Letter from Dr. Jason VanMetre regarding Federal Court status conference

To our families and community members,

I wanted to personally share today’s developments regarding this morning’s status conference in federal court. The information below was also provided to all School Board members this afternoon.

As ordered by the Honorable James David Cain, I, along with legal counsel appeared this morning for the status conference in federal court. We were advised on Monday, Feb. 2, that Judge Cain ordered the district to attend this status conference regarding the desegregation order, Conley et al. v. Lake Charles School Board, now the Calcasieu Parish School Board.

During today’s meeting, Judge Cain requested a comprehensive view of the school district and asked for information regarding student and faculty composition, school bonding districts, and transportation. Judge Cain assured all of us present during the status conference that no immediate action will be taken by the court that will impact any part of a student’s educational journey in Calcasieu Parish at this time. As the Superintendent of this district, I can also assure you that the district will not be taking any immediate action that will impact any part of a student’s educational journey in Calcasieu Parish at this time. The only action currently taking place at the district level is information gathering as ordered by the court. No protected student information will be provided by the district, and the data will be provided in a summary format.

Judge Cain was very clear that no decisions are being made now and that he has no intention of making any changes before his data gathering process is complete. He indicated that the district will be ordered to attend a follow-up status conference once the information has been reviewed, but no current date has been set for that meeting.

It’s important to me to share that neither district personnel nor members of the School Board prompted any of the current court action taking place. The item was placed on the School Board meeting agenda last night to inform all stakeholders of the court-ordered status conference received by the district just one week prior. The item last night was never going to be a vote to remove or alter the existing desegregation order, as neither the Board nor the district has the power do so.

Moving forward, the district and Board will continue to communicate openly and honestly about this matter, as it is one that is incredibly important to all of us.

We appreciate the passion of all stakeholders in this matter, and that is something all of us share. We appreciate the fact that you trust us with the education of your children, and building the foundations for their future is what we are doing now and what we will continue to do moving forward.

Sincerely,
Dr. Jason VanMetre
Superintendent
Calcasieu Parish School Board