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Dear Editor:

Freedom of speech is the concept of freely expressing opinions, questions, or ideas without fear of retaliation or censorship. However, this constitutionally supported freedom was trampled upon during the Jan. 8 Vermilion Parish School Board meeting when an educator who asked a question was asked to leave and was then arrested. On Thursday, Jan. 11, a crowd of more than 200 people- consisting of Vermilion Parish educators, leaders, and community members- gathered at Magdalen Square to rally for freedom of speech. A unanimous voice was heard at this rally- we teach Vermilion Parish and we will not be silenced.
Although test, school, and parish scores have risen significantly in the past few years, most schools in Vermilion Parish face a lack of funding. Some students are forced to go to schools in deplorable conditions - in classrooms that are falling apart, that have mold growing in the ceilings and floors, and that are overcrowded. Because of underfunded classrooms, teachers are forced to either go into the community for donations or spend thousands of their own dollars to purchase the basic items that are needed to make sure that all students of the parish get the quality education that they deserve. There is a serious problem when- in a parish that boasts such progress and success- not every student has a textbook of their own to study from.
Vermilion Parish School Board employees and community members may still fear what will happen to them if they speak out at a school board meeting, but we urge you to not let this fear silence you. It does no good to stand by and let this fear keep anyone from speaking up for what is right.
We are currently gathering questions and concerns from all Vermilion Parish school employees by various means. We are asking what changes need to be addressed in order to help build unity within our district. These concerns and change recommendations will be presented to the School Board at upcoming meetings.
Even if you are not a school board employee, there are various things that you can do to have your voice heard and to become involved. School Board meetings are held at the school board office and meeting dates are publicly posted in The Abbeville Meridional. These meetings are open to the public and have a “concerns” portion in which you have three minutes to voice your concerns to the board. You can also call your school board representative. A list of school board members and the districts they represent can be found at vpsb.net. If the recent events have bothered any parent, employee, or community member, please contact your representative to ask for a rescindment of the vote for the superintendent’s pay raise in good faith until time has been given to negotiate options that benefit all employees as well as the superintendent.
A committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 23 and a board meeting will be held on Thursday, Jan. 25. Both meetings will be held in the meeting room at 220 South Jefferson St. at 6:00 p.m. Please do not let fear silence you; have your voice heard. It is time that all unite and truly come together in the best interest of the students.

The Vermilion Association of Educators (VAE) Leadership Team

Abbeville—A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 3:00 PM on Monday, January 22, 2018 at St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Catholic Church honoring the life of Nita Marie East Touchet, 90, who died Friday, January 19, 2018 at Eastridge Nursing Center.
She will be laid to rest at St. Paul Cemetery with Reverend Greg Cormier officiating the services.
Nita is survived by her son, Patrick Joseph Touchet and his wife JoAnn; daughters, Cynthia T. Broussard and her husband Danny, Carlene T. Godwin and her husband Jim and Marlene Touchet; brothers, Juris East, Avery East and Willie East; sister, Laura Dupree; sister-in-law, Isabelle Melancon; grandchildren, Shannon R., Angel B., Sean, Holly, David G., James G., Autumn R., Amber R., Claire T. and Jake T.; great grandchildren, Hannah B., Katelyn R., Natalie R., Lane G., Drake G., Mason G., Jaylen G., Londyn, Tra’, Alex and Wibray..
She was preceded in death by her husband, Rudolph Touchet, Jr.; parents, John East and the former Enola Blanchard; brothers, Corbit East and Ulysse East; sisters, Agnes Badeaux and Florence Romero.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Abbeville, 209 S. St. Charles St., on Sunday, January 21, 2018 from 1:00 PM until 9:00 PM with a rosary being prayed at 7:00 PM; Monday, January 22, 2018 from 8:00 AM until 2:45 PM when the procession departs for church.
The family would like to thank the staff of Eastridge Nursing Center, St. Joseph’s Hospice and Hospice of Acadiana for the care and compassion they showed to Nita during her time of need.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville, (337) 893-4661.

ERATH — A funeral service will be held at David Funeral Home of Erath at 2:00PM on Monday, January 22, 2018 for Sharon Marie Menard, 65, with Pastor Todd Menard officiating. Interment will follow at Our Lady of Lourdes Cemetery.
Visitation will be held at David Funeral Home of Erath from 10:00AM until the time of services.
A native of Erath, residing in Lafayette for 30 years, returning to Erath for her most recent 30 years, Sharon finally moved to Maison de Lafayette for the last nine months of her life, enduring a three year fight with breast cancer. She loved visiting and making friends everywhere she went. She never missed an opportunity to speak Cajun French if she knew anyone could converse, and absolutely loved her hometown of Erath. She had a great big heart, loved spending time with her family, a great sense of humor, and was also known to be a feisty little lady. She enjoyed helping others in need, helping out when others were sick and those with special needs.
She is survived by her mother, Beverly Brasseaux Overstreet of Abbeville, a daughter, Tammy Molbert Hyde and her husband, Steven of Lafayette; two sons, Clint Menard of Erath and Shawn Allen and his wife Jessie of Lafayette; two brothers, Davis Menard and his wife Pam of Lafayette and Michael Domingue and his wife Tessy of Lafayette; a sister, Charlene Domingue of Abbeville; eleven grandchildren, Brady and Ashley Hyde, Madison and Gabriel Menard, Kierra, Rebecca, Alexander, Lilly, Luke, Levi, and Lorelai Allen; and many nieces and nephews, including her godchild, Nicole Menard.
She was preceded in death by her father, Rellie Joseph Menard, step-father, Robley J. Domingue, and step-father, Charles L. Overstreet; and her twin sister, Cheryl Marie Menard.
Serving as pallbearers will be Brady Hyde, Gabriel Menard, Christopher Menard, Aaron Domingue, Donald Foucheaux, and Jody Arceneaux. Honorary pallbearers are Robley Domingue and Kirby Trahan.
The family would like to thank the staff at Maison de Lafayette, Lourdes Oncology, and Heart of Hospice for their love and care.
Condolences may be made to the family at www.davidfuneralhome.org
David Funeral Home of Erath at 209 E. Putnam Street (337) 937-0405 will be handling the arrangements.

About 7 billion barrels of light, sweet crude oil is estimated to reside in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, a geological formation that covers 28 parishes in central and south Louisiana, and several southwestern Mississippi counties.
That’s a lot of black gold – and a $9.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and several energy companies will enable researchers from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and four other institutions to better understand how the significant energy reserve can be recovered.
The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale has confounded the oil and gas industry for decades. Its unstable clay formations don’t respond well to traditional extraction methods, said Dr. Mehdi Mokhtari, an assistant professor in UL Lafayette’s Department of Petroleum Engineering.
The grant will fund the creation of a UL Lafayette-based Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Laboratory to “address critical gaps in our understanding of the TMS to enable cost-efficient and environmentally sound recovery from this unconventional liquid-rich shale play,” said Mokhtari, who’ll direct the consortium.
It will include a team of researchers from the Los Alamos National Lab, New Mexico; Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla; the University of Oklahoma, Norman; and the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg.
The multidisciplinary group will include engineers, geophysicists, geologists and an economic development specialist, Mokhtari said.
“Our team will consider the engineering aspects of the TMS as well as the economic impact its development will have on the communities it touches.”
The grant money also will fund research by 18 graduate students at UL Lafayette and its partner institutions.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced the grant recipients Jan. 3. UL Lafayette and five other universities and companies were awarded a total of $30 million in federal money. Each institution also received funding from outside sources.
Other grant recipients include: C-Crete Technologies, Stafford, Texas; Gas Technology Institute, Des Plaines, Illinois; Texas A&M University’s Engineering Experiment Station, College Station; the Colorado School of Mines, Golden; and Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg.
The $9.7 million UL Lafayette received combines $3.68 million in federal funds and $5.98 million from industry sources.
The grants are part of an initiative by the Energy Department’s Office of Fossil Energy to examine unconventional oil and gas reservoirs, such as the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale.
The oil and gas industry considers a play – the name it gives an area where oil and gas exist – as unconventional based on its geographic size and geological makeup.
An unconventional play might encompass thousands, even millions of acres. The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale is 8 million acres.
By contrast, conventional hydrocarbon reservoirs have more limited boundaries.
In addition, unlike conventional oil and gas reservoirs, unconventional resources are usually trapped within formations with poor permeability, such as shale. That means the liquid is suspended, and retrieving it requires nontraditional methods of extraction.
Planning to develop an unconventional play requires years of detailed geological studies and preliminary pilot projects. It can be akin to finding a needle in an expensive haystack.
That’s why UL Lafayette’s planned Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Laboratory is so important, Mokhtari said. The success of emerging plays in other parts of the United States has shown unconventional resources to be viable for the future of hydrocarbon production.
“The development of unconventional resources has grown significantly in the past 10 years in Texas, North Dakota and along the East Coast,” Mokhtari said.
“It is now time for the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale in Louisiana and Mississippi. We expect interesting results to be generated by this consortium that will help meet the energy demands of the U.S. and increase its energy security.”