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The first day of school for all Rayne High Students to begin the 2019-2020 school year is Thursday, Aug. 8, with bell time at 7:45 a.m.
In preparation for the school year, the school will be open July 30 and 31 and August 1 for students to complete the following in the main building on campus:
Take student ID: Students must be in proper school uniform polo shirt and be in compliance with school policy concerning piercings, hair color, and facial hair (male students) in order to receive their student ID picture.
Pay Registration Fee: Registration cost is $30 before school starts and $35 after August 1. The registration fee covers student ID w/lanyard, locker assignment and class schedule.
Receive schedules: Students can also submit schedule changes.
Select lockers: To “reserve” a locker, students must have a combination lock. They can bring their own or purchase one from RHS for $5.
Purchase Parking Permits: Parking permits are $20 each. There are a limited number of parking spaces; therefore, they will only be sold on July 30 to seniors and July 31 to juniors and sophomores.
Pay Senior Dues: Seniors can pay their senior dues of $30 during registration.
Homecoming shirts, spirit shirts, yearbooks and P.E uniforms will also be available to purchase at this time.
NOTE: All students must have an ID to receive their schedules, lockers and/or books.
Dates assigned for each grade to attend school to address all needed procedures for the start of the new school year includes:
Tuesday, July 30: 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. for seniors and SPED students;
Wednesday, July 31: 9 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. for juniors;
Wednesday, July 31: 12:30 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. for sophomores; and
Thursday, Aug. 1: 9 a.m. until noon for freshmen.
Due to registration for enrolled students, the office will not be enrolling new students July 1 through Aug. 1.

JENNINGS - Richard Anthony Darcé, 86, a long-time resident of Jennings, died July 15, 2019, in Jennings American Legion Hospital following a brief battle with cancer.
He moved to the southwestern Louisiana city in 1967 with his family to work as a draftsman at Zigler Shipyard (now Gulf Island Shipyards) in Mermentau, where he helped design countless supply boats, tug boats, barges and other types of vessels during the oil boom years of the 1970s and ‘80s.
Richard was born on March 5, 1933, in Rayne, to Victor Joseph and Felide Landry Darcé. His early years were marked by struggle. His oldest brother, Victor Darcé Jr., was stricken by polio in the late 1930s. On Feb. 12, 1941, his father, a rural route mail carrier, died of complications related to type 1 diabetes when Richard was only 8 years old. Richard, his mother and his two older brothers, Victor and Roland Darcé, worked hard to maintain the family dairy farm, which was located on rural property between Rayne and Crowley near the Highway 90 overpass. But within a few months of the senior Victor’s death, the United States was drawn into World War II. As wartime rationing intensified, fuel, farm supplies and equipment became scarce, and the family business eventually failed.
After graduating from Rayne High School in 1951, Richard enlisted in the Marine Corps alongside his best friend, former Rayne Mayor Ralph Stutes, and he served overseas during the Korean War as a radio operator.
Following three years of military service, he returned to Rayne where he met his future wife, Audrey Mier, while on a blind double date with Ralph. It was love at first sight for Richard, but the courtship lasted seven years. The couple finally wed in 1960.
At the urging of his brother, Roland, Richard began studying drafting at a local trade school and landed a job at McDermott Shipyard in Morgan City where he began developing his ship drafting skills under his brother’s guidance. It was the start of a three-decade career in the Gulf Coast shipbuilding industry which eventually took Richard to Jennings, where he and Audrey settled and raised their three children, Michele and younger twins Keith and Kristina. His career choice was one of practicality over passion - a way to provide a stable home and a reliable salary for his growing family, instead of the itinerant and uncertain life that he knew often came with his dream job, working as a high school band director. Later in life, he was employed at the Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder until his retirement.
Second only to his love for his wife and family, Richard’s other great life-long passion was music, which was nurtured by his mother, who was both a trained pianist and a church organist. As a young boy, Richard often sang popular songs for family and friends. But his favorite venue was the bleachers at the minor league baseball field in Crowley where he would deliver impromptu performances for other fans during breaks in the games at the urging of his father. In high school, Richard was a fixture in the chorus, he played sousaphone in the first marching band to take the field in Rayne following the war, and he played trumpet and sang in an after-school dance band that he organized with friends.
Richard was a vivid and prolific storyteller, as well as a voracious consumer of local, national and international journalism. His intensely curious mind made him an avid, life-long reader of fiction and non-fiction, and it fed a wide palette of interests that ranged from astronomy, meteorology and archeology to politics, sports and engineering. National Geographic magazines and encyclopedias were constant fixtures in his home.
He was a life-long devout Catholic who also enjoyed fishing, cheering on the New Orleans Saints and the LSU Tigers, and grilling meats and boiling crawfish for family get-togethers.
He never tired of expressing his love and pride for his two grandchildren, Elyssa Loewer Luke and Tyler Loewer, even carrying a special well-worn grandpa coin in his pocket through his last days.
But without a doubt, the center of his world was his wife Audrey. Their almost 59-year-long marriage was a love affair of the heart and mind. When he wasn’t at work, Richard was at Audrey’s side. Each day they were together, they kissed, held hands and exchanged multiple “I love yous.” And in their later years, as Audrey’s health became more of an issue, Richard’s constant care and attention only intensified. Through decades of dramatic social and economic fluidity, their love was a remarkable island of stability and complete devotion.
Richard Darcé is survived by his wife, Audrey Mier Darcé of Jennings; daughters Michele Darcé Lyman (fiancee of Michael Conroy) of Lafayette and Kristina Darcé Loewer (married to Michael Loewer) of Denham Springs; son Keith Darcé (married to Tim Riley) of San Diego; granddaughter Elyssa Loewer Luke (married to Justin Luke) of Baton Rouge; grandson Tyler Loewer of Baton Rouge; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He is preceded in death by his parents and brothers.
Visitation is at Miguez Funeral Home in Jennings from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Friday, July 19, followed by a 3 p.m. funeral mass at Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church, also in Jennings.
Pallbearers are Keith Darcé, son; Michael Loewer, son-in-law; Tim Riley, son-in-law; Tyler Loewer, grandson; Justin Luke, grandson-in-law; and Michael Conroy, future son-in-law.
Interment will be at a later date at the veteran’s cemetery in Jennings.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests making contributions to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, www.stjude.org by calling 800-822-6344 or mailing to 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
Words of comfort may be expressed to the family at www.miguezfuneralhome.com.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 18, at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church for Dorothy Clara “Dot” Leonards, 87, who died Monday, July 15, 2019, in Crowley.
Fr. Mikel Polson, pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, will officiate for the services.
The family is requesting visiting hours be held Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursday from 8 a.m. until 9:45 a.m. A rosary will be recited Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Interment will be in St. Leo Mausoleum in Roberts Cove.
Ms. Leonards received her degree in education from Loyola Catholic University in New Orleans. She went on to have a career in elementary education, where she spent most of her years teaching at St. Michaels Catholic School in Crowley and Cathedral Carmel in Lafayette but also taught at other Catholic schools in the state.
She had exceptional artistic talents and volunteered a lot of time to the Robert Cove Germanfest.
She is survived by three sisters, Ella Braun of Madison, Wisconsin, Marcella Ohlenforst of Rayne and Sylvia Jean Fruge of Crowley; two brothers, Louis A. Leonards and wife Patty of Shreveport, and Leonard “Buck” Leonards of Crowley; and 38 nieces and nephews.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Louis and Gertrude Dischler Leonards; two brothers, Edwin Leonards and wife Genevieve and Blaise Leonards and wife Bernadine; one sister, Philo Ohlenforst and husband John; one sister-in-law Bobbie Leonards; and two brothers-in-law, Andrew Ohlenforst and Johnny Mack Fruge.
Pallbearers will be nephews of Ms. Leonards
The family would like to thank the staff of Southwind Nursing and Rehab Center and Lamm Hospice for the exceptional care that Ms. Dot received during her stay.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church or St. Michaels School in Crowley.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.geesey-ferguson.com.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Geesey-Ferguson Funeral Home, Inc., of Crowley.