Vermilion Parish School Board (VPSB) is a

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

headquartered in

Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, United States. It was established in 1876. The district serves

Vermilion Parish Vermilion Parish () is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana, created in 1844. The parish seat is Abbeville. Vermilion Parish is part of the Lafayette metropolitan statistical area, and located in southern Acadiana. At the 2020 U.S ...

, with its official territory matching parish boundaries, and operates most public schools there. However, public schools serving Delcambre are located in Vermilion Parish but are operated by the

Iberia Parish School System The Iberia Parish School System is a school district headquartered in New Iberia, Louisiana, New Iberia, Louisiana, United States. The district serves all of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Iberia Parish. The city of Delcambre, Louisiana, Delcambre h ...

. The Vermilion Parish district pays money to the Iberia parish district to educate Delcambre students in Vermilion Parish. In 2000 the Iberia Parish district signed an inter-district agreement with the Vermilion Parish district over those payments. Another such agreement was signed in 2022. Vermilion Parish is headed by Superintendent Jerome Puyau. Puyau's leadership style has been called intimidating and in January 2018 a teacher was handcuffed during a public discussion of his pay raise.

Leadership

The Superintendent of Vermilion Parish, Jerome Puyau, worked in Vermilion Parish before becoming the district's supervisor of maintenance in August 2006. He was named superintendent-elect in July 2012, and took over the position permanently in January 2013. His January 2017 contract renewal was controversial, as board members called his style intimidating and found that he lacked strategic vision. On January 8, 2018, teacher Deyshia Hargrave was arrested for questioning the school board about its decision to increase Payau's salary but keep teacher salaries unchanged. Hargrave was asked by a marshal to leave the room after she questioned the Vermilion Parish School Board on their decision to increase the salary of superintendent Jerome Puyau but keep teacher salaries stagnant. After she walked out into the hallway, the marshal handcuffed and arrested her. The city's prosecutor and the board declined to press charges. Board president Anthony Fontana described the incident as a "set up" and blamed "the poor little woman" for the incident, saying, "She could have walked out and nothing would have happened." As a result, Fontana resigned on January 19, 2018.

Discipline

There is a mandatory Discipline Plan for grades 4 through 12.

Corporal punishment A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on Minor (law), minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or Padd ...

may be administered by teachers and administrators. An adult witness must be present. There is a maximum of five strokes per punishment, which must be delivered to the student's posterior. The

paddle A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened end (the ''blade'') used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered watercraft by p ...

used is of wood, 14 to 15 inches long, 6 inches wide and a half-inch thick. Other discipline management techniques include suspension (in or out of school) and expulsion. Also, students aged 15 through 18 who are persistently absent from or tardy to school may have their driving privileges revoked by the State of Louisiana.

School uniforms

The district requires all students to wear

school uniform A school uniform is a uniform worn by students primarily for a school or otherwise an educational institution. They are common in primary school, primary and secondary schools in various countries and are generally widespread in Africa, Asia, O ...

Schools

6-12 schools

* Gueydan High School ( Gueydan)

9-12 schools

* Abbeville High Schoolbr>
(

) * Erath High Schoolbr>
( Erath, Louisiana, Erath) *

Kaplan High School Kaplan may refer to: Places * Kapłań, Poland * Kaplan, Louisiana, U.S. * Kaplan Medical Center, a hospital in Rehovot, Israel * Kaplan Street, in Tel Aviv, Israel * Mount Kaplan, Antarctica * Kaplan Arena, at the College of William & Mary in Wi ...

br>
( Kaplan, Louisiana, Kaplan) * North Vermilion High Schoolbr>
(''Unincorporated area'')

PK-8 schools

Forked Island - East Broussard Elementary School
(''Unincorporated area'')
Indian Bayou Elementary School
(''Unincorporated area'')

5-8 schools

Erath Middle School
(Erath)
Rene A. Rost Middle School
(Kaplan) Rene A. Rost Middle School is a public school that has practiced

sex segregation Sex segregation, sex separation, sex partition, gender segregation, gender separation, or gender partition is the physical, legal, or cultural separation of people according to their gender or Sex, biological sex at any age. Sex segregation ca ...

which

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

alleges is a violation of

Title IX Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receiv ...

6-8 schools

J. H. Williams Middle School
(Abbeville)l
North Vermilion Middle School
Maurice

PK-6 schools

PK-5 schools

* Dozier Elementary School (Erath) * Cecil Picard Elementary School at Maurice (

Maurice Maurice may refer to: *Maurice (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people with the name Places * or Mauritius, an island country in the Indian Ocean *Maurice, Iowa, a city *Maurice, Louisiana, a village *Maurice River, a trib ...

) * Eaton Park Elementary School (Abbeville) * James A. Herod Elementary School (Abbeville) (formerly East Abbeville Elementary School) * Jesse Owens Elementary School (Gueydan) * Meaux Elementary School (

Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...

) * Seventh Ward Elementary School (''Unincorporated area'')

PK-4 schools

Kaplan Elementary School
(Kaplan)

References

External links

Vermilion Parish School Board
* {{coord missing, Louisiana

School Board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

School districts in Louisiana School districts established in 1876 1876 establishments in Louisiana