LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - The Lafayette Parish School Board has formally opposed pending state legislation that could affect its operations.
Four of the opposed bills are from state Rep. Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette. One would allow Lafayette Parish to have the option to change its form of school governance, although that would require several steps and public approval. Another bill would change the school board election cycle to align with statewide elections.
Another of Landry’s bills did not specifically mention Lafayette Parish, but said no school board may remove a superintendent from office if the board “interfered with, compelled or coerced” or attempted to involve itself in a superintendent’s personnel decisions.
The Advertiser reports (https://bit.ly/1ihY5w8 ) the board voted 7-1 Wednesday in opposition to the bills. The board also opposed a bill from State Rep. Vincent Pierre, D-Lafayette, that, in part, calls for free transportation for charter school students.
Board member Kermit Bouillion said he was disappointed that Landry did not discuss her concerns with the board at a legislative breakfast before the start of the current session.
“I don’t recall her making any negative comments or any comments, period, to us about problems she had with the way things were going with this school board. If she did make some comments, I don’t recall them,” Bouillion said. “It seems that would have been the very proper place for her to make her comments known. I guess it’s a signal that maybe we should be reaching out a little bit harder to our legislators in Baton Rouge. I thought we were doing an excellent job with the legislative breakfast. Maybe meeting once a year is not sufficient.”
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Information from: The Advertiser, https://www.theadvertiser.com
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