BHS music teacher earns commendation at EPSB meeting

At Wednesday’s Evangeline Parish School Board meeting, Superintendent Darwan Lazard commended Basile music teacher Jimi Bergeron, whose collection of popular marches scaled down for small bands, has been published. “We’re very proud of him and his accomplishment,” said Lazard, adding, “When somebody does something outstanding, we definitely need to accentuate the positive.”
Bergeron, a Basile native, explained his published works: “It’s a set of famous marches arranged for small bands that may not have the correct instrumentation, like if they don’t have a tuba. It’s very flexible on the arrangement to where a band director could say, ‘You can play that part, and you can play this part.’ It really helps with small bands, especially in the time of COVID. It provides for flexible instrumentation.” His first published collection of flexible arrangements, “Famous March Trios Set 1,” is six march trios from Sousa marches, including Stars and Stripes Forever, The Thunderer, Manhattan Beach, The Liberty Bell, Washington Post, and El Capitan. His second published work, “Famous March Trios Set 2,” includes Father of Victory, Entrance of the Gladiators, The Victors, and Joyce’s 71st Regiment.
Basile High Assistant Principal Helana Francois presented Bergeron with a gift, saying “We are so proud of Mr. Jimi at Basile High. He works very hard. We’re proud of him for his public work.”
U.L. Lafayette’s Composer in Residence, Dr. Quincy Hilliard, Ph.D., said of Bergeron, “Jimi was one of my students at U.L., for his undergraduate and his master’s degree. The thing I remember about Jimi the most out of five years of teaching him, Jimi never missed a lesson, and he never did not have his assignment. I’m so proud of him, and I’m so proud of what your parish is doing and your music program is going to grow.” Hillard added, “Jimi’s music will be marketed world-wide, so his name will go out, and the parish name and where he teaches at Basile High School will be in there.”
Supervisor Keith Scott helped to provide an update of the Evangeline College Life is Possible (ECLIP) program. The program was established one year ago with the goal of getting students with disabilities, ages 18-22, trained to support them in becoming tax-paying, independent citizens, and all around social wellness. Program objectives included addressing social norms, job vocational training, and independent living skills and instruction, provided at the SLCC Coreil Campus in Ville Platte.
Coach Jorie Randle, ECLIP program facilitator, provided some highlights of the program. “ECLIP is a beautiful thing,” said Randle. “We looked at the data and said we had too many students sitting at home because of disabilities. We feel they have beautiful minds and they can still be productive to society.” He said last year the program served seven students, three of whom were able to earn their high school diploma. Students also participate in community-based instruction where students work in the community, supervised by local business owners. The ECLIP program currently has eight students, three of whom are working on their high school diploma. Two students from last year have returned this year because they enjoyed the program.
Assistant Superintendent Michael Lombas announced changes in job descriptions. One change is for Virtual School Facilitator. Since a large virtual school (EVA) has been added to the district, the evaluation and job description for a regular teacher does not apply when doing a Compass evaluation. Lombas said they custom-made a job description for the position. “These are the teachers that basically track the students, make sure they’re doing their work, keep up with the grades. Those are the facilitators,” said Lombas. He next explained the job for Virtual School Teacher, “who are the ones to design and plan the lessons put online for the elementary students.” He said both jobs are still teachers and were in the system as teachers previously, but their job descriptions have changed because the Compass ruler does not fit what they are doing now.
Technology Coordinator John Deranger said they have mounted exterior access points on all the school buildings so that children who cannot get internet at their house, can go to school, park, and get access. He added they received 1,500 hot spots in from AT&T last week and have started handing them out to the schools which in turn handed them out to the virtual students, then the hybrid students, and will move on to the four-days-a-week students. Deranger said he was notified about the 1,100 Chromebooks that were ordered; they were going to be delivered Thursday, but he said to wait until next week because of the hurricane. “For me it’s good news from top to bottom. We are getting technology in the kids’ hands as we all would like to see.”