Former VPHS marching band director has "roller coaster" week

Last week was like “a very emotional roller coaster” for Ville Platte High School Marching Band Director Dafnee Chatman.
The high point last week was the announcement, during the high school’s pep rally, that the band won KLFY’s 2013 Powerade Power Up Your High School Athletic Program Sweepstakes. Chatman wrote the winning proposal, resulting in the band receiving a $4,000 check.
After seven weeks as band director and fine arts teacher, Chatman is no longer a school employee. She and the school board superintendent, Toni Hamlin, are not commenting on the circumstances surrounding her departure.
Chatman and several band members are being investigated regarding a reported assault in the band room. However, Chatman and Police Chief Neal Lartigue say she was not involved in the alleged assault, which, according to the report to police, involved band members using their belts to strike other band members.
In a letter Chatman said she sent to KLFY September 29, Chapman wrote the band members “feel as if all hope is lost for the band program here.”
Chatman, a 2006 Ville Platte High graduate and marching band member for six years, complained of lack of uniforms and broken instruments. She also wrote that the band room flooded during a recent storm, when “numerous instruments were destroyed.”
She said she didn’t know the band won the KLFY sweepstakes prize when she watched the Friday pep rally on Friday, October 18 -- two days after she lost her job at the school -- from the stands instead of being with the band.
“I was in tears the rest of the time” at the pep rally. Thinking of the recent events, Chapman says, “This is more difficult for me than for anyone else.”