1,600 students miss school in Vermilion Parish on Monday

There were approximately 1,600 Vermilion Parish students  who missed school Monday because of “National Do Not Send Your Child to School Day” in protest of Common Core State Standards Initiative.

That number is 20 percent of the entire student body.

Nov. 18 marks the first day of American Education Week.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a federally-based set of curriculum standards that states began accepting after over four billion dollars of Race to the Top education grant monies were offered to complying states.

School Superintendent Jerome Puyau said,  “Even though we do not condone students being absent from school, we do have to listen to the concerns of the parents and the community.”