By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Leo Casanave doesn’t pretend he is a younger, cool version of the teachers today.
While some educators might try to fit in with the younger generation, Casanave is proud of what he has accomplished as an old school teacher and counselor in St. Tammany Parish who still promotes the values of his youth. Even at the age of 73, coming out of retirement 10 years ago at the request of the St. Tammany superintendent, he continues to make his mark on children as a school counselor.
Casanave is among those being honored as a “Mighty Man of Valor” by the Alexis Wilkins Scholarship Foundation, with a special banquet set this Saturday, April 29.
A lifelong resident of St. Tammany Parish who grew up in Lacombe, Casanave never imagined he would become a teacher since his father died when he was 11, and his mother raised the children in the family on a meager income working for the Lacombe Nursing Home.
“My father got throat cancer when he was 44 and died, but in our neighborhood it was the uncles and aunts who helped my mama out,” Casanave said. “If us kids got out of line our relatives would say ‘we got to tighten you up.’ And you know what that meant.”
Casanave said his mother still kept him and his twin brother Leon in line, along with his two sisters, who helped their mom watch out for the boys.
“My mama was strict, that’s for sure,” he said. “We didn’t have no fence around our house, but she would go out to the yard with a long stick in her hand and draw an imaginary line around the house and say, ‘don’t you cross this line.’ And we usually didn’t.”
When he graduated from high school he barely thought about college due to the lack of money. He started working with his uncle as a brick mason until one cold winter day when he thought about something better.
“It was so cold that day and I remember thinking, ‘I can’t do this for 50 years.’ So I went to Mr. (Robert) Brooks at St. Tammany High School and he said he would help me go to college,” he said. “He got me a loan for my tuition and got me to school.”
Brooks, a highly respected educator and leader in the African American community for many years in St. Tammany Parish, called the president at Southern University in Baton Rouge and got Casanave in.
“He told the president, ‘you have to help this boy out. He’s got nothing.’” Casanave remembers. “And then he got me a job working in the cleaning department where I made 75 cents an hour. It bought me my meal ticket every month and I had $5 left over.”
Casanave said he always asked for extra work on weekends or evenings when others wanted time off and began to set his sights on becoming a doctor.
“But I knew I would never afford grad school,” he said. “I always liked math and the sciences so that’s what I got my degree in.”
Brooks came back home and was hired at St. Tammany High School in 1965 where he taught for five years before becoming a counselor in 1969. It began a 35 year career as a counselor before he retired in 2004, only to get asked to come back in 2007 by Superintendent Gayle Sloan. Since then he has worked 10 more years and has no intent to stop.
“I always enjoyed this job, working with these children. And now I’ve worked with the children of those kids, and now the children’s, children’s, children,” he said with a laugh.
Casanave was not content to simply help the children in the schools. He took on other volunteer positions in the community, all in an effort to give back to those who gave him a chance for a career that was not involving bricks.
He became the manager of the St. Tammany Federal Credit Union and held that position for 23 years, working there till 8 or 9 at night as a way to make extra money. He became the Youth Coordinator for the Jobs Training Program in the summer, putting in 28 years and helping hundreds of young people get their first job.
“I have kids come up to me today that still say thank you for helping them get the skills to find their first job,” he remarked. “That’s something I’ve always felt good about.”
In Lacombe he was a founding member of the Men of Our Town Civic and Social Club and also served as a commissioner for Fire District #3. He has been an active member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where he has sung in the choir for years, and was a longtime volunteer with the Lacombe Recreation Department.
St. Tammany Principal Vince DiCarlo said that Casanave is still a key staff member today because of the respect he receives from the kids and parents.
“He is a living example of a pure educator in all he does and you can’t put a value on that,” DiCarlo said. “For us to find that for our school, and the commitment he has to these kids, it has been great for us.”
Casanave does smile when asked about the changes in his 50-year career, especially with Social Media and cell phones.
“I think Social Media is a good thing to have today if you keep a cap on it in school,” he said. “We have actually gotten help from kids who used their phones to film kids fighting. They come in to my office and show me the film and it helps us know who was right and wrong.”
He said the biggest difference he deals with as a counselor is that too many parents are quick to support the children in disputes rather than support the schools the way they used to.
“In my early years the parents never went against what we said at the school,” he said. “Now a lot of parents are not as supportive of us as before, siding with the kids rather than the schools.
“When I have to meet with parents about a problem I always tell the other teachers who are involved that we have to ‘sharpen our ax’ before going to the meeting. That just means we need to have all the facts ready to get to the bottom of the problem,” he added.
Casanave still remembers his first job on a Lacombe chicken farm when he was 13 years of age and cleaned the bottoms of the coop.
“I scooped that poop,” he said. “I got $30 a week and the first time I made it I went home and tried to give it to my mama. She said, ‘that’s yours.’ That motivated me and I always remembered that she said ‘if you work for something, it’s yours. But if you want something, you better go get it.’”
As for the honor he will receive this weekend, Casanave said “I feel good to think I’ve helped people. When I retired for three years I was so bored. I’m glad I can still do this and help these kids.”
Casanave will celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary this summer. He and his wife have a son and a daughter.