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In a booming commercial center in Thibodaux sits a business expanding its ability to expand the minds of students both near and far.


The online education company eLearningk12 hosted a grand opening of its new facility on North Acadia Drive on Feb. 19. The 13,000-sq. ft. campus, surrounded by under-construction office buildings and Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, is the latest in eLearningk12’s plans for expansion.

The Thibodaux location is the main office for its administrators and the largest, serving more than 170 students this year, but it is one of just seven across the Gulf Coast. The company also has sites in Houma, Bayou Blue, Morgan City, Baton Rouge, Denham Springs and Houston, TX. The Thibodaux facility is not done with expansion, either; eLearningk12 will control the entire building once the current business owner’s lease ends.

The company started as The eSchool, Inc. in 1999 in the loft of Nancy and Doug Toups’ home. The Toups, along with Beth Marcello and Celeste Robichaux, teamed up to find a new way to reach students. They felt that the traditional school system’s one-size-fits all method to instruction had downsides. They sought to create a program where each student could proceed at his or her own pace.


The company became eLearningk12 in 2006 to aid in further expansion. Today, Nancy is the owner and administrator of eLearningk12, Robichaux is a special projects coordinator, Marcello a curriculum developer and Doug is the company’s chief financial officer. According to Robichaux, the program had about a dozen students in its first year. Doug estimated that this year, students from 40 states and five foreign countries access eLearningk12’s curriculum, an expansion Nancy attributes to customers serving as marketers for the program.

“The people who have participated have been very happy and satisfied, and the word of mouth has really spread it. And it’s grown a little bit every year, to almost 1,000 students this year” Nancy said.

While students are welcome to learn at one of the seven learning centers, albeit at a higher cost to parents, they can access online material and entirely complete a course while at home.


Toups said that a student in Thibodaux who stayed home would have access to the same materials as students at

“A student that’s in Kansas would be no different than a student that’s across the street if they choose to not come to the center. It doesn’t matter. The parents choose what level they want,” Doug said.

Students can spend up to four hours per day at a learning site. Six students may be grouped together depending on what level of schooling they are in. However, the six could be in different grades, each taking different courses. A learning coach watches over the students, and assists any that ask for help. If a student can breeze through a course with no problem, he or she is free to move onto the next assignment.


The ability for that child to move on is a foundational to eLearningk12’s model. The program’s founders feel that with traditional schooling, students who move faster than normal can be stuck waiting for the rest of the class. If a student at eLearningk12 is able to complete enough Home Study courses approved by the Louisiana Department of Education to advance to the next grade, he or she can proceed ahead of schedule.

At the same time, an eLearningk12 student struggling in a certain subject can take longer than normal if required. A student may be missing a skill he or she missed a few years prior. According to Doug, students at eLearningk12 have the chance to fix prerequisite skills without being forced onto the next level.

“What we do, is when we get a child like that, we bring them back to where they belong. They might be a sixth-grader; we might put them in second grade made. Now, they don’t know they’re in second grade math. The people around them don’t know theyre in second grade math. As soon as they get it, they’ve got enough skills where boom, they’re caught up,” Doug said.


eLearningk12 has college preparation and vocational preparation. According to Nancy, some students have dual-enrolled with Fletcher Technical and Community College while taking courses with eLearningk12. According to Doug, homeschool students are required to get a 22 on the ACT to qualify for TOPS, 2 points higher than normal high school students.

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