Commentary

Oh Boy: LPSB picks Tommy Angelle as its prez

by Patrick Flanagan

The haze from all the Kumbaya around the campfire vibes still hover thick over LPSB’s seven freshly seated members, but even though it’s been less than a month, they’ve also been busy making big decisions.

Tommy Angelle

The haze from all the Kumbaya around the campfire vibes still hover thick over LPSB’s seven freshly seated members, but even though it’s been less than a month, they’ve also been busy making big decisions, namely by naming one of the board’s two status quo incumbents as their next president — a move that is certain to further the expropriation of power from the office of the superintendent back into the hands of Lafayette Parish’s old guard.

The fresh-faced school board immediately followed their swearing-in last week by making Tommy Angelle president. Given November’s poll results — a slaughtering that bore victory for a mere handful of the progressive candidates, even leaving one district up to a runoff involving a self-professed racist/homophobe — this came as no big surprise. Along with District 4’s Tehmi Chassion, Angelle was the only other incumbent to win reelection. And like Chassion, Angelle’s first-term on the board (for those with short memories) included a record for missing way more meetings than policy allows, for always backing the status quo, for fighting Pat Cooper’s every move as superintendent and for a never ending supply of shirts bearing wildlife-themed patterns. Along with a good ole boy charm, the former Carencro mayor also proved politically savvy in his time on the board, ultimately resulting in his rise to the presidency last week.

And with Monday morning’s Advocate, there’s no more denying it: The writing — as if it wasn’t already there — is on the wall.

In the Advocate’s profile, Angelle lays out his goals for the upcoming year, but he also reveals an agenda we’ve been expecting — one aimed at driving a final nail into Cooper’s efforts at positively changing the Lafayette Parish School System.

Here’s Angelle’s Q&A with The Advocate:

POSITION: Lafayette Parish School Board president

AGE: 68

HOMETOWN: Carencro

Tommy Angelle, who will begin his second term on the Lafayette Parish School Board as its president, says he views the leadership role as a way to put to good use his past experiences on and off the board — as a former educator and mayor of Carencro. Last year, Angelle was the board’s vice president. In the final months of his first term, the board fired the superintendent, appointed an interim and added nearly $6 million to the budget to cover expenses and staffing positions it had not initially approved. Angelle says he’s looking forward to working with the interim superintendent and building unity on the board, which includes seven new members.

It’s a new year and a new board. What do you think the board should focus on in the first few months of its term?

I’d like to see us focus on the budget and reorganization of the central office. The secondary focus in my mind would be the search for a superintendent. I would like to concentrate this year on the matters of hand: the budget and reorganization and see where we can put money to the best use.
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So, you’d be in favor of putting off the superintendent search?**

The superintendent search, as I envision it, and it would depend on the (views of the board) majority, would be this time next year. The way I would like to see it done is that we would bring a superintendent on in April or May of 2016 and work with the existing interim superintendent for a month or so, side-by-side.
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What challenges do you think the school system needs to overcome?**

The budget is going to be a big deal. It needs to be started this month. It really does. When you talk about a superintendent search, if the board would agree to bringing a superintendent in May that also would need to begin this month. I think the priority should be to get our house in order, relative to the budget, relative to the reorganization, then this time next year start — or earlier if they want — a search for superintendent.

Do you think there are other challenges aside from the budget?

I’m sure the challenges will arise, but the budget — we need to see if we can satisfy ourselves that we can sufficiently do what we need to do within the constraints of the budget. If not, do we need to ask for increases in revenue and if so, we have to present a united front — not on every issue, but if we do ask the public for money, we need to be united. I also think it’s absolutely necessary that we dedicate it and it not be used for any other purpose.

It sounds like there will be some discussion of a potential new tax this year.

Heavy on potential. I’m not convinced. We have a lot of personnel, which is the bulk of our budget. We have a lot of different personnel in a lot of different areas and I think it’s kind of like we don’t have our finger on exactly who’s doing what, where are they located and that kind of thing. I would first look at trying to live within our means. If all of us agree that we do need additional revenue, then we’d look at it that way.

At the center of the old board’s fight with Pat Cooper was a power struggle, and that struggle was a direct result of Act 1 of the 2012 Legislative Session, a law that redirected a great deal of powers from school boards to superintendents. By calling for so many sweeping changes, Act 1 was immediately controversial, but despite being highly contentious, it's still the law, and its underlying purpose has ultimately proven a positive one: To put an end to an old corrupted system built on the political favoritism enjoyed by elected board members by making superintendents more like corporate CEOs with the elected boards becoming more like a board of directors.

The fight between Pat Cooper and the LPSB came to a head in November, ending with his termination. But that story is by no means over. As it plays out in the courts, Cooper’s experience will likely become a test case for how we'll interpret Act 1 in the future.

While Cooper pushed for positive change to our school system, in the end, he was unsuccessful. But that failure had nothing to do with his plan or his job performance and everything to do with board members like Tommy Angelle.

Now, after having voted to fire Cooper, Angelle has been elevated to president, and his agenda for 2015 shows just how much he’s ready to bring the system back to the days of old with the “reorganization of the central office” (more like a post-Cooper house cleaning) at the top of his priority list. That, for Angelle, is more important than figuring out who will be the next leader to take the reins of our system. And it all goes back to that whole power issue. As was the case before Cooper’s arrival — granted, he too cleaned house upon taking power, but his reorganization targeted bad employees who worked the system more than they worked for it — Angelle’s plans for a central office reorganization (and not finding a new super) is just further proof of what we’ve always suspected: He, like a majority of the circa-2014 board members, was really pissed off when state lawmakers gave all those powers to their superintendent, the man who was supposed to work for them, who they could fire and tell what to do. But with Cooper being Cooper, that's not how it went down, hence the epic two-year fight.

So as we go forward in 2015 without a leader at the helm of the system, all those long sought-after powers — the ones Act I took from board members — are once again in the hands of Angelle and his ilk.

And that leaves us with one last question: What nationally respected education leaders (at least those in their right minds) will want to follow Pat Cooper’s footsteps as the next super of our school system? Whoever that may be, he or she will need to either be ready to follow orders on how to educate our children, or they’ll need to come ready for a fight.