Chris Dufour is a man who wears many hats. He’s the CEO of Esplanade Energy, sits on the advisory board and finance committee of AMCREF Community Capital, and has been a Crescent City Schools board member since October of 2015.
“When my family moved back to New Orleans after Katrina, I really wanted to give back to the community, so I started looking around for opportunities to mentor or get involved in education in some way. I was introduced to a board member for Crescent City Schools, and after going through the interview process, they asked me to be on the board.”
This involvement was very important to Dufour for a number of reasons. Dufour acknowledges that his own career path in energy was the result of what he was exposed to throughout his education.
“Education gives you a broader view of the world. I went to London for my Master’s degree, and that’s what allowed me to get my first energy job and actually meet my business partner. Education gives you the keys to move on to another professional level.”
That mentality is what brought Dufour to the CCS board, where he seeks to be an active and positive member. For Dufour, service to Crescent City Schools has been an impactful way to give back to his beloved New Orleans community.
“Every child in the city deserves the opportunity for a great education, and that’s what CCS is about. It’s about constantly being able to improve and find ways to make sure that all of the students get the best education that they possibly can.”
That’s a tall order, but big goals with actionable steps have the potential to make significant improvements over time.
“There are a lot of things schools don’t have control over, but one of the things we can control is our growth. One of my big goals as a member of the board is to support leadership and staff to make sure all of our schools are ‘A’ growth schools.”
Instead of focusing on school grades as a whole, what Dufour would really like to see is growth in each individual student.
“It’s a complicated task to make sure all of our schools are ‘A’ schools, but individual student growth is really what we’re looking for. We want to make sure that all students who come in at their respective levels are all improving over the course of the year, and figuring out what I can do to best help that happen is my goal moving forward.”
