Board approves school chief’s request for assistant
LAFAYETTE — School Superintendent Pat Cooper on Wednesday defended his proposal for an assistant with a “doctorate from the university of work” to advise him on district facilities operations.
During the School Board meeting, Cooper pitched the creation of a special assistant to the superintendent position to serve as an adviser on facilities, maintenance, grounds and transportation operations.
The district needs someone “who can negotiate and go toe to toe with the brick layer,” Cooper said. “This person’s salary will be saved in the first project, if I get the right person.”
The board approved the position in a 6-3 vote, with board members Tommy Angelle, Greg Awbrey and Mark Allen Babineaux voting against the new position and against advertising for the job. Board members Hunter Beasley, Kermit Bouillion, Tehmi Chassion, Shelton Cobb, Mark Cockerham and Rae Trahan supported creating the position and advertising for candidates.
Awbrey objected to the job qualifications, which do not require education beyond a high school degree.
The starting pay for the position would be about $68,000 a year, based on the job qualifications of 15 years of supervisory experience, he said. The majority of central office administrators at the same pay grade are required to hold at least a master’s degree, he said.
“I think we could get someone with an MBA for this job,” Awbrey said.
Academic requirements for the position should require job candidates to show “that they learned basics in business, architecture, construction, in managing, engineering. I think this is inadequate with just a high school diploma,” he said.
Babineaux told Cooper the duties of the job should fall to the superintendent.
“As superintendent, I don’t know how much it costs to remove asbestos,” Cooper said. “The actuality of it is this district has spent a lot of money without doing the negotiations and without doing the bartering. I’m looking for someone who has that skill that we don’t have at present.”
An employee with those skills could save the district “hundreds of thousands” of dollars, “if not millions,” Cooper continued.
“I’ve got a hundred other things to do, Mr. Babineaux,” Cooper said. “I can’t deal with nails and hammers. That’s not what you hired me to do.”
Angelle suggested the lax educational requirements meant the job was already filled and encouraged Cooper to consider hiring from within the school system.
Cooper has said the district pays too much for services and maintenance because it hasn’t negotiated for better prices.
“I want this parish, I want this school district to stretch its money as far as we can stretch it,” Cooper said. “I want someone to say we’re not going to run a social club anymore. I want someone who is hard-nosed and can save this (district) some money.”
Cooper has already revealed some other changes he’d like to make within the facilities and maintenance department to complete needed projects within the existing budget.
Earlier this month, the board approved a makeover plan for Northside High that included nearly $1.9 million in facility renovations and repairs, as well as Cooper’s plan to try out a restructure of grounds-keeping and custodial services at 11 schools.
The school system had more than $1 billion in facility needs identified in a facilities master plan completed in 2010. In October, voters rejected the board’s property tax proposal to fund the first phase of the master plan implementation, which would have included new schools to replace Lafayette High, Northside High and other schools in the parish.