Kaplan High School

KHS Parent Newsletter: Sept. 21-25:
https://sites.google.com/vpsb.net/parentnewsletter2025-2026/sept-21-25

We have a feeling EVERYONE is going to agree with this one! There are a few phrases heard pretty regularly around Kaplan High School… “Go ask Shauna.” “Shauna will know.” “Did anybody tell Shauna?” And, of course… “SHAUNA!” 😂 That should tell you just about everything you need to know about our 2026–2027 Support Person of the Year, Mrs. Shauna Richard! For more than four years, Mrs. Richard has been one of the people who keeps Kaplan High moving. She is everywhere, knows everybody, handles more things in a day than most of us probably realize, and somehow manages to make circles around the rest of us while doing it. And there is a reason everyone goes to her. She dang near knows EVERYTHING! But more important than everything she knows is the way she shows up for this school every single day. Mrs. Richard is dependable, hardworking, skilled, and always willing to help. Our students depend on her. Our teachers depend on her. Our administrators DEFINITELY depend on her. Kaplan High School simply would not be the same without her. Mrs. Richard, we hope you know how much you are loved, appreciated, and valued by your Pirate family. Congratulations to our 2026–2027 Kaplan High School Support Person of the Year, Mrs. Shauna Richard! We couldn’t think of a more deserving Pirate to celebrate! 🏴‍☠️

KAPLAN HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER OF THE YEAR! Some people choose teaching as a profession. And then there are those special people who you just KNOW were called to teach. Mrs. Christina Breaux is one of those people. After many years of pouring her heart into the students of Kaplan High School, we are incredibly proud to announce that Mrs. Breaux has been named our 2026–2027 Kaplan High School Teacher of the Year! Mrs. Breaux lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps all things teaching. She is relentless in her pursuit of growth for EVERY student who walks into her classroom. She studies her craft, knows her students, pushes them, encourages them, and refuses to settle for “good enough” when she knows they are capable of more. She takes the education of our children very, very seriously because she understands the tremendous responsibility that comes with having someone’s child sitting in front of her every day. And after all of her years at Kaplan High School, we are THRILLED to see her receive this honor! Mrs. Breaux, this one has been a long time coming. We see the work. We see the passion. We see how deeply you care about getting it right for kids. Today, we get to make sure everyone else sees it too. Congratulations to our 2026–2027 Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Christina Breaux! Another LEGENDARY educator representing Kaplan High School! 🏴‍☠️

🏈 FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL! 🏈

The Kaplan Pirates are ready to battle the Catholic High Panthers of New Iberia! Come out and support our Pirates in the first home game of the season!

📅 Friday, September 18
⏰ Kickoff at 7:00 PM

🎟️ Purchase tickets here:
[https://app.i2tickets.com/f3d53720/event-15670](https://app.i2tickets.com/f3d53720/event-15670)

Can’t make it to the game? Watch the Pirates LIVE through the Hudl Fan app. No subscription is required!

📺 Watch live here:
[https://fan.hudl.com/usa/la/kaplan/organization/17090/kaplan-high-school/team/33697/boys-varsity-football/schedule?date=2026-09-01T05%3A00%3A00.000Z&range=Month&ss=2026&shared=true](https://fan.hudl.com/usa/la/kaplan/organization/17090/kaplan-high-school/team/33697/boys-varsity-football/schedule?date=2026-09-01T05%3A00%3A00.000Z&range=Month&ss=2026&shared=true)

Let’s fill the stands, bring the noise, and show everyone what LEGENDARY Pirate Pride looks like! 🏴‍☠️

Please share!

KHS Parent Newsletter: Sept. 14-18:
https://sites.google.com/vpsb.net/parentnewsletter2025-2026/sept-14-18

WE WILL NEVER FORGET.

Today, we pause to remember September 11, 2001, a day that forever changed our nation.

We remember the nearly 3,000 lives lost. We honor the first responders who ran toward danger while others were running away. We remember the families whose lives were forever changed, and we recognize the courage, sacrifice, and service that followed in the days and years ahead.

Twenty-five years later, the images may belong to another generation, but the responsibility to remember belongs to all of us.

May we never forget the lives that were taken.

May we never forget the heroes who answered the call.

May we never forget how, in the face of unimaginable tragedy, Americans stood together as one nation.

Today, the Kaplan High School family remembers. We honor. We teach the next generation. And we remain grateful for the freedoms we share.

September 11, 2001
Always remembered. Never forgotten.

God bless the United States of America.

Reminder

Student Progress Reports will be posted for students and parents to view in the JCAMPUS Student Progress Center.

No printed copies will be sent home today.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

IT’S NOT JUST SEWING. IT’S LIFE SKILLS IN ACTION! Our students in Mrs. Katelyn Bares’s FACS class have been hard at work, and these finished pillowcases are proof of what happens when learning becomes hands-on! Yes, they’re learning to sew, but look at everything happening along the way. They’re measuring. They’re using math. They’re problem-solving, following directions, managing their time, paying attention to precision, and learning how to troubleshoot when things don’t go exactly as planned. They’re practicing patience. Perseverance. Creativity. Critical thinking. And maybe most importantly, they’re building confidence. There is something powerful about starting with materials and a set of instructions, working through the mistakes and challenges, and eventually being able to hold up something you created with your own two hands and say, “I did that.” That is what learning should look like. We are proud of Mrs. Bares for giving our students opportunities to develop skills they can carry far beyond the classroom, and we are even prouder of these Pirates for sticking with the process and showing off their finished work! LEGENDARY learning is happening every day at Kaplan High School! 🏴‍☠️

“Build a place people believe in, and they will show up.”

Tonight, Kaplan showed up.

The turnout for our Open House was truly remarkable. Our hallways and classrooms were filled with students, parents, families, and community members who came to see what is happening inside Kaplan High School and to support the work we are doing for our Pirates.

And then came the Community Pep Rally! The energy was THROUGH THE ROOF! Seeing our community come together, cheer for our students, support our teachers, and celebrate Kaplan High was something special.

We have set out on a mission this year to make Kaplan High LEGENDARY, and tonight was a reminder that we are not doing it alone.

To every parent, family member, alumnus, community member, teacher, staff member, and student who showed up tonight, THANK YOU. Thank you for believing in our school. Thank you for supporting our mission. Most importantly, thank you for showing our students that their community is behind them.

When a school and its community move in the same direction, incredible things can happen.

Tonight, Kaplan didn't just show up.

KAPLAN SHOWED OUT.

This is our school.
This is our community.
And together, we're building something LEGENDARY. 🏴‍☠️

Any student who brought their Chromebook home MUST make sure to charge it for tomorrow's practice ACT! Please share. 🏴‍☠️

HAPPY LABOR DAY, PIRATES!

Today, we celebrate the hard work, dedication, and commitment of the people who make our communities strong.

To our students, families, faculty, staff, alumni, and entire Kaplan community, we wish you a safe, relaxing, and Happy Labor Day!

At Kaplan High, we know that LEGENDARY things do not just happen. They are built through hard work, determination, and people who show up every day ready to make a difference.

Enjoy the holiday, take some time to recharge, and we’ll see our Pirates tomorrow ready to keep making this year LEGENDARY!🏴‍☠️

KHS Parent Newsletter: Sept. 7-11:
https://sites.google.com/vpsb.net/parentnewsletter2025-2026/sept-7-11

Here is your SPORTS look at a glance:

✨ Inspired by Their Stories ✨ There are some stories worth sharing, especially the stories of the people who inspire us. Students in Ms. Kailie’s class chose someone who has made an impact on their lives, interviewed that person about his or her experiences and life story, then turned what they learned into a written narrative. This week, students took the final step by sharing those stories with their classmates! 🎤 From interviewing and listening to writing and presenting, this project gave our students the opportunity to strengthen real-world communication skills while celebrating some pretty special people along the way. Great job, Ms. Kailie and students! Keep learning, keep sharing, and keep making it LEGENDARY! 🏴

CONNECT ENRICHMENT, WEEK 2! 🖤💛 Week 2 of CONNECT Enrichment is in the books, and once again, our classrooms looked a little different today! The goal of CONNECT is simple: put the screens away, slow down for a little while, and give our students and teachers an opportunity to connect, create, laugh, learn, and build relationships beyond the regular classroom lesson. And today, they did exactly that! We saw some serious competition during BINGO and Left Right Center, students getting creative while making clouds, future engineers putting their minds to work with construction challenges, and students finding out just how well they REALLY know the people who teach them during KHS Faculty Trivia! 😂 What we love most is that CONNECT Enrichment doesn’t have to look the same in every classroom. One room may be loud with laughter and competition, while another is filled with students creating, problem-solving, or simply talking with one another. Different activities. Different experiences. Same purpose: CONNECTION. These moments may seem simple, but they matter. When students feel connected to their school and the adults in it, we strengthen the relationships that help make KHS a place where students belong. Two weeks in, and we are loving what we’re seeing. CONNECT isn’t about filling time. It’s about making that time count. And judging by the smiles, laughter, creativity, and maybe just a little competitive spirit we saw today, we’d say Week 2 was a success! 🖤💛 Stay tuned. CONNECT Enrichment is just getting started at KHS! 🏴‍☠️

FUN FRIDAY: Creativity Has No Limits!

Today, our Pirates learned about Passion Works, an incredible art studio in Athens, Ohio, where artists of all abilities come together to create colorful, collaborative works of art.

The message behind Passion Works fits perfectly with what we want our students to experience during Fun Friday: everyone has something valuable to contribute. Creativity is for everyone, and sometimes the best things happen when we put aside differences, work together, and simply CREATE!

After learning about Passion Works, our students got creative themselves by making their own marble art! 🎨 The results were colorful, unique, and completely their own.

These are the moments we love seeing at KHS, students trying something different, expressing themselves, and connecting through a shared experience.

Another Fun Friday spent creating, connecting, and making memories together. 🏴‍☠️

Once a Pirate, Always a Pirate: Mary Pat Lachaussee Forty Years of Legacy at Kaplan High School As Vermilion Parish Schools mark 150 years of educating this community, the district set out to name the people who built that history, and Kaplan High School did not have to look far. Mary Pat Lachaussee holds a distinction no other current Vermilion Parish School Board employee can claim: more years of service than anyone in the parish, in a career that began at KHS and never left. To generations of students, she is simply "Mrs. Mary Pat,” the teacher, coach, and Testing Coordinator who has kept the building running and its kids cared for, for almost forty years. Her path here was not the plan. She graduated with a degree in English Education in December of 1984 and spent that spring substituting, mostly at Abbeville High School. It was there, filling in classroom after classroom, that she got her first real exposure to the wider landscape of a school. An offer soon arrived to start a self-contained special education class at Kaplan, a detour that meant going back to school, learning a new specialty, and starting over in a field she hadn't trained for. She said yes anyway. "When an opportunity to begin a self-contained class at KHS was offered to me, I grabbed it," she said. "It meant going back to school, but it was all worth it." Ask her now what she'd tell that young teacher, standing at the crossroads, and the answer comes without hesitation: "Take a chance on change." Nearly forty years later, she can measure her career in what has changed and what never has. "Many changes in the education and Special Education system have occurred in 39 years," she said, "but the one change that has evolved is technology, from handwriting my first IEPs to typing recent ones." What hasn't moved, she said, is simpler and more important: "Caring for our students should NEVER change. Each year, I refer to my students as 'my kids.' That will never change. They need to know that no matter what, someone has their back." That philosophy shapes how she defines success itself, a word she refuses to let a test score answer alone. "Success is a very broad word," she said. "In my opinion, success means that a student leaves my classroom and possesses skills to become productive in the community. It's not a pass or fail. It's coping in society." Her impact extends well past academics. For years she has coached Kaplan's Special Olympics athletes, a role "very close to my heart," she said, one that earned her Coach of the Year at the 2016 State Summer Games, an honor she talks about mostly in terms of the athletes who earned it alongside her. She measures that legacy less in trophies than in return visits: "I have former students who now have children who are Special Olympics athletes. They are so proud just as their parents were before them." That generational reach shows up everywhere in her story. Former students, now grown, regularly find their way back to thank her. "It is often I meet up with my students, and they mention how thankful they are that I was their self-contained/resource teacher," she said. "Pushing them to be their best, working hard towards better grades, and holding them accountable in all classrooms paid off far beyond the walls of Kaplan High School." She has also spent years as KHS's Testing Coordinator, a largely invisible job she has quietly kept running for the whole school. "I spend many extra hours making sure that all goes smoothly," she said. "It keeps my brain ticking." Asked how she hopes to be remembered, she answered as though repeating something she's already heard said about her: "Mrs. Mary Pat was firm, tough, but fair. Her loyalty for KHS was unwavering. She attended many out-of-school functions in support of students." It's a fitting self-portrait: an educator who never treated high expectations and genuine care as opposites. And her greatest legacy, after thirty-nine years in one building? Not a title. Not an award. Just one line on a resume that never needed updating. "My greatest legacy is remaining in the same and only job for close to 40 years," she said. "Many people have many jobs on their resumes. Mine, only one entry: teacher at Kaplan High School. Proud that I am the example of 'Once a Pirate, always a Pirate.'" This profile is the first in an ongoing series honoring the people who have shaped Vermilion Parish Schools across 150 years- teachers, coaches, and staff whose individual stories add up to the district's history. It's hard to imagine a better place to begin than with a teacher who found where she belonged on her first try, and simply never left. Once a Pirate, always a Pirate.