Featured Photograph: Former St. Landry School Superintendent Patrick Jenkins. (Photograph by Bobby Ardoin.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
The St. Landry Parish School Board has scheduled a special meeting Wednesday at 2 pm in order to select an interim superintendent and continue a discussion on how to spend over $16 million in federal revenue for campus improvements in three school attendance zones.
A need to appoint the interim superintendent occurred after board members voted late Thursday night to buy out the contract of Patrick Jenkins, who became superintendent in 2016.
Board members have already discussed how to spend the COVID relief money assigned to the District, however those discussions have involved debates on which capital outlay projects are most important.
The most intense debate has included taking more than $5 million of $6.75 million originally earmarked for Opelousas Junior High and dedicating the money to projects in the Beau Chene, Eunice and Northwest zones.
Board member Anthony Standberry has argued that there are many students living in Opelousas who are attending either Lawtell Elementary or Northwest High. Some of the students zoned for Northwest High however also attend Opelousas Junior High.
Jenkins announced in February that he did not plan to seek another contract extension, but board members decided just before midnight on Thursday that they preferred to pay Jenkins for the 90 days left on his current contract and proceed with the search for a new superintendent.
Board attorney Evan Alvarez told board members that their decision to pay Jenkins for the time left on his contract was supported by a 2020 state law. Statewide school boards are provided with authority to purchase the final three months of superintendent contracts, according to the state law passed in 2020.
Alvarez said during a post-meeting interview that the interim superintendent does not have to possess all the qualifications required by superintendents hired by elected school officials.
Applications for the new superintendent closed March 24. The qualifications for all applicants said board attorney Courtney Joiner, will be reviewed before board members determine which candidates will be interviewed later in April.
On Thursday night board members spent over two hours in closed session, with much of that time dedicated to engaging in dialogue with Jenkins.
After the Board emerged from the closed session, they voted to pay Jenkins for the time remaining on his contract which was scheduled to end June 30. Jenkins was earning about $137,000 in base salary.
Jenkins in a subdued final speech, thanked members of his administrative staff for their performances while he was superintendent. Jenkins also listed several of what he felt were his most significant accomplishments, including balancing and producing revenue surpluses during most of his tenure.
Also Jenkins said he was proud of the way District graduation rates had improved and pointed to the number of students who have graduated with associate degrees before they received their high school diplomas.
Not all board members were enamored by the decision of the nine board members who voted to pay Jenkins to leave his superintendent position before his contract extinguished.
Board members Milton Ambres, Bianca Vedell, Standberry and Timmakah Hardy voted against the decision.
Vedell and Standberry were particularly vocal in having Jenkins leave before the expiration of his contract.
In her opinion Vedell said, state law is not particularly clear in determining reasons for discontinuing the contracts of superintendents before the ends of their contracts.
Vedell also said she is uncomfortable with the decision by the Board and questioned whether the Board has sufficient plans for determining the future of the school system.
Standberry said the Board was guided in the decision by personal agendas.
“We need to take a good look at ourselves. Are we here for the real purpose of educating students?,” Standerry said.
