinder. “Our teachers are very intentional about identifying leadership skills in students—not just based on reading data or test scores, but by building them up from the inside out.”

It’s not just teachers who get to hand out tokens. Deputy Brett Randolph, the school’s resource officer, has become a favorite part of the process. Each month, he walks into classrooms to announce nominations and escorts students to the vending machine to select a book. Counselor Arinder adds, “Finding opportunities for other grown-ups outside of just teachers to have positive interactions with kids, especially when we talk about leadership and literacy, is huge for the culture of our school.”

Deputy Randolph knows that strong positive role models influence the leadership traits that Leader in Me strives to instill in students. “When kids see this uniform, they recognize it as leadership,” he said. “The tokens incentivize them to make good choices—and the reward is a book they’re proud to own.”

The initiative has sparked more than joy; it’s also moving the needle in academics and behavior. In recent years, the school has seen steady improvement in reading growth and assessments. Tabor credits the progress to their integrated approach. “Behind every project we do, we ask why. For us, the why is clear—leadership and literacy together help us build character, develop leaders, and improve reading, which are three of our biggest goals as a school.”

For teachers, the program is about more than incentives—it’s about foundations. “Literacy develops students in every area,” said Tinikki Edwards-Hall. “By giving them an exciting reason to read, we’re laying the groundwork for lifelong learning.” First grade teacher Stefanie Register agreed, adding, “When we celebrate students who are proactive or show leadership habits, it encourages others to do the same. That creates a love of learning that will stay with them all the way to graduation.”

As for the future of the Leader in Me Program and the book machine incentive at North DeSoto Lower Elementary, leaders hope that with growth, not only adults in the building are identifying those leadership skills in students, but students are recognizing the power of peer leadership.

“A we go forward when we do our Leaders of the Month, students are also going to have the opportunity to see those leader traits in their peers and nominate them for a leadership token,” said Counselor, Stephanie Arinder.

What started as a simple idea to spark a love of reading has grown into a cornerstone of the school’s culture. At North DeSoto Lower Elementary, the message is clear: every student has leadership in them, every student has the potential to love reading—and when you put the two together, the results are powerful.

Attendance Matters

Since the beginning of the 2025-26 school year, schools across the Parish are focusing more on promoting strong attendance for all students with a campaign called "Attendance Matters" that is all about creating a culture of showing up, working hard, and staying consistent.

In recent years, Chronic Absenteeism has become a growing problem across the country. Students who are enrolled for at least 10 days and are absent 10% or more of days enrolled are considered to be chronically absent. This includes all absences whether they are excused, unexcused, or discipline related. Another issue with attendance is truancy. A student is considered truant once they receive five unexcused absences or five tardies in a semester. The need to encourage strong attendance inspired the district to strengthen not only systems of support but systems of encouragement.

"We know that strong and consistent attendance plays such a big role in the overall learning and achievement of students," said Supervisor of Student Services Kevin Gardner. "We want to create systems that supports students who need extra help in achieving their attendance goals while celebrating the schools and students who are meeting those goals already."

This has led to weekly social media posts that aim to create a common understanding of terminology around attendance early in the week, as well as a check-in with real data by school and overall district averages at the end of the week. We have seen some very strong weeks, and some weeks where the averages dipped slightly, but by keeping an eye on these measures and sharing them with the community regularly, DeSoto Parish Schools are seeing more students in class each day.

We’re excited to celebrate the winners of our August Attendance Challenge:

DeSoto Strong Cup – North DeSoto Upper Elementary with a 97.23% attendance rate!
You Matter Cup – Mansfield Middle School with a 97.21% attendance rate!

District-wide, our students showed up strong with an overall 96% attendance rate, exceeding our 95% goal!

A big thank you to POE Federal Credit Union and Judge Amy B. McCartney for partnering with us . Together, we are making a difference because #EverydayCounts!

At DeSoto Parish Schools, we care deeply about the well-being of every student, staff member, and family in our community. This month, we join schools and organizations across the country in raising awareness about suicide prevention.

It’s important to remember:

You are not alone.
Talking about mental health saves lives.
Reaching out for help is a sign of strength.

If you or someone you know is struggling, please know that help is available.

Call or text 988 to connect with the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline—available 24/7.

Together, we can support one another, break the stigma around mental health, and build a stronger, more caring community. #DeSotoStrong

Great News/Spotlights

Wolverines Serve Their Local Community

Mansfield High School students in the JAG Career Association recently served at the Higher Ground Ministries Food Pantry as part of their statewide community service project, The Giving Initiative.

By lending their hands and hearts our JAG students are building a positive and caring culture that reaches far beyond the classroom.

We are proud to see them leading by example and making #TheDeSotoDifference through service to others.

DPSB Recognized Among Top in Louisiana

for STEM Diploma Achievement

At its August meeting, the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and the Louisiana Department of Education recognized DeSoto Parish Schools as one of the top three school systems in the state for awarding STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Diploma Seals.

In the 2024–2025 school year, DeSoto Parish awarded 121 STEM Diploma Seals to graduating seniors. These seals highlight students’ commitment to advanced study in the biomedical and pre-engineering pathways.

The STEM Seal is awarded at two levels:

Silver Seal – earned by students who successfully complete four required STEM pathway courses.
Gold Seal – awarded to students who complete the four required courses plus four additional pathway courses.

Students achieve these milestones through Project Lead The Way (PLTW) courses, which provide hands-on, real-world learning in science and engineering. This year, Mansfield High School and North DeSoto High School also received the PLTW Distinguished School Award, further spotlighting DeSoto’s commitment to excellence in STEM education.

“The STEM seals awarded to our students is a testament to the dedication and hard work that our students, teachers, and administrators put in every day,” said Student Learning Science/Social Studies Coordinator, Brandon Fontenot. “We want our students to have a jumpstart into the STEM related education and work that they will be investing their lives into. We would also like to give a special shout out to Ms. Descant, Mr. Manriquez, Mr. McCaffree, and Mr. Ziegler, as well as Project Lead the Way.”

STEM instruction in DeSoto Parish is made possible by the dedication of teachers Mr. Scott Ziegler, Mr. Robert Manriquez, Mr. Clayton McCaffree, and Mrs. Megan Descant, whose work continues to expand opportunities for students across the district.

September Employees of The Month

We proudly recognized our September Employees of the Month:

Support Staff of the Month – Eunice Harris, NDMS

Teacher of the Month – Jennifer May, SHS

New Teacher of the Month – Katy Cash, LHS

Leader of the Month – Leah Bush, MES

A special thank you to our community partners ANECA Federal Credit Union, MarketPlace Chevrolet Stonewall, and RBW Consulting for sponsoring and supporting this initiative. Your partnership helps us celebrate the incredible people making a difference in our schools every day. #TheDeSotoDifference

Dates to Remember

2025-26 School Calendar

October 3 - End of 1st Grading Period
October 6 - 10 - Fall Break

We have compiled a list of resources to help you throughout the school year! Visit If you have any additional questions, please feel free to fill out the "Ask a Question" form on our website and visit The Hub for more resources throughout the year.