Letter to the Editor from Vermilion Charter Foundation

Dear Editor,

The Vermilion Charter Foundation Inc. will submit a charter school application to the VPSB on April 5th. President Bridget Winters, Vice-President Murphy Guilbeau with the other 6 board trustees and community supporters strongly believe our parish needs another K-8 campus in the North Vermilion community. One reason for this need is to address the current overcrowding at Cecil Picard Elementary and North Vermilion Middle and another is to address the projected growth in the northern part of the parish. According to Mike Heffner’s VPSB report published in late 2020, there will be an additional 600 more students attending schools in this area by 2025.
To proactively address this growth, Vermilion Charter Foundation Inc. seeks to partner with the VPSB to provide another quality educational choice for Vermilion Parish families. We will provide the parish a new school in a state-of-the art building using only the MFP dollars slated for each student. The taxpayers of Vermilion Parish will not be asked to pay more taxes. Thus, our foundation chose an experienced educational service provider, Charter Schools USA Louisiana to operate the school. CSUSA assisted Youngsville with their projected overcrowding due to expansive movement of families to southern Lafayette Parish.
The school’s name will be Vermilion Charter Academy (VCA) and will be located in the Maurice area. This school will be a public school with no tuition or fees associated with enrollment. VCA will be innovative and STEAM oriented. All decisions about curriculum, staffing and budgets are based on the specific students enrolled in the school. VCA will have an increased level of autonomy but is held accountable to an increasing set of accountability expectations.
Parent and community input will be sought to determine many of the courses and co-curricula offerings at the school. The core content area instruction will be from a Tier 1 curriculum aligned with state standards. Assessments will be aligned with the curriculum and student academic goals set and supported for student success. We will educate all students and the needs of individual students will be addressed with interventions and innovative teaching methods. A one-size-fits-all educational model will never be acceptable. Services for students with exceptionalities and SPED identifications will be offered to students as individual student needs arise. Additional services for students may include before and after school care and after school tutoring offered at no cost to parents.
Our teachers will be paid a salary competitive with the local districts and may earn bonuses based on student performance and other factors.
Please visit our Facebook page for updates: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1026038904844975
We are looking forward to partnering with the VPSB and our Vermilion Parish families, friends and community members.
For All Children,

Bridget Campbell Winters
VCF Board President