Fort Polk sits in Vernon Parish, about 30 miles north of DeRidder, and a share of its soldiers and civilian workers live in Beauregard Parish. The post was called Fort Johnson from June 2023 until the Army restored the Fort Polk name in June 2025, so you will see both names on older paperwork. This guide is for military families in Beauregard and northern Calcasieu who are weighing a private school or a home-based year with LA GATOR.
The residency step
LA GATOR is for Louisiana residents, and the application checks residency against Louisiana Department of Revenue records. A service member who keeps legal residence in another state, or who has not yet filed a Louisiana return, will fail that automatic check. Odyssey's support documentation describes a manual route for active-duty families:
- Submit the application and let the automatic check fail.
- Upload your active-duty orders placing you in Louisiana in place of a Louisiana ID or driver's license (the instructions say to use the orders in each of the three ID slots).
- Upload two Louisiana proofs of address.
- Upload a 1040.
- Tell Odyssey support that you used orders in place of residency documents.
Manual review takes longer, so a military family should file early in the window. If you already have a Louisiana license and tax record, the normal process applies.
Approved schools within reach
Beauregard Parish has one school on the 2025-26 approval list: Cornerstone Christian Academy in DeRidder, grades PK-8, with 109 K-12 students and 25 pre-K children reported to the state, and a place on the 2024-25 STO list. Vernon Parish's single approved school, Faith Training Christian Academy High School (grades 7-12), lies outside this site's five parishes. For anything beyond that, families drive south to the Lake Charles schools in our directory, a long daily drive south from DeRidder.
Moves and the calendar
| Your situation | What to plan for |
|---|---|
| Already stationed, child in public school | Apply in the spring window; being military does not change the award. |
| Arriving in summer | You need a Louisiana address before you can prove residency. Apply as soon as you can, and ask about the waitlist. |
| Arriving mid-year | Plan to pay or use public school for the rest of the year, then apply in the next window. |
| Leaving with an active account | The account depends on Louisiana residency. Tell Odyssey before you go and ask the school how a mid-quarter withdrawal is handled. |
When a move is likely
A home-based year around an accredited online program travels with the family, and with a LA GATOR account it can be paid through the marketplace. See the online school page and the home-based rules, including the conflict with home study registration.
Questions for a school
- Do you enroll mid-year for families arriving on orders?
- Have you billed Odyssey for a student whose application went through manual review?
- What happens to the year's tuition if we leave in spring?