Frick: Devoting her career to education

Lifelong Vermilion Parish resident Tara Frick has devoted her career to education. After 22 years of teaching, she has now become an administrator in order to better help fellow teachers.
Tara Frick is originally from Cow Island, and was a member of the last graduating class of Forked Island E. Broussard High School in 1991. She followed in the footsteps of her mother and step-father, and decided to become an educator since it was conducive to parenting. “My mom never missed anything,” Tara recalls, “When I was busy, she was busy and when I was home, she was home. I knew that I wanted to have a family one day, and I wanted to be there for my kids the way my mother was there for me.”
Tara attended USL and received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with a separate certification in kindergarten. Frick’s first teaching position was at Herod Elementary where she taught for a total of 10 years, alternating between kindergarten, first, and third grade. Tara then spent three years teaching kindergarten at Kaplan Elementary School. In 2006 her mother, Peggy St. Romain, retired after 33 years of teaching
kindergarten at FIEB, and Tara was able to transfer and assume that very position. She remained there for nine years.
It was during her time at FIEB that Tara began to work on her Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership. She recalls seeing how her step-father, Chris St. Romain, impacted teachers throughout his career at FIEB. “Being a teacher is mentally exhausting. Watching my step-father as a counselor and then an administrator, he was able to help teachers. With all the new requirements on teachers, with Common Core, I thought as an administrator I could really help teachers while remaining involved with the kids.” In 2008 she obtained her Masters under the tutelage of Charlotte Waguespack through the American College of Education.
In August of this year, Tara returned to Herod Elementary – this time as the assistant principal. This is her first administrative position, and she is very excited. “Things have changed quite a bit since I was last here. There are just a few of the teachers left from when I was here, twelve years ago. There is a sense of family here, even though there is a large faculty. I am ecstatic to be back. I love the kids! I think this is a place where I can have some impact.”
“There is a lot of need here at Herod,” Frick reveals, “This school is under the microscope a lot, and there are a lot of visitors in and out of the classrooms, as well as a lot of mandates. It is a failing school; it’s a ‘D’ school. There is an urgency about raising the school’s scores and getting the kids to where they need to be.”
Last year, Herod began a program called The Leader in Me which teaches students the following seven habits:
· Habit 1 - Be proactive
· Habit 2 - Begin with the end in mind
· Habit 3 - Put first things first
· Habit 4 - Think Win-win
· Habit 5 - Seek First to understand, then to be understood
· Habit 6 - Synergize
· Habit 7 - Sharpen the saw
“These habits empower students to build good character and exhibit leadership skills which will help them in school, in the work force, and throughout their lives.”
According to Tara, these skills are taught not just to the students, but to the staff as well. She believes strongly that this program will benefit Herod in many ways. “I think that being an advocate of this program, and helping it to infiltrate the school, not only the students and teachers but also the custodial staff and the workers in the cafeteria, will help all individuals to become leaders - leaders of their own life, of their education, and of their social interaction.”
Not only is Frick grateful for the opportunity her current position provides, but she is also proud of Vermilion Parish and its educational system.
“My kids attend school in this parish, and I’ve been a lifelong resident. I don’t plan on leaving. Having a commitment to the education system in this parish, and being able to project some positive change, is what it is all about. There are some great things about education, and then there are some things that need to be improved, and being down in the trenches is the only way to make anything happen.”
Tara has been married to Blaine Frick for 21 years, and together the couple has 6 children – three boys and three girls ranging in age from 8 to 17. Blaine and Tara teach the confirmation class at St. Anne’s Catholic Church. The Frick family remains busy with their children and their involvement in sports.