INDReporter

LPSB's Awbrey: Let's shoot the messenger

by Walter Pierce

The Lafayette Parish School Board member representing District 6 in Lafayette evidently wants to can the district attorney's office as legal counsel for the board.

Greg Awbrey

The Lafayette Parish School Board member representing District 6 in Lafayette evidently wants to can the district attorney's office as legal counsel for the board.

In a weekend email exchange obtained by The IND, Greg Awbrey first asks Melva Perry, an executive assistant to Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper, to "provide a copy of the resolution and any pertinent documents from the boards [sic] hiring of the District Attorneys [sic] office as counsel. I understand this was done sometime between 2002 and 2005."

Within an hour of Saturday's request by Awbrey, Cooper informed the rep that the request "should be a request coming from full board to me."

Awbrey takes exception to Cooper's observation in a response about a half hour later, ultimately concluding in an email to fellow board members in reference to a letter Assistant District Attorney Roger Hamilton sent last week to the state attorney general's office saying he doesn't believe the board has cause to investigate Cooper: "This letter seems to represent the position of the superintendent and not the board and should have been addressed to the board first. I will recommend the board release the DA since it appears they are not representing the interests of the board."

The board voted to hire an outside firm to investigate the super last summer after also voting to reprimand him. In response to Hamilton's letter to the AG, according to The Daily Advertiser, Cooper is asking that the reprimand be removed from his file.

The suggestion that Harson's office no longer be retained as legal counsel for the board also comes in the wake of Hamilton's boss, District Attorney Mike Harson, admonishing the board for not following state open-meetings law in the way it conducted - and later backtracked on - a vote to switch health insurance administrators for the school system.

Awbrey used a gmail account to conduct his end of the conversation rather than his official @lpssonline address.