Last meeting for five in advance of big School Board turnover

CENTERVILLE -- New roofs and athletic fields shared the St. Mary Parish School Board agenda Thursday with goodbyes from five departing members.

The roofs will be atop schools from Patterson to Amelia. The athletic fields are in Morgan City, where plans are being developed to refurbish the high school's football field, and in
Patterson, where football field improvements are being considered.

The outgoing School Board members are Dwight Barbier of Morgan City, Michael Taylor of Berwick and Wayne Deslatte of Centerville, who decided not to seek re-election; and Roland Verret of Morgan City and Kenneth Alfred of Bayou Vista, the board's president, who lost re-election races.

Deslatte had served 34 years on the School Board; Taylor, 32 years; Verret, 20 years; Alfred, eight years; and Barbier, a single four-year term.

The new members who will take office next month are Lindsey Anslem of Bayou Vista; Murphy Pontiff of Franklin; Chad Paradee of Berwick; Andrew Mancuso of Morgan City; and Rhonda Dennis of Morgan City.

Ginger Griffin of Patterson was the only incumbent member of the board to win a re-election race. Alaina Black of Morgan City, board Vice President Marilyn Lasalle of Patterson, Tammie Moore of Four Corners and Joseph Foulcard of Franklin qualified for re-election without opposition. Debra Jones of Franklin continues to serve as an interim member, filling the seat left vacant when Pearl Rack resigned earlier this year.

Moore was originally appointed to an interim seat after the death of Sylvia Lockett in October 2021. The seating of Moore and Jones and November's election results mean that, on a board that has had many longtime incumbents, in January seven of 11 board posts will have changed hands within 15 months.

This year's School Board elections were marked by more controversy than most. The board came in for criticism for advocating and getting a 0.45% sales tax for employee raises and for its reluctance to grant industrial tax exemptions.

More complaints targeted the handling of COVID restrictions, an increasing workload on teachers, and the evaluation and performance of Superintendent Teresa Bagwell.

As outgoing members thanked colleagues and constituents, Alfred spoke up for Bagwell, who said last month that she won't seek to extend her contract beyond its end in June.

Alfred praised Bagwell for dealing with the technology demands posed by remote learning during COVID; maintaining the parish's 95% graduation rate, which is better than the statewide rate; working on the latest legal proceedings in the 1960s-era desegregation lawsuit; apportioning $30 million in federal COVID aid to the system; dealing with a controversial principal appointment at Wyandotte Elementary; and putting additional secretaries in some parish schools.

Roofing

Roof repairs expected to cost about $9 million are being planned for the schools in Maintenance District 2, which includes Patterson, Berwick and Bayou Vista, and District 3, which includes Morgan City and Amelia.

Architect Carl Blum gave the board an update on the plans. The work in both districts is being divided into phases.

In District 2, Phase 1 includes work on Berwick, High, Patterson High and Berwick Junior High at a cost of about $3.5 million.

Phase 2 covers Berwick Elementary, Bayou Vista Elementary, Hattie Watts Elementary and the St. Mary Alternative School. The repairs there are expected to cost about $1.99 million.

In District 2, the Phase 1 work includes Morgan City High, Morgan City High and J.S. Aucoin Elementary. The estimated cost is $2.4 million.

Phase 2 would focus on Wyandotte Elementary, J.B. Maitland Elementary and M.E. Norman at a cost of about $1.1 million.

The money would come from federal Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief program, known as ESSER. That program was created as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

Athletic fields

Blum joked that he had been afraid the estimated cost of his orginal plan for refurbishing Tiger Stadium, more than $2 million, would give board members a heart attack.

He came back Thursday with a slimmed-down, $1.2 million proposal.

The work would include replacing railings and fences to comply with safety codes and the Americans with Disabilities Act; installing nonslip coatings on walkways; replacing damaged aluminum seating; making handicapped seating areas directly accessible from stadium seating; steam-cleaning and waterproofing concrete surfaces; replace caulking between concrete panels; complete the conversion of stadium lighting to LED fixtures; and replacing fencing around the field.

The plan also recommends inspecting the stadium track and putting down a new surface, which these days means urethane.

The urethane surface alone is in the plan for $360,000, the lowest of estimates that range to nearly twice that much.

"It's difficult in this market to know what anything is going to cost, let alone something like this," Blum said.

The rest of the work, plus 7.5% for architectural fees, amounts to about $750,000.

Among the items eliminated to cut costs were new bleachers on the visitors' side, press box repairs and a set of lights for members of the community who walk on the track, preventing the need to turn on the big lights used for game nights.

The board agreed last month to set aside $1 million from Maintenance District 3 funds for the work.

The board also agreed Thursday to authorize $14,000 to move the Patterson High softball scoreboard and up to $150,000 improvements at Patterson's football field.

Vaping lawsuit

The board agreed by voice vote to join a class action lawsuit against vape manufacturer Juul Inc.

Juul last month agreed to settle more than 8,000 lawsuits over the company's role in an upsurge of vaping among young people. The company agreed to make $1.2 billion in payments to plaintiffs.

Legal counsel Bob Hammonds said joining the lawsuit will cost the School Board nothing. The California legal firm that filed the lawsuit is seeking a 25% contingency fee.

Any money the School Board receives could be used for vaping-related expenses, Hammonds said, including counseling and vape detectors for locker rooms and bathrooms.

It's not clear how much the School Board might receive from the settlement.

Christmas art
This year's School Board Christmas card artwork contest winner is Courtney Trosclair of West St. Mary High.

Honorable mentions go to senior Jaiden Partain of Morgan City High, Berwick Elementary fifth-grader Isabella Benedietto and Centerville third-grader Jessa Aucoin.