Special
Lydia Landry sits with students at St. Bernadette Catholic School.
Two Catholic school principals to retire at the end of school year Story by Janet Marcel ~ Photos by Lawrence Chatagnier Lydia Landry, principal of St. Bernadette Catholic School in Houma for the past seven years, and Gerard Rodrigue Jr., principal of St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School in Thibodaux for the past 16 years, have announced that they will be retiring at the end of this school year. Lydia Landry Landry is a Thibodaux native and graduate of Thibodaux High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux. She taught at Schriever Elementary School for five years, St. Genevieve Catholic School in Thibodaux for one year and at St. Bernadette Catholic School for 15 years. Landry served as assistant principal at St. Bernadette Catholic School for six years before becoming principal there. She has been married to Mike Landry for 21 years and they are parishioners of St. Bridget Church parish in Schriever. She has one daughter, Billie Jean LaJaunie. Landry says that her great aunt was the greatest influence on her decision to become an educator. “She was my mentor and just an amazing educator who taught for 50 years, mostly in a public school in Labadieville and she was also principal at St. Philomena Catholic School in Labadieville for a couple of years before she retired. When I taught kindergarten here, she would drive from Labadieville and teach my kids French lessons.” If she hadn’t become an educator, Landry says she probably would have worked in the business field. She actually ran her own gymnastics business for 20 years, had a rental business, worked in real estate, and worked with 26 • Bayou Catholic • Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux • May 2022
her family’s sugar cane farming business. She says what she enjoyed most about teaching was being with the kids. “I mostly taught kindergarten which is entertaining every single day. And some of the kids I taught are now parents of St. Bernadette students.” As an administrator, she has enjoyed seeing growth in all of the different areas in the school. “Enrollment has increased, our academics is stronger here, watching young teachers become seasoned teachers, watching the growth in the students, and the growth in the programs. We are constantly making changes; and change is not always positive, but you always learn something from the experience when you make changes.” The most challenging aspect of being in the education field for Landry has been “learning about what children are going through that you may not be able to see and then to be able to reach those children and be there for those children who are dealing with things that maybe I didn’t have to deal with as a child and my child didn’t have to deal with. Children are having to deal with a lot today.” She says helping the faculty deal with issues can also be challenging. “It’s trying to be momma to all of them … the teachers, the kids … but the problem is you can’t make it better for everyone; that’s the challenge – you can’t be everything for everyone when it comes to helping people with their needs.” Of her retirement, she says she originally was supposed to teach at St. Bernadette for five years, while her daughter was at E.D. White, and 28 years later, she’s still there. “A lot of people my age don’t like change. I was constantly changing. I’m all about learning new technology and
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