Ralph Wilson Center of Opportunities opens its doors

Published 2:40 am Saturday, August 2, 2025

Friday marked a new beginning for a Calcasieu Parish school.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for the newly-named Ralph Wilson Center of Opportunities. The building has been transformed from an elementary school into an education facility that will serve at-risk students from across the district.

The Calcasieu Parish School Board unanimously approved the reconfiguration of Ralph Wilson and John J. Johnson II Elementary in April. Instead of two separate elementary schools, John J. Johnson is a kindergarten through fifth-grade school, and Ralph Wilson is an education center for students in grades sixth through 12 who are overage, undercredited or have any special circumstances that have hindered their education.

Schools Superintendent Jason VanMetre said “opportunity” is the key word.

“We want to be able to do in this place is create an opportunity for kids who may be passed through,” he said. “Those kids who are overage, undercredited, to be able to give them an opportunity after high school. And the only way to do that is to give them an opportunity in high school.”

The school will offer an alternative program that utilizes the Edgenuity program, a credit recovery course that adapts to each student.

Students will receive academic support, career and technical education opportunities, and mentoring and counseling services, and a combination of face-to-face lessons and asynchronous virtual learning.

CPSB Chief Academic Officer Ronnie Harvey said this not a “cost-saving measure,” but a chance to optimize the resources that CPSB already has to benefit every student at every district school, from “Starks to Bell City,” he said.

“We took a step and a leap of faith, and we put all our eggs in one basket,” he said. “Here in Calcasieu, one of the gaps we’ve had is that we haven’t used all our energy and all our resources to save all children. We constantly talk about saving the whole child. But we have to save the whole family and the whole community as well.”

Principal Shaquana Thibodeaux was once an at-risk teen herself, she said. Now, she is ready to provide an opportunity to students who are in similar situations.

“I just wanted the opportunity to get out and do something different with myself,” she said. “ I thank God for him putting me in this position, traveling forward with me throughout my education, and I look to do the same thing with students in this school. All I ask is, like you said, support us in this mission, and we will move forward.”

Ralph Wilson was named after Ralph F. Wilson, who served as principal of Opelousas Elementary School until he died at age 39 in 1975. Opelousas Elementary was renamed Ralph Wilson Elementary a month after his death.

His widow, Phyllis, said the opening of the Ralph Wilson Center of Opportunities is a “heartwarming” and emotional full-circle moment.

“The memories of my husband, and how he stood, the last day of his life, working for the children of Calcasieu Parish, the very last day of his life,” she said. “And here we stand today, all of you, just to support the children of our city and of our parish.”