•    Sacred Heart School is operated under the patronage and guidance of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church Parish in Ville Platte. Sacred Heart has operated continuously from September 1931 to the present date. However, its history began in 1913 when a Catholic school was opened and operated by the Sisters of Mount Carmel, an order of missionary nuns from Canada, under the direction of Father Louis J. Savy, pastor of Sacred Heart Church. The school remained opened until 1928 when it was forced to close due to terrible economic conditions of the time. 
     Father J. Maurice Bourgeois succeeded Father Savy as rector of Sacred Heart in 1930. Father Bourgeois came with a three-fold mandate from Bishop Jules B. Jeanmard: to renew the spiritual life, to reopen the Catholic school, and to build a new church. Father Bourgeois arrived in Ville Platte on September 11, 1930, with no money. So his first obstacle was to borrow money from his new parishioners in order to pay the express charges to retrieve his furniture from the railway station. Two of the first tasks at hand for Father Bourgeois were to see about the renovation of the convent for occupation and the parochial school for operation after both had been left unused for several years.
     Through the influence of Father Bourgeois and the generosity of the people of Ville Platte, about $1,000 in funds were raised and volunteer time and labor were donated so that by September 1931 Sacred Heart was reopened. Six Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart from New Brunswick, Canada taught one hundred children in grades one through five. By September 1935 grades 6, 7, and 8 had been added. Also, by that time the elementary school was awarded state certification.
      In 1938, the old, wooden church was converted into a gym-auditorium, and a four-classroom building was added to the campus; as a result, a complete high school curriculum was now available to Sacred Heart students. Through the influence of Father Irving DeBlanc, the first associate pastor of Sacred Heart Church, extra-curricular activities included football, basketball, boxing, band, sodality, and elocution classes.  By 1938 the Marianites of the Holy Cross had replaced the Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. However, the two communities of nuns worked together for a year. Also, in 1938, a new but incomplete, Sacred Heart Church was dedicated.
        Sacred Heart School continued to grow and change. In 1940, a manual arts building was built, and a program began with Father Bourgeois as teacher, but the program lasted for one year. Also, in 1940 Sacred Heart held its first high school graduation for fourteen graduates.
   In 1942, the gymnasium, which had been the old, wooden church, had to be demolished. Plans began for a new building containing classrooms and a gymnasium, but it was not until after World War II, in 1949, that the building was completed and occupied. It was estimated that the cost would be $250,000, but the actual cost of the building was $90,000. The new high school was constructed using Army surplus buildings along with the donations of substantial amounts of materials from local contractors and volunteer labor from the men of the parish. Later, the football stadium and track fields were added, and a home for the coach was acquired.
         In 1957, Monsignor Bourgeois, who had received this title in 1943 from Pope Pius XII, began a drive to raise funds for the construction of a new home for the Marianites of the Holy Cross, who still staffed the school. The drive included funds for the construction of a new elementary school and remodeling of the church. The community responded again, and in 1959 the convent renovation was complete, and the Sisters moved into their new home. In September 1960, the new elementary school was completed and classes begun. The new school housed twenty-one classrooms, a library, a cafeteria, and administrative offices.
          With the elementary department housed in its own building, Sacred Heart High School and Sacred Heart Elementary School essentially began operating as separate schools. In 1968, Sister Myra Banquer was named as the first full time elementary principal, and Sr. Charles continued as the high school principal. Sr. Alberta later replaced Sr. Charles as principal of the high school.
           On Friday, February 16, 1968, the high school department, consisting of the gymnasium and classroom facilities built in 1949, was completely destroyed by fire. Temporary classrooms were set up in the elementary building, and the parish began a drive for funds to build a new gymnasium and high school. The new high school and gymnasium that is still occupied today was quickly built and occupied by February 1970. 
           On June 1, 1970 Msgr. Bourgeois retired and Monsignor Edward Fruge became the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish. In June of 1974, Msgr. Bourgeois celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. Two months later, he and Msgr. Fruge ‘burned the note,’ and Sacred Heart was free of debt.
           During this period, with Msgr. Fruge as pastor, Sister Myra Banquer, who was later appointed and served as Diocesan School Superintendent, served for seven years as principal of the elementary school. Sister George Pusalen replaced Sr. Myra in 1975, and Sister Daniel Guidry followed her in 1978. They were the last of the religious order to serve as principals of the elementary school.
            Under the direction of Msgr. Fruge, a new rectory was built to replace the fifty-year-old structure that had served as the church residence. On the last day of 1976, he and the assistant pastors moved into the new rectory that is occupied by the present pastor and assistant.
          Msgr. Bourgeois died in 1978, but the school he had opened forty-seven years earlier continued to prosper under the direction of Msgr. Fruge.
          Mr. Larry Vidrine was named as the first lay principal at Sacred Heart High School in 1978 replacing Sr. Alberta. In 1979, the high school was expanded to include a permanent stage, an extension of the lobby, a large multi-purpose building, and permanent bleachers.
         In 1980, Mr. D.L. Vidrine became the first lay principal of the elementary school. In August of 1981, Mr. Vidrine further expanded the elementary school enrollment of 600 to include pre-school classes for 15 students. The pre-school program continued until the spring of 1993 when the classroom space was needed for expansion of new programs at the school.
              In July of 1982, Msgr. Fruge was transferred to Breaux Bridge and replaced by Fr. Francis Bourgeois. Father Bourgeois resigned due to ill health and was replaced by Fr. Michael Jarrell on January 15, 1984.
              Mr. D.L. Vidrine retired in May of 1987 and was replaced by Mr. L. Sidney Ortego, retired Superintendent of Evangeline Parish Schools.
              As early as February of 1983, the Sacred Heart School Board had begun looking into the long term needs of the elementary school, but it was not until the spring of 1988 that a committee began work on the planning of a multi-purpose gymnasium. The gymnasium was completed and ready for use in October 1988.
              Monsignor Jarrell, the administrator, and the Sacred Heart School Board worked to improve the elementary school by renovating the convent that was no longer occupied. This project converted the convent into a classroom building for seventh and eighth grades, which was occupied by August of 1990.
              Mr. Ortego retired as principal of Sacred Heart Elementary in July of 1992 and was replaced by Mrs. Paula F. Landreneau. In the fall of 1992, Monsignor Jarrell, Mrs. Landreneau, and the school board began plans for converting the courtyard of the elementary school into a science laboratory, renovating rooms, re-roofing the building, and adding two computer labs for both lower and upper grade students. Discontinuing the preschool program created space for one of the computer labs. The entire project was completed and ready for occupancy in the fall of 1993.
              In the spring of 1993, Monsignor Jarrell was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodeaux and was succeeded as pastor of Sacred Heart Church by Father J. Robert Romero, known to parishioners as “Father Bob.”
              In June of 1998, Mr. Larry Vidrine retired as principal of Sacred Heart High School, and the school was once again united under one leadership as Mrs. Paula Landreneau was appointed as principal of the entire Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School, grades K-12. 
              In October 2001 Sacred Heart School began a comprehensive and extensive self-study conducted with the guidance of the Institute of School and Parish Development (ISPD). The overall goal of this study was to create a dynamic plan for the future of the school that would meet the needs of the present students and future generations. 
  Mrs. Landreneau retired as principal in June of 2002. A new administrative structure was developed and implemented in July of 2002. The new administrative personnel consisted of Dr. Sherry Cormier, CEO/Administrator, whose responsibilities encompassed all aspects of the school; Mrs. Tina Brignac, Headmistress responsible for the elementary department; and Mr. Andrew Ducote, Headmaster responsible for the high school department. With the resignation of Dr. Cormier in 2003, Mr. Ducote was appointed Principal of Sacred Heart School while Mrs. Brignac continued as Headmistress of the elementary department.
              In June of 2005, Monsignor Romero was transferred to Opelousas and was succeeded by Father Gene Tremie, a native of Ville Platte, as pastor of Sacred Heart Church. A huge capital campaign fund drive had begun under Monsignor Romero’s guidance for a new addition and renovations to the high school. The actual groundbreaking took place after his departure. The new addition, which consists of eleven classrooms, a computer lab, a commons area, a serving and dining area and a chapel with a confessional, was completed and ready for use by August of 2006. A dedication for the new addition to the high school was conducted by Bishop Jarrell on August 14, 2006 just days before school began.
              In June of 2006, Mr. Andrew Ducote was appointed Principal of Sacred Heart High School, and Mrs. Joni Duos was appointed Principal of Sacred Heart Elementary School. Following Mrs. Joni Duos, Mr. David Paul Fontenot was appointed Principal of the elementary school in 2008.
              In the spring of 2008 Father Gene Tremie and the Sacred Heart School Board voted to reinstate the previous administrative structure, which was recommended during the ISPD Convocation of 2001.
              In December of 2008, Mrs. Paula Diane Fontenot, a retired educator from the Evangeline Parish Public School System, was appointed as Administrator of Sacred Heart School, K-12. In May of 2009, Mrs. Dawn Cox Shipp was appointed the Assistant Principal of the high school with Mrs. Evelyn Fontenot appointed as the Assistant Principal of the elementary. In June of 2011, Father Tremie was transferred to Saint Marcellus Parish in Rynella, Louisiana and was succeeded by Father Joshua Guillory. In July of 2012, Mr. Andrew Dwyer was appointed Assistant Principal of the elementary. Father Joshua Guillory was appointed to serve as a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome, Italy in November of 2012 and was succeeded by Father Jason Vidrine. Mrs. Virginia Morein was appointed the assistant principal of the elementary in January of 2015.
              Mrs. Paula Diane Fontenot resigned from her position as K-12 principal in June of 2015. Father Jason Vidrine was assigned to St. Anthony of Padua in Krotz Springs with Father Thomas Voorhies assigned as the pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in July of 2015. Mrs. Dawn Shipp and Virginia Morein were then appointed as principals of their respective schools beginning in July for the 2015-2016 school year.
              After several years of planning, fundraising and collecting of donations, the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms in the high school gym went through a major renovation in 2014 and was completed in the spring of 2015. The seventh and eighth grade classroom building which was formally the convent was also renovated in June of 2016.
              Mrs. Virginia Morein retired from her position as the Elementary Principal in June of 2023, and Mrs. Danielle Ardoin was hired as the Elementary Administrator in July of 2023.
              Sacred Heart School proudly continues to live by the “Do or Die” spirit embodied in the life and example set by Monsignor J.M. Bourgeois.