INDReporter

Carencro Middle principal to step down at school year's end

The LPSS will lose another principal hired under former Superintendent Pat Cooper’s watch.

Spurgeon Banyard, hired in the fall of 2012 to take on the long-troubled Carencro Middle School, announced Wednesday that he will step down at the end of the school year. His resignation will take effect June 17.

Banyard attributes the decision to “false accusations” that have tormented his time in Lafayette Parish — he’s been the subject of two sexual harassment lawsuits in the last year, both of which he claims were manufactured in an attempt to tarnish his reputation. He also cites a need to be closer to his family back in Mississippi.

Banyard’s departure follows the forced resignation last week of Northside High Principal Melinda Voorhies, who also was brought on under Cooper’s watch to help turn the tide of another of the school system’s academically troubled schools.

Read more on that here.