Richard handed two-year deal, $5,000 raise

After several heated debates over Terrebonne Parish School Superintendent Ed Richard Jr.’s contract, a two-year deal was finally approved last Tuesday night.

After a 7-2 vote, Richard accepted the two-year contract, which includes a $5,000 raise and an additional $1,000 for vehicle allowance.

“I really didn’t expect this to be finished tonight,” Richard said in amazement.

Prior to the executive committee meeting on March 20, the school chief presented the three-member group, made up of Board President Clark Bonvillain, Board Vice President Hayes Badeaux and District 1 representative Roosevelt Thomas, with two contract drafts.

Both drafts would have increased Richard’s salary by $10,000, also allowing him an additional $10,000 in bonuses and vehicle allowance.

Negotiations were put on the table and the committee, minus Thomas, recommended that Richard’s contract remain the same for the next two years.

At the regularly-scheduled school board meeting April 3, Thomas rejected both the recommendation from his fellow committee members as well as the draft contracts presented by Richard.

In turn, Thomas offered a substitute motion seeking to increase the superintendent’s contract by $5,000. In response to Thomas’s motion, several of the board members voiced their support of the contract increase.

“I feel that the board should accept Mr. Richard’s draft contracts. But, it is apparent that we are not going to get a majority vote on that. I think Mr. Thomas’s motion will get the majority,” District 8 board member Don Duplantis said during the meeting.

Duplantis said he just wanted to get Thomas’s motion on the table for a vote.

Board member L.P. Bordelon of District 6 offered an amendment motion to Thomas’s motion, which limited the superintendent’s vehicle allowance hike to $1,000.

Bonvillain and District 4 board member Rickie Pitre cast the only no votes to both the pay raise and the amendment for a vehicle allowance increase.

In accepting the contract, Richard said it was never about the money, explaining that he worked for $250 a month nearly 35 years ago as an educator. “I would have worked for the same pay if this could have been settled a long time ago. I enjoy my job. I am devoted to the system. It’s all about the kids and I am glad that this is over so that we can focus on them,” he said.

In addition, District 2 board member Gregory Harding asked the board to continue researching whether a one-year contract can legally be offered to a superintendent. According to the board’s policy, the least number of years that can be presented to a superintendent is two years, a point of contention that delayed Richard’s deal for several weeks.

“Just in case this matter is presented before us again, I would like the board to have the proper options set before them,” Harding said.

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