Richard offered one-year extension

Acting against the advice of its legal counsel, the Terrebonne Parish School Board agreed Tuesday night to extend school Superintendent Ed Richard’s contract for one year.

School board attorney Clayton Lovell said the minimum contract extension should have been two years.

However, Board President Clark Bonvillain called for a vote on board member Roger DeHart’s substitute motion, which extends Richard’s contract by a year, the exact terms of which will be negotiated by Bonvillain and board members Roosevelt Thomas and Hayes Badeaux. The motion calls for the contract to be finalized by April 30.

According to Bonvillain, the one-year deal was deemed legal in an opinion offered by the Louisiana School Board Association.

A simple majoritynBonvillain, Badeaux, Thomas, Gregory Harding and Rickie Pitrenof the board approved the measure.

Board members DeHart, Donald Duplantis, L.P. Bordelon and Ricky Jackson voted against the measure, arguing Richard’s contract should have been extended through 2009.

“I was hoping to get two years, but I will pray and decide on this offer for just one year,” Richard said Wednesday. “That’s about all I can say at this point.”

The vote ends 60 days of confusion; a time period Thomas said at Tuesday’s meeting could have “… some in the public thinking that the school system is out of control.”

After bumping the agenda item to the beginning of the meetingnit was originally slated to be the eighth topic up for a votenDuplantis offered a motion to give Richard two more years as superintendent, with all benefits and conditions to be decided by the executive committee.

That’s when DeHart countered with a one-year offer.

“I’ve studied the personnel policy, and I’ve looked at this situation from every angle,” the District 7 representative said. “The superintendent has worked in a progressive way for this system, particularly in raising our test scores. … I would like him to continue for one year to allow him to accomplish what needs to be accomplished.”

Richard’s contract deal had been politically deadlocked over the last two months. A contention of four school board members had argued that the superintendent failed to meet the goals outlined in his current contract.

However, Richard said in his defense that the 2005 hurricane season had upended the school board’s priorities.

It was a point DeHart reiterated Tuesday night.

“No one planned the hurricane; however, it caused Mr. Richard not reach his goals and objectives for 2005 and 2006,” he said. “And if he meets them in 2007, nothing would prohibit me from offering him a two-year contract.”

DeHart called for the board and administration to “work together and put past issues behind.”

Thomas, a Richard supporter, who seconded DeHart’s motion to open discussion of a shorter contract deal, continued to offer the superintendent support.

“Let’s extend his contract for another year, provided that accountability comes n accountability with what he’s doing, what we’re doing as a board,” Thomas said. “And teachers and administrators need to be accountable as well. The superintendent can only be as good as what this board allows him to be. We need to hold everyone’s hands to the fire.”

Bordelon argued the school board was setting itself up for a replay of the contract dispute next year.

“Why don’t we let our executive committee find out about all the questions being raised here,” he said. “…to give Mr. Richard one more year just takes the heart off because next year, we’ll be back in this predicament right around this same time.”

Lovell interrupted the meeting to inform board members that the one-year extension was not legal.

“I’m not sure the substitute motion is workable n I think the superintendent needs to have two years offered,” the attorney told the board.

Bonvillain replied, “Before tonight’s meeting, I consulted with legal at the LSBA, and I was told that one year, two years, three years n whatever the board decides is permissible.”

But Lovell stood by his opinion.

“Well, you have your opinion, and the LSBA legal department has theirs,” Bonvillain countered. “I guess it’s just a matter of opinion.”

DeHart offered to withdraw his motion. However, Bonvillain called for the vote.

Richard offered one-year extension