Jan. 27
January 27, 2009Anthony Roland Sigur Jr.
January 29, 2009
By a 7-1 vote, the Terrebonne Parish School Board appointed Philip Martin the new superintendent of public schools.
Board member Donald Duplantis cast the single no vote last Tues-day. Board member Roosevelt Thomas was absent from the meeting.
Martin had been serving as interim superintendent since Ed Richard Jr. retired from the school system on Dec. 31.
“I’m elated. I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Martin said. “This is a great school system, and I hope I can make it better.”
Martin was the lone applicant for the superintendent post. Some board members wanted to re-advertise the job opening.
“The fact that we had only one applicant should ring some bells to tell us it was advertised incorrectly,” Duplantis said. “We didn’t try to inform any applicants. Nobody knew about the opening.”
However, the board approved with a 5-3 vote a measure offered by board member Roger Dale Dehart replacing the board’s extensive superintendent election policy with the more lenient state law.
The board’s old policy required a months’-long screening process that entailed public interviews of the final candidates.
State law only requires the board to advertise an open superintendent post twice, at least a week apart in a daily newspaper with a population exceeding 100,000 and in the official journal of the school board. The board also had to wait 30 days from the last advertisement to select the new superintendent.
The board filled those obligations with ads in the Dec. 5 and 12 editions of the Times-Picayune and the Houma Courier.
Dehart said he offered his motion to simplify a practice that had grown more time-consuming.
“Every time we have a superintendent search, all of us (board members) criticized a different part of that policy since Mr. Morgan Brasher retired,” he said. “We hired Frank Fudesco, Liz Scurto and Ed Richard since then, and none of those three hiring processes were the same.”
Duplantis said his vote was not against Martin, but against the manner in which he was hired.
“I think there is some type of conspiracy involved on this board to eliminate certain board members in any decisions by the board and be left in the dark,” he said. “I’ll be willing to bet you 90 percent of the public doesn’t even know who we’re electing (superintendent) tonight.”
Fellow board members denied the accusation and said it would be an insult to Martin to re-advertise the position again.
“He is highly-qualified, and he knows the ins and outs of the school system,” Dehart countered. “He has had a lot put on his plate by the previous two superintendents and he has always come through.”
Duplantis said he would support Martin and do what is best for the school system, but indicated some board would treat him as they did his predecessor.
“Some of the same people voting for Mr. Martin tonight will turn on him and stab him in the back in six months,” he concluded. “I’m going to write down their names on a piece of paper, and I’ll see in six months what happens.”
The school board still needs to set up a committee to negotiate a two- to four-year contract with Martin. For now, the 35-year school system veteran is just relieved to have “interim” removed from his title and can focus on long-term goals.
“The most immediate issue is addressing Grand Caillou (Elementary) regarding flooding. That was apparent tonight,” he said. “There are other issues that I will be revealing. Just give me a little time to get my feet back on the ground. Right now, I feel like I’m floating on air.”
The board unanimously voted for Martin to establish a committee to tackle repetitive flooding at Grand Caillou Elementary.
Martin comprised the committee of board members, educators and citizens from the Grand Caillou community. It meets today at 2 p.m. at the school board office.
Hurricane Ike inundated the school with 51 inches of storm surge in September, causing about $1 million in damage.
The school system has paid more than $3 million for hurricane repairs at the school since Hurricane Juan in 1985.
Parents, community activists and some school board members have repeatedly asked that the school be either elevated to prevent more flooding or moved to higher ground, preferable to 15 acres of donated land adjacent to SAIA Motor Freight in East Houma.
