Seven outgoing APSB members may be most ever

New board will have only two returning members in January

When seven new board members take office in January, it will complete a historic event for the Avoyelles School Board.

Not only is the exodus of seven of the nine members among the most in the parish’s history, Superintendent Blaine Dauzat said the Louisiana School Board Association could not find any other election that rivals the almost 78 percent change in board membership that occurred in this election.

Dauzat handed out plaques of appreciation to the seven outgoing board members at the board’s Dec. 4 meeting, which was their last regular meeting.

Three board members chose not to seek re-election -- interim board member Jeralyn Young, who was appointed to finish the the unexpired term of long-time District 1 board member Freeman Ford, who died earlier this year; District 4 board member James Gauthier; and District 5 board member Shelia Blackman-Dupas.

Board members Darrell Wiley (Dist. 2), Michael Lacombe (Dist. 7) and John Gagnard (Dist. 9) were defeated in the Nov. 6 election.

District 6 board member Lizzie Ned finished second in a four-candidate field and forced her opponent, Chris Robinson, into a runoff, but chose to withdraw prior to the Dec. 8 election date.

Latisha Small narrowly defeated Marian Gonzales in the District 1 runoff on Dec. 8.

ONLY TWO RETURNING

That leaves only Chris Lacour in District 3 and Van Kojis in District 8 returning to the board in January. They had no opposition in their re-election bid.

LaCour noted that four years ago, he was the only new face on the board. Seven board members were re-elected without opposition, Ned won re-election and LaCour defeated the incumbent then.

“This is the only board I’ve known,” LaCour said. “I look forward to working with the new board members. Instead of being the one learning, I hope I can teach them a thing or two, as well as learn from them.”

One of the “new” board members, Lynn Deloach in District 2, served on the board previously. He left the board and Wiley was elected in the 2010 election.

Dauzat had kind words for all of the departing board members, noting “this is the board that hired me” as superintendent.

He singled out Blackman-Dupas for special recognition, noting that the plaque she received at the Dec. 4 meeting is just for her past three four-year terms. She served two terms before leaving the board for one term and deciding to come back.

“She already got a plaque for those terms,” Dauzat said with a smile. “Now she can hang this one next to it.

“She was the first African-American female elected to the School Board, so she made history in this parish,” Dauzat said. “She was also only 28 years old when she was elected -- but Stanley isn’t impressed,” he joked, pointing to 19-year-old Stanley Celestine, who was elected to succeed Blackman-Dupas in District 5.

Dupas conceded that she was sometimes difficult when she was arguing for an issue she felt strongly about, but thanked her fellow board members “for putting up with me.”

She said she did not serve to be agreeable, but to “provide good representation, not only for the people of District 5 who elected me, but for the entire parish.”

PLAQUES PRESENTED

All seven outgoing members received plaques commemorating their term of service. Young served 10 months; Wiley, eight years; Gauthier, eight years; Blackman-Dupas, 12 years; Ned, 12 years; Lacombe, eight years; and Gagnard, five years, including one year of an unexpired board term.

Dauzat also praised Gagnard, Gauthier, Ned and Wiley for dedicating their adult lives to a career in education.

The superintendent said students are receiving a better education today than they were four years ago “and that is largely due to you.” He said the district has improved its academic progress ranking from 65th to 52nd out of 69 school districts, despite being 69 out of 69 in funding for local education.

Dauzat said the district is “not raising a flag and saying, ‘Woo hoo. We’re No. 52,” but he wants the public to know that the district has made and is continuing to make progress.

Kojis, who finds himself the senior board member with 12 years of service, said he made friends with every board member and disagreed with every board member at some point.

He told the board members-elect in the audience that there will always be disagreements with their colleagues, but at the end of the meeting they need to be able to forget that and maintain a friendly relationship.

“If you work together, you will always come out on top,” Kojis said.

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