New North Vermilion Middle School will not be ready

North Vermilion Middle School parents and students learned Tuesday night that their brand new middle school will not be ready in time for when school starts on Aug. 11 in Vermilion Parish.
The parents received a phone call from the Schools informing them they are urged to attend a parent/student meeting Monday night in the North Vermilion High School gymnasium.
High school parents are also urged to attend the meeting because North Vermilion Middle School not opening up will also affect the high school.
The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m.
North Vermilion Middle School Principal Joan Romero and North Vermilion High School Principal Tommy Byler are expected to explain to the parents and students the new school schedule for the first month of this school year.
The two principals worked out a temporary “platoon” schedule for the two schools.
The 511 middle school students and 35 middle school teachers will have to share North Vermilion High School with high school students and teachers on alternating days. They will share high school classrooms for about a month.
When school begins on Aug. 11, only North Vermilion Middle School students will go to NVHS during normal school hours. The first week of school, NV middle school students’ schedule will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
School will start at 7:18 a.m. and end at 2:38 p.m.
NV high school students, the first week of school, will go to school Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
The second week of school, the students and teachers will switch. High school students will go to school Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Middle school students will attend Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
For the last 18 months, North Vermilion Middle School is being built behind North Vermilion High School. Students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grade will attend the new school.
The School Board and Superintendent Jerome Puyau have been knowing the completion date of the new school was going to be close to the start date of school. They were aware the new school gym was not going to be complete, but the contractor was confident the school was going to be ready.
Romero and Byler learned last week the school was not going to be 100 percent complete.
“It is a bump in the road,” Romero said. “We are going to go with the flow. I told my new teaching staff it was going to make us stronger. Eventually, we are going to get into the new school.”
She has been at the new school all summer and has watched the progress. Romero said there are a lot of little things that need to be completed before the school can be opened.