2 vie for seat on School Board
GONZALES — Two Gonzales residents are aiming for a spot on the Ascension Parish School Board.
Edgar Irvin, who was appointed to the School Board’s District 3 seat in January after Ed Price was elected to the state House of Representatives, will square off against former Ascension Parish educator Richard “Coach” Brown to fill the remainder of Price’s original term, which expires at the end of 2014.
The election will be held Nov. 6. Early voting begins Tuesday and will continue through Oct. 30.
Brown, who retired in 2003 from the Ascension Parish school system, said his “love for kids” drove him to pursue a position on the school board.
He was a teacher and coach at East Ascension and St. Amant high schools before becoming assistant principal and principal at St. Amant High and finishing his career as supervisor of school personnel.
“I went through every level of education in the Ascension Parish school system,” Brown said.
Since then, he said, he’s remained involved with the school system, coming out of retirement to be an associate principal at Donaldsonville High and working as a career coach. He remains as a volunteer for several different programs.
Irvin, 51, who is serving his second interim stint on the school board, did not return phone calls requesting comment about his decision to seek a permanent seat on the board.
The 1980 graduate of East Ascension High School said upon his appointment that he wanted to work to make sure Ascension Parish had the best school system possible.
“My main objective is to work along with other members of the board to continue to make Ascension Parish schools the best they can be,” Irvin, who operates his own construction business, said in January.
Brown, 61, said his top goal as a school board member would be to get more parents involved in their children’s education.
“The No. 1 priority is parents’ participation,” he said. “That’s why we have donuts for dads, and we’re starting a new program called muffins for moms, to get parents back into the schools. It’s not just the primary level either, but in middle school and high school. We need participation at every level.”