Lafayette Parish School System Interim Superintendent Irma Trosclair has appointed Jon Downs as principal of J. Wallace James Elementary School, Katherine Rayburn as principal of Paul Breaux Middle School, and Eric Luquette as principal of L.J. Alleman Fine Arts Magnet Academy.
Downs earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership and a Certificate of Education Specialist in Leadership at Louisiana State University and a Master of Arts in Teaching and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Downs has spent 11 years in education. He began his career teaching civics at the National Youth Leadership Council in Washington, D.C. after which he spent time as a special education teacher at St. Thomas More High School. He then began teaching special education along with English Language Arts, social studies, and computer literacy at Milton Elementary/Middle School. Dr. Downs left the classroom to become the itinerant assistant principal at Duson Elementary School and L. Leo Judice Elementary School. Most recently, Dr. Downs was assistant principal at Green T. Lindon Elementary School in Youngsville.
Downs’s accomplishments include Teacher of the Year at Milton Elementary/Middle School and The Sons of the American Revolution State of Louisiana American History Teacher of the Year. He has also published works in the field of educational research and presented at multiple local, state, national, and international conferences in the areas of special education, educational technology, school climate, and administration.
Katherine Rayburn earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Master of Education Degree from the
University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
She has served as an elementary teacher in Acadia Parish and Lafayette Parish. She was an assistant
principal at J. Wallace James Elementary School, Katharine Drexel Elementary School, and principal
of Duson Elementary School.
Eric Luquette earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Master of Education Degree from the
University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Luquette began his career as an itinerant English as a Second Language teacher in Acadia Parish;
he then moved to Lafayette Parish and served as an ESL math teacher. His most recent position has
been assistant principal at L. J. Alleman Fine Arts Magnet Academy for the past six years.
