
Sunday Scoop with the Supe
October 22, 2023
News and Notes from the VPSS Central Office
From the desk of the Superintendent
As we closed the books on the first nine weeks, I just want to share some random thoughts and overviews of how our 23-24 school year has started and issue some request for help from our stakeholders.
As you will see further down in this newsletter, we are right on track with attendance from a year ago but we will continue to work hard and get all of our schools getting that overall number up in the second nine weeks. We know things happen, but we really need to work hard on being at school when we are capable. We were right under the 90% mark as a district last nine weeks so hopefully we can get a little push and move over that threshold over the next grading period.
Academically we have seen strong results in some areas and in others we will continue to work hard to see improvement.
In the area of discipline, we are seeing the same type of results in that we have made some great improvements in some areas, while other areas see an alarming increase of behavioral issues that we will have to continue to address. Unfortunately, addressing discipline cannot be only done between 7 and 3 each day and I am asking you to work hard with your children on communication and coping skills. Our students have become so dependent on technology devices that the spoken human word is something that many are struggling to process and be effective with. Please help by speaking with your kids and helping us by teaching how to process the spoken word and not the technology driven short abrupt conversation methods so many of our kids now use. How to listen and how to speak is something that all of us need to find a way and improve on. Adults included.
All in all, we have had a pretty decent start to the year, but it definitely is not one that was immune to issues. Many of these issues have been addressed and reconciled, while others still are a work in progress. Human capital is short and pulling off things with only school personnel is no longer the norm. We need you to get involved in a helpful kind of way and not just show up when things go wrong. It continues and always will be that it takes a village to raise a child and I have no doubt that we are doing a very good job, but I really want us to all step up and see if we can push the needle from good to great.
Thanks for trusting us and getting us through the start and let's move on to greater things in the second nine weeks.
Your Partner in Education,
Superintendent Tommy Byler
District events for the week of September 18th
- Monday, October 23
- District Marching Festival - Cajun Field
- Red Ribbon Week Begins
- Tuesday, October 24
- High Schools - District-wide Practice ACT Day
- Wednesday, October 25
- Deadline for Report Cards to be sent home
- Vermilion Parish College and Career Fair - Kaplan High School
- Friday, October 26
- Vermilion Parish Special Olympics - Kaplan High School
- LOOKING AHEAD...
- November 6th - Parent Teacher Conference Day
- November 20-24 Thanksgiving Break
College and Career Fair ...
This Wednesday, we will be hosting our College and Career Fair at Kaplan High School. This is the second year since the return from Covid and we are excited about the representation that we will have from areas all across the state.
Parish seniors and graduating juniors will have the opportunity to visit with over 20 colleges, universities, technical colleges and skill specific training centers. In addition, military personnel, workforce and industry and other entities will be there. All in all we are expecting over 40 different participants. This is an increase from a year ago and we are excited that this event is growing. We are hoping to expand this opportunity to more of our students in the future as well.
Attendance Matters...
FIRST NINE WEEKS SCHOOL LEADERS
- High School - Kaplan High School - 90.03%, North Vermilion High - 89.7%
- Middle School - North Vermilion Middle - 91.67%, Erath Middle - 91.57%
- Elementary - Seventh Ward - 92.92%, Meaux - 92.79%, Dozier - 92.62%
SCHOOLS WITH BETTER ATTENDANCE FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR'S SAME TIME PERIOD
- North Vermilion Middle - 1.2% increased attendance
- Kaplan Elementary - 1.2% increased attendance
- Leblanc Elementary - .9% increased attendance
- Meaux Elementary - .5% increased attendance
- Erath Middle - .3% increased attendance
- Eaton Park - .3% increased attendance
- Herod - .3% increased attendance
- Rene Rost Middle - .2% increased attendance
Overall as a district, our full day attendance average for the first nine weeks was 89.81 compared to 89.85 last year.