NYT Article On Ville Platte Bulldogs

my parents are both VP High Alumni, along with my cousin who graduated in the mid 90's....Sad to see whats happening there but Ville Platte has some serious problems......

mostly Sacred Heart of Ville Platte...

If the whites can't see the wisdom in providing a place for the blacks in their community to get educated, then I don't know what to tell them...

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Just a question Where are all the white poeple (the article mentioned white flight). Is the vote against the new HS becasue it's predoinatly balck and the white kids go elsewhere?

Where do all the white kids go?

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I grew up about 25 miles from Ville Platte.
Ville Platte High School is almost all black. Sacred Heart High School is almost all white. These two schools are about a mile apart and you pass both schools when you drive through on highway 10. They are both 2A and are in the same distict. When they play each other usually the team will just walk down the road to the home school's stadium.

It should be mentioned that Sacred Heart is a private high school. So I guess this is where they get the white flight which is pretty common almost everywhere. Also, several schools in Evangeline Parish have closed over the past five years. Vidrine High School, Bayou Chicot High School, Chataignier High School. These three high schools have been around forever and they were recently closed. Many of these kids were sent to Pine Praire High School and Mamou High School as well as some going to Ville Plate and Sacred Heart.

I wonder why there wasn't a big fuss when these schools were closed??? I wonder why?

I'm from Ville Platte .. SHHS grad, 1987, but no longer live there. My dad was a teacher in a small rural public school in Chataignier for his entire teaching career. He went to VP high ... didn't want his children going there. although he never really said why, other than he wanted us to receive a Catholic education.

If VPHS closes, kids from Ville Platte will have to be bussed to schools at least 20 or more miles away ... to me as a parent, that makes no sense.

I'm not even sure how my parents voted as it's their right for me to not know BUT I can say that if they voted NO it's not a race thing. They know the value of a good education ... public or private. And to those who feel that "their kids don't use the public system" and they "shouldn't have to pay for it", well, I don't get it. I pay for lots of things that I don't use ... Medicaid, charity hospital, FEMA vouchers just to mention a few.

I hope things eventually work out .. the school is old and was pretty run down when I was in hs as various functions would be held there (4-H events, basketball tournaments, etc). Something needs to be done ... is closing and bussing kids the option?? I don't know ...

I have strong emotions on the issue. I was a Freshman in high school at Chataignier when it was closed so I went to Sacred Heart. It was nothing race. I was raised in Chataignier, but my parents could afford to send me to SHHS. I voted "No" also because every other plan the Evangeline Parish School Board has had in the past 10 years to "fix things" has always turned out shoddy and second rate, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see them use the minimum amount and pocket the rest.

If Ville Platte is all black (mostly at least) and the Private school is all white (mostly) is this 2008 or 1958?

Segegation marches on