Board negotiates keeping Ville Platte High open

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Jul 17, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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The Evangeline Parish School Board is negotiating with the U.S. Justice Department to spare Ville Platte High School from closure in the parish’s desegregation case.

The aging, predominantly black high school has been the major roadblock to ending the decades-old desegregation case.

The Justice Department has sought to close the facility but is considering an alternative that would require the School Board to make extensive renovation and upgrades at the school, according to attorneys in the case.

“I’m optimistic we will be able to resolve the issue of Ville Platte High School,” School Board desegregation attorney Robert Hammonds told U.S. District Judge Tucker Melancon during a hearing Thursday.

Justice Department attorney Lisa Taylor said “the parties will most likely come to some agreement.”

The negotiations are ongoing, and the attorneys are scheduled to give an update to the judge in 45 days.

The condition of the 1930s-era facilities at Ville Platte High has long been an issue in the case, but only in recent years has the Justice Department sought to close the school.

The School Board has tried three times since 2007 to pass a property tax to build a new Ville Platte High, but voters defeated the tax each time.

The board has also spent about $3 million on improvements at Ville Platte in the past five years as part of a 2004 agreement that also closed rural high schools in Vidrine, Chataignier and Bayou Chicot.

Hammonds said in court Thursday the School Board is now prepared to spend a “substantial” amount of money to further improve Ville Platte High and make it “one of the nicest facilities in the parish.”

Any agreement between the School Board and the Justice Department on upgrading the school would need the judge’s approval.

After touring the school earlier this year, Melancon said he was surprised and impressed with recent upgrades there and with the quality of students and teachers.

The judge at the time made no promises about the school’s future but said he would work with attorneys in the case to explore alternatives that would keep the doors open.