PLAQUEMINE - Iberville Parish schools are ready for students to start back on Thursday.

Students are in for a much different year with a longer commute because the Grosse Tete bridge will be closed for months. Students have the option to take a ferry to school or a bus that will take them along the detour route.

However, Superintendent Louis Voiron says there is nothing to worry about.

"Hey, we're ready to get the school year started. We're ready to get our students back and we've got a really dedicated team. The planning all summer long to be able to provide top quality high-level professional development and our teachers coming back is a testament to our instructional teams' dedication. For those parents out there with the Bayou Grosse Tete bridge, we're ready to implement that plan that we've been on the news for the last couple of months," Voiron said.

New security technology is also being integrated into the parish's schools, including the ZeroEyes AI firearm detection. If the program detects a weapon, specified parties will be notified and proper action will be taken.

This decision was made after a weapon was found at Plaquemine High School last year.

Voiron says this technology will hopefully stop incidents before they occur.

"I can't prevent a person from bringing a weapon or committing some type of heinous activity but if we can do all we can do to try to be preventative and if there is an incident to decrease response time, then that is a quicker response to hopefully something that never occurs here," Voiron said.

Another aspect of the parish's schools being affected is the dress code. Girls are no longer allowed to wear skirts, now being required to wear either pants or shorts.

Hoodies are also no longer allowed at the parish's schools.

"Some of them, well too many of them, weren't being worn properly. They had to be a certain length down to the knee and you know kids do kid things. It became quite a distraction so our discipline and dress code team met and decided let's try not having that this year and see how it goes," Voiron said.