Summary:
Port Sulphur, Louisiana, is home to a single elementary school, South Plaquemines Elementary School, which serves 205 students from Pre-Kindergarten through 6th grade in the Plaquemines Parish school district.
This school presents a mixed picture of performance. On the positive side, it achieved an exceptional 93% proficiency rate in 3rd Grade Mathematics for the 2025-2026 school year, far exceeding both the district average of 83% and the state average of 62%. However, this success is not consistent across all subjects or grades. For instance, 4th Grade Math proficiency drops to just 43%, and the school struggles significantly in Social Studies, with an overall proficiency rate of only 41%—well below the district's 71% and the state's 55%. The school has a favorable student-teacher ratio of 10.6:1, but its state ranking has remained low, consistently in the 2-star range (31st to 41st percentile) over the past three years. This is a stark contrast to the Plaquemines Parish district, which is a high-performing 4-star district ranked in the 80th percentile statewide.
The most critical issue facing South Plaquemines Elementary School is its alarmingly high chronic absenteeism rate of 35.4% for the 2024-2025 school year. This rate is nearly double the district average of 19.6% and significantly higher than the state average of 22.5%. With 74.15% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, the school serves a high-poverty population, and the absenteeism crisis is likely a major barrier to academic improvement. The inconsistent performance across grade levels—such as the dramatic drop from 3rd to 4th grade math—suggests that student success may depend heavily on individual teachers rather than a school-wide system. For parents, this means the school has bright spots in early math but faces deep challenges in social studies and attendance that need urgent attention.
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