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In response to details surrounding this Saturday’s “Need to Know” protest, Terrebonne Parish School Board member Clyde Hamner said that members of the school board were neither invited to nor informed of the event.
The Need to Know protest was organized by a local parent as a way for Terrebonne Parish School District parents, staff and teachers to voice concerns regarding the district’s COVID-19 protocols ahead of the beginning of the upcoming school year.
Protest organizer Wanda Triggs said that school board members were invited to attend the event. She shared an infographic with details of the protest on her personal Facebook page. However, Hamner said he and other school board members were not made aware of the protest.
Hamner learned of the protest from a friend of his who is a teacher.
“I wouldn’t know about it if one of my teacher friends who follows Facebook stuff hasn’t said that she wasn’t going to it, and I said, ‘Going to what? Tell me about it,’” Hamner said.
He said he did not receive any information about the protest through his school board email, personal email or physical mail. He also said that school board secretary Ramona Brunet did not receive any information about the event either.
In speaking with several other school board members, including president Debi Benoit, Stacy Solet and Dane Voisin, Hamner said he learned they also knew nothing about the event.
As of now, Hamner says he does not know of any school board members who plan to be at the event.
“I’m not because they said I was invited, and that was a lie,” Hamner said.
Hamner said the school district has been providing information regarding its COVID-19 response and school reopening plan through both mass communication efforts and individual conversations with concerned TPSD stakeholders.
“I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t had their questions answered,” Hamner said.
Hamner said he has been receiving “nothing but positive comments” surrounding the information that TPSD Superintendent Phillip Martin has shared regarding the district’s COVID-19 plan for reopening schools. He said that Martin has made appearances on HTV 10 to discuss it, and local news publications have shared information as he releases it.
Hamner said individuals with concerns about the reopening of schools should contact school board members, and they will listen.
“Call us. If you have concerns, call us. Don’t put it on Facebook and think that we’re getting it through Facebook because we’re not. Anybody that has questions, all they have to do is pick up the phone and call,” Hamner said.
Hamner said there are some details and protocols about the reopening of TPSD schools that are still up-in-the-air as of now. With the start of the school year being pushed back to Sept. 8, though, he said there is now more time to address those areas.
Some of the concerns being brought forth at the protest are some of the issues the school board is trying to address itself, he said. For example, the school board is still working on details regarding whether or not athletes can choose virtual learning and still participate in sports.
“We’ve got time to do that. We’ve got to wait to hear from the Louisiana High School Athletic Association on that. It’s not just a school board decision. You’ve got rules and regulations and agencies that govern all that,” Hamner said.
Hamner said that every decision TPSD makes has the best interest of its stakeholders in mind.
“Every decision that’s being made is being made with the consideration of students, the staff, the teachers and everybody concerned that has to be in those buildings,” Hamner said. “It’s being made with everybody’s health and well-being first and foremost.”
