Thibodeaux retiring from public school system

KAPLAN — Kaplan High School will have a new principal when school starts next year.
Earlier this week, Principal Patricia Thibodeaux informed Superintendent Tommy Byler and her staff that she would not be returning as Kaplan’s principal because she is retiring from the public school system.
Kaplan will have its fourth new principal in five years.
After 31 years in the public school system and a total of three years at Kaplan, Thibodeaux is ready to move on, she said.
“I have a chance to go make good money and work with my best friend,” said Thibodeaux, who has been the principal at Kaplan High for 1 1/2 years.
While Thibodeaux is retiring from public education, she will still be working in education.
Thibodeaux will be one of two assistant principals at Acadiana Renaissance Charter in Youngsville. Former Kaplan Principal Lyndelle Theriot retired from the public school system last spring after being named the brand new charter school principal.
Thibodeaux was Theriot’s assistant principal at Kaplan for 18 months, and they have been good friends for 30-plus years.
Thibodeaux and former Abbeville High assistant principal Ward Courville will be the two assistant principals, and Theriot is the principal. Also on the school’s staff is former Abbeville High principal Ivy Landry.
The charter school is a 6th through 9th-grade school today and will be 6th grade through 10th grade next school year.
Each year the school will increase a grade. Next year enrollment will be at 759 and in three years, they expect 1,200 students to be on campus.
Thibodeaux will remain as the Kaplan High principal until June 30. She is starting her new job on July 1.
The search for a new principal will begin at the end of this week.
There are now four principal jobs that are open in Vermilion Parish. They are at Gueydan High, North Vermilion Middle School, North Vermilion High School and now Kaplan High School.