School Board moves toward renewing superintendent's contract

CENTERVILLE –At a special meeting called to clarify her status, the St. Mary Parish School Board voted Wednesday to authorize negotiations for renewal of Superintendent Dr. Buffy Fegenbush’s contract.

“We intend to renew her contract,” said board member Chad Paradee of Berwick, who put consideration of authorizing contract negotiations on the special meeting agenda.

State law requires the contract issue to be settled by March 30, Paradee said. That leaves only the March 13 regular meeting date for the full board to accept or reject the renewal of Fegenbush’s contract.

The board voted 8-3 to authorize board President Alaina Black of Morgan City and Vice President Tammie Moore of Four Corners to negotiate the superintendent’s contract renewal.

Voting for the measure were Black, Moore, Paradee, Guienzy Brent and Debra Jones of Franklin, Andrew Mancuso and Rhonda Dennis of Morgan City, and Lindsey Anslem of Bayou Vista.

The two longest-serving board members, Marilyn LaSalle and Ginger Griffin of Patterson, joined the newest board member, Lawrence Guillory of Centerville, in voting no. Guillory was appointed to fill the seat of Murphy Pontiff, who resigned last year for health reasons.

The vote followed a closed-door session lasting nearly two hours to discuss “the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of a school board employee.” The employee was never identified publicly, and no vote occurred after the board members returned to their open session.

Such discussions can be complicated because of Act 1, one of a series of education reform measures enacted during the Jindal administration. Among other things, the act leaves personnel hiring and discipline decisions to superintendents and principals while limiting school boards to setting personnel policies.

Off the record, one board member talked about the need to settle Fegenbush’s contract in light of controversy making the rounds on social media.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Scott Babin, who ran unsuccessfully for the School Board in 2022, used a public comment period to level criticism at Fegenbush.

Without mentioning the superintendent by name, Babin said, “Please do not offer a contract to someone who does not take responsibility for their actions.”

He mentioned a School Board employee arrested in December, accused of misusing a School Board credit card for personal expenses.

Babin accused the superintendent of excessive micromanaging and failing to show appreciation for teachers.

And he cited the biggest recent social media controversy, the firing of a male elementary teacher for posting a video of a student talking about butterflies and hairstyles on a personal account.

Fegenbush was unavailable for comment immediately after the meeting.