Requested discussion ignites Terrebonne School Board

Freshman member Debi Benoit found out last Tuesday what happens when an underclassman to the Terrebonne Parish School Board suggests discussing a possible change to long established schedules – it creates a firestorm of emotion.

After having missed a Finance, Insurance and Section 16 Lands committee meeting on Jan. 24 because she was attending a state-required training session for school board members, Benoit objected to the minutes as read before the entire board because they did not state the reason for her absence.

Board member Donald Duplantis, who was presenting the minutes, protested Benoit’s opposition then accepted her complaint and said the reason for her absence would be added to the minutes. He also indicated that the matter had already been discussed outside the board meeting.

Later in the board’s agenda the issue was brought up again, when Benoit asked the board to discuss committee meeting dates and times and what to do when they conflict with state schedules.

“I would like to move that future school meetings board and committee meetings not be in conflict with state meetings and training that are required of school board members,” Benoit said.

“I thought that any time we change policy, it had to go through committee,” board member Roger Dale DeHart said. “I’m not trying to kill anything. I think it should be addressed properly. The [correct motion] should be to defer it to the proper committee. I’m just trying to do things the correct way.”

“She said she wants to discuss [this]. She didn’t say anything about changing. The motion was to discuss, not change,” Duplantis said. “If she makes a motion to [discuss] she’s alright. If she makes a motion to change she’s got a problem.”

Board Chairman L.P. Bordelon clarified the motion as being one to discuss scheduling of board committee meetings. “Let her present her case, so to speak,” he said.

Benoit explained that her motive behind asking for discussion on changing board and committee schedules was intended to free board members to meet state required meetings while not missing out on local meetings.

“The reason I asked for this discussion is because I believe attending these state school board functions are in the best interest of the public. But, also, attending committee meetings and the school board meetings are also in the best interest of the people that we serve.

“To hold them in conflict with each other is, I feel, a lack of professionalism and not allowing us to fulfill the obligation we have to the public,” Benoit said.

“Just because Mrs. Benoit or anybody else misses one committee meeting doesn’t mean anyone is going to chastise you or anyone else,” Duplantis said. “I explained all that the other day [to] Mrs. Benoit.”

“We’ve never changed policy that I recall where we discussed it at a regular meeting. We need to look at it a little further,” board member Hayes Badeaux said. He then moved that the motion be sent to committee.

Vice Chairman Roosevelt Thomas said he had no problem with considering a change of schedules in committee. “We have so many meetings … that I think there is going to be a conflict anytime we attempt to work out a schedule,” he said.

DeHart said that he agreed with Benoit as far as attending state-required training and an obligation to attend. “But I do know that there is more than one opportunity to go to the class. By all means, if there is a conflict, I support the idea. But I think it will give us time to research and do it right to where we don’t have a problem with unforeseen circumstances,” he said.

The board agreed, with one objection from Duplantis, to send Benoit’s request to committee, only to, with the next agenda item, waive policy – with objections from DeHart and Babin – and reschedule their March 1 meeting time from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m. so members might adjourn early to attend the Louisiana School Boards Association Convention at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Baton Rouge on March 1-4.

“This will accommodate those of us going to [the convention] and giving us time to leave so we can work with everybody’s schedule,” Thomas said.

“As long as we let the public know our times have changed I don’t think we will have any problem,” Badeaux said.

Following the board meeting, Benoit said she was upset that she missed her first finance committee meeting because of the state-required training. “There was a lot of information in that meeting that I was not able to hear because I attended the state meeting to get credits required by the state. All of the board members were required by the state to go, but they all didn’t go,” she said. “There’s not that many state meetings. For those meetings, we should be able to change meeting dates. At least we got it moved to the policy committee meeting and we got some people thinking about it.”

Duplantis was asked about the resistance to Benoit’s schedule concerns. “We’ve been having these schedules for 24 years. Why should I change them now for anybody?” he said.

In other action, the board accepted a long list of state changes to regulations, most of which was in wording of documents, and commented on $10,000 being offered by the state for construction of a ninth grade building at H.L. Bourgeois High School.

Some members complained that the amount offered the school district for education from the state was less than the dollars spent for wildlife matters. Others thought it was a step in the right direction.

“[Construction of the H.L. Bourgeois High School] building might not happen right away, but it will happen. That’s the beginning of it,” Thomas said outside the meeting.

Terrebonne Parish School Board member Debi Benoit stirred up heated discussion last Tuesday when she asked the board to consider possibly adjusting committee meeting times to accommodate schedules that involve required state training sessions. MIKE NIXON