A car has a sign congratulating Ausberry on her retirement.

The Iberia Parish School District went all out in celebrating the retirement of Curriculum Supervisor Audra Ausberry Tuesday afternoon. 

Educators, students, friends and Ausberry’s family celebrated her six decades of service to Iberia Parish schools with a parade and greetings along LeMaire Street past the school system’s technology center. 

Superintendent of Schools Carey Laviolette said district administrators got the idea to celebrate Ausberry’s retirement with a car parade after watching similar celebrations taking place in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“It’s very difficult to put into words someone who has given 63 years of life as a loyal educator,” Laviolette said. “It’s a lot of experience and knowledge,but she’s influenced a lot of students in the community and many of them might attribute their success to her.”

As cars lined up down the street, Ausberry was taken outside of the educational center and brought under a tent, where she smiled and waved to the dozens of people in cars presenting her with gifts and kind words. 

“This was a big surprise,” Ausberry said. “Definitely a surprise.”

Despite being extremely influential to students of several generations, Ausberry said she’s never been one for attention. Her decades of work in the district, as she described it, was a mission.

“It was a mission, something God had defined for me in 1957,” she said. “New Iberia is home and I decided I would come back home.”

Ausberry earned a degree at Grambling State University before starting her career,  teaching in Calcasieu Parish before eventually moving back to Iberia Parish to teach at Iberia Middle School. After that, she was promoted to curriculum supervisor, a position she’s held for 51 years.

Laviolette said she and Ausberry both shared a strong passion for wanting students to succeed, and spoke often about striving to make the IPSD an “A” school district. 

“She’s a competitor and she knew if we were an ‘A’ school district or a strong ‘B’ like we are now, kids are succeeding,” Laviolette said. “She searched for ways and strategies all the time for students to succeed.”

After her many years of service to the district, Ausberry said that she felt it was time to retire. 

“I think we made a difference here,” she said. “We solved problems and were able to resolve things peacefully, we made a lot of progress.”