INDReporter

5 LPSB members may face fines for absences

by Patrick Flanagan

Five members of the Lafayette Parish School Board are facing potential fines of as much as $1,400 for excessive absences from board meetings in 2013.

Five members of the Lafayette Parish School Board, coincidently the very five who have consistently resisted Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper's Turnaround Plan, are facing potential fines of as much as $1,400 for excessive absences from board meetings and workshops in 2013.

According to the "Excessive Meeting Absences" in the board's policy manual, board members are allowed to miss five meetings a year (that includes regular, special and committe meetings and workshops), with a $100 fine levied for each unexcused absence logged thereafter. The board members facing fines are Tommy Angelle, Greg Awbrey, Mark Allen Babineaux, Tehmi Chassion and Rae Trahan.

The issue will be addressed during Wednesday's meeting, and, according to the agenda, board members will have until mid-February to submit written excuses for each meeting they missed after the five allowable absences. Those excuses will be up for board approval at the second meeting in February. If not approved - an unlikely scenario considering the members who face fines consist of a board majority - each absence over five will result in a fine of $100 per meeting.

Photo by Robin May

"You may want to hold public office and sit on the board, but you
have to have the ability to actually serve," says
School Board President Shelton Cobb.

According to an attendance list prepared by external auditors Kolder, Champagne, Slaven and Co., board member Greg Awbrey tops the list with 19 total absences in 2013, and faces a potential fine of $1,400. He is followed by Tommy Angelle who has racked up $1,300 in potential fines after missing 18 meetings, and Rae Trahan - whose penchant for being a no-show started with Cooper's arrival in early-2012. She faces a possible $1,100 fine for her 16 absences, and is followed by board member Tehmi Chassion, who missed a total of 11 meetings in 2013 and faces a fine of $600. It's worth noting that Chassion also hasn't met any of his governance training hours this year as required by state law (read that story here). Rounding out the list is Mark Allen Babineaux, who missed six meetings for the year, warranting a potential fine of only $100.

When The IND first reported on the school board's absence issue last year (read more here and here), Trahan and Chassion both claimed their absences stemmed from work obligations. Yet, that raises the counterargument: Why hold public office when you can't meet the requirements of the job?

Board President Shelton Cobb agrees. "You may want to hold public office and sit on the board, but you have to have the ability to actually serve," says Cobb, who spoke Monday morning with The IND. "Our auditors brought it to the school system's attention that some board members aren't following policy, and they need to follow policy to get the charges dismissed. They can't just call like some have tried doing. They have to do it in writing. And unless they do so, they will be docked."

Because this issue's outcome ultimately rests in the board's hands, it's quite unlikely any of these fines will ever be paid - despite that the policy is clear-cut.