INDReporter

Friends of Holly Boffy hosting fundraiser Thursday at Trynd

by Heather Miller

The 2010 Teacher of the Year and District 7 BESE candidate will be joined by the 2010 National Teacher of the Year, Sarah Brown Wessling.

Friends of Holly Boffy (and she's got a long list of friends) is hosting a fundraiser at Trynd downtown Thursday night for the District 7 state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education candidate and 2010 Louisiana Teacher of the Year who came out strong last week in her support of ending tenure for teachers.

Boffy, a 33-year-old Abbeville High School graduate who earned her bachelor's, master's and education specialist certification degrees from LSU, told The Independent in June that her time spent in the Teacher of the Year program is what turned her on to trying to tackle the state's bottom ranking school system through politics. She earned the Teacher of the Year title for her work at Paul Breaux Middle School and now works for the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana.

Joining the former top teacher at her fundraiser tonight is a special guest of honor, Sarah Brown Wessling, the Johnston, Iowa, high school English teacher who was named 2010 National Teacher of the Year. Others slated to come out in support of Boffy are City-Parish President Joey Durel, state Rep. Page Cortez, Vermilion Parish Sheriff Mike Couvillon, state Sen. Elbert Guillory, state Rep. Nancy Landry, state Sen. Mike Michot, and House Speaker Pro Tem Joel Robideaux.

Boffy is the only person who has publicly announced her intentions to run against longtime District 7 BESE incumbent Dale Bayard of Sulphur.

The reception is from 5 to 7 p.m. at the downtown eatery. Suggested donations are $50 per person.

Listed as members of the host committee for Thursday's fundraiser are Clay Allen; Don Briggs; Cajun Industries, LLC; Charter Schools USA; Randy Haynie; Ryan Haynie; Paul and Madlyn Hilliard; Fred and Karen Hoyt; IBC Group - Joey and Sue Russo; ISC Constructors, LLC; Gary McGoffin; Mark Miller; Mandi Mitchell; Buel and Shirley Pate; Eddie Rispone, and Stephen Tessier.

Read more on Boffy here and here.