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It won’t be a normal graduation ceremony, but there will be a graduation ceremony, announced interim superintendent Brad Prudhomme.
At a school board meeting on Thursday, Prudhomme updated the school board members on what the game plan is for high school graduation.
Instead of having one graduation per high school, there will be individual graduations
Over a four-day period in May, there will be more than 600 individual graduations.
Prudhomme informed the school board members that graduations will be spread out over a three to four day period, starting May 14 and ending May 17
He also sent a press \release announcing the school district’s graduation plans.
“Thank you for your patience as you waited for our Vermilion Parish School System to find the best possible scenario for the Class of 2020 Graduation Commencement,” said Prudhomme. “Given the extension of the governor’s stay-home orders through May 15th, as well as recommendations by the CDC, we have evaluated how we could best provide our 2020 graduates with the recognition they deserve under the current circumstances.
After careful consideration, our decision is to conduct modified ceremonies prior to the end of the month of May, as delaying past May will present additional challenges for those students that will be pursuing post high school graduation plans. Though the graduation ceremony will look different, we are committed to creating an event that recognizes our graduates in a special and individualized way.  We recognize the hard work that our graduates have dedicated to their education.”
Beginning on Thursday, May 14 - Sunday, May 17th, each of the Vermilion Parish High Schools will schedule a ceremony for our graduates to receive their diplomas individually on each campus.
Schools will schedule our seniors in the order they would have processed for their graduation. The graduates will wear their cap and gown and walk to receive their diploma from their school administrator at a staged area.  Each graduate will be allowed five guests to attend the modified ceremony.  Graduates and their families will have individual times with their school administrators.  This moment will be captured by a professional photographer and videoed by the school. A Graduation Commencement compilation video will be made available to include the traditional graduation components.  
All social distancing directives will be in place during this ceremony. Graduates and their parents will always remain at least six feet apart from other graduates/parents. Masks will not be distributed to the general public; however, we encourage our guests to wear your own mask. Any student or parent not comfortable with attending this ceremony should contact the school principal to make other arrangements to receive their diploma.
 Each school will send individual details on how graduates and families will proceed through the ceremony, including arrival times, parking, staging, and photographer packages. 
“Though this is not our traditional graduation, we feel that this process will commemorate this special event in the lives of our graduates during this most unprecedented time,” said Prudhomme.  
 
Each school is holding different types of ceremonies

Erath High has 145 graduates and will start around 7 a.m. and stop at 6 p.m. Principal Marc Turner said it will take an hour to do six graduates. EHS can hand out 72 diplomas in 12 hours. The school will start on May 16 and end it on May 17.
Erath High is doing it in the gym and they will allow the valedictorians to give their speeches in front of a video camera. One graduate and family at a time will be allowed in the gym.
North Vermilion Principal Tommy Byler and Kaplan Principal Patricia Thibodeaux are still working on the details of when and where the mini-graduations will take place.
Abbeville High will be outside by the front entrance or inside by the office and then photos will be taken in the gym. Like Erath, AHS has about 145 graduates and will take two days to hand out diplomas. .
Abbeville High principal Dr. Janet Guerrini has not ironed out all the details of the graduation as of Friday, but she is trying to make it as special as possible for the graduates.
“They deserve something,” said Dr. Guerrini. “This is supposed to be the seniors time. But instead, they have no prom. No award ceremonies. Everything is cancelled. We have to do something to celebrate them completing 12 years of education.”
Gueydan is having its graduation inside the auditorium and only the student and family will be allowed into the auditorium.
All schools will video the graduation and some are going live on Facebook for others to view.

August 1, 1924 ~ May 1, 2020

ABBEVILLE — Graveside services will be held honoring the life of Gurthel V. Decuire, 95, who died Friday, May 1, 2020 at Abbeville General Hospital. She will be laid to rest at St. Paul Cemetery with Father Donald Bernard officiating the services. Serving as pallbearers are Robert Nugier, Jason Cabrol, Barry Broussard, Lawrence Decuire, Jr., Olton Decuire, and Jonathan Vincent. Honorary pallbearer will be Toby Broussard.
She is survived by her two sons, Lawrence Decuire, Sr. and his wife, Pat of Melder, and Allen Decuire and his wife, Cindy of Perry; her two daughters, Deloris Cabrol and her husband, Carl of Meaux and Cheryl Broussard and her husband, Marty of Abbeville; her brother, Stanley Vincent of Abbeville; her sister, Wyonna Broussard of Kaplan; and numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great granchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Ollen J. Decuire; her daughter, Elaine Quebodeaux; her great granddaughter, Lawren Hailey Decuire; her parents, Lawrence Vincent and the former Eumaya Ditch; her brothers, Riley Vincent, Russell Vincent, Nolan Vincent, Ernest Vincent and Curtis vincent; and her sisters, Evelyn D. Pinkard, Verda Choate, Lillian Hardin and Rosella Vaughn.

A private Celebration of Life will be held at a later date for Etheline “Ann” Thibeaux, 68, who passed away at her residence on Tuesday, April 28, 2020.
Ann is survived by two daughters, Denise “Rachelle” Langlinais Gallet and her husband Blake of Carencro, and Sandra Whalen of Kaplan; three sisters, Shirley Delahoussaye of Lafayette, Elsie Honnell and her husband Wayne of LaPlace, and Lena Hebert and her husband Dalton of Breaux Bridge; two brothers, Otion “Tony” Richard and his wife Lee of Groves, OK, and Allen James “Jimmy” Richard and his wife Georgia of Church Point; six grandchildren, Jimmy Ivan Jennings and his wife Katie Anne of Lafayette, Jayson Allen Jennings of Carencro, Jackson James Jennings of Watson, LA, Shawna Rae Whalen of Kaplan, Jace Carlin Dietz of Kaplan, and Jada Rachelle Dietz of Kaplan; two great-grandchildren, Kinley Rae Jennings and Kason Shawn Young; and her beloved poodle, Buffy.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 29 years, Nolan Edward Thibeaux; her parents, Anita and Alcee Richard; her step-father, Amidee “Jake” Cormier; two sisters, Mary Ann Richard and Elsie May Richard; one brother, Landry Richard; and her first husband, Earl “Kenneth” Langlinais.
In her free time, Ann enjoyed cooking, fishing, and crabbing.
The family would like to extend special thanks to Acadian Hospice and Palliative Care; her caregivers, Meka Moore and Hillary Reed; Kayla Hebert; and her two sisters, Shirley Delahoussaye and Lena Hebert.
View the obituary and sign the guestbook online at www.waltersfh.com.
Walters Funeral Home, (337) 706-8941, 2424 North University Avenue in Lafayette, is in charge of funeral arrangements.

BATON ROUGE — Governor John Bel Edwards extended Louisiana’s Stay at Home order until May 15 to continue to slow the spread of COVID-19. Louisiana does not currently meet the White House criteria for entering Phase 1 of reopening.
While Louisiana has seen positive, improving trends statewide in terms of new case growth and new hospitalizations, in several regions across the state, new cases and hospitalizations continue to increase or to remain at an elevated plateau. The White House criteria calls for declining COVID-19-like illnesses, declining case numbers and declining hospitalizations.
Now, the Department of Health is sharing data for each region of the state.

COVID-19-Like Illness (CLI)

CLI is calculated as a percentage of emergency room visits and is reported to the Department by facilities. As of this past weekend when this data was last updated, CLI was decreasing in all the regions.

Cases

Cases are reviewed using epidemic curves provided by the Centers for Disease Control. These specific CDC epi curves calculate the 3-day moving average of daily changes in incidence of infection per 100,000 people; each column represents the day-to-day difference in the 3-day average and is then color-coded based on the slope and low or high incidence. These curves include cases through April 24.
The data shows four areas where we see cases increasing or plateauing: Regions 2 (Baton Rouge area), 4 (Acadiana) and 8 (Monroe) are increasing; Region 9 is plateauing.

Hospitalizations

Hospitalizations are measured using hospitalizations per capita reported to the Department of Health. Hospitalization charts reflect data through April 30, and we are seeing progress.
Our data shows areas that we must continue to monitor: hospitalizations in Regions 2 (Baton Rouge) and 8 (Monroe) are increasing. Hospitalizations are plateauing in Region 6 (Central).