By MELISSA PEACOCK

RESERVE – The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board recently voted to restructure the school system’s legal services after John Diasselliss, long-time legal council for the board, announced his retirement from the District Attorney’s office.

Board members chose Director of Personnel Anne LaBorde as inside council and Lloyd LeBlanc will replace Diasselliss as outside council for the board. The change will be effective as early as next week.

“Anne is moving up to executive director of personnel,” board member Russ Wise said. “She will be covering contracts, notarizations and perhaps small cases in court. When attorneys go into court, we pay extra. When possible we will send her to save on that rate.”

LaBorde will receive a $900 per month raise in her salary as a result of her promotion to an executive position. LeBlanc will receive $2,500 per month as his compensation.

Board members said the new configuration will result in substantial savings for the school system as Diasselliss received a $5,000 per month salary.

LaBorde said board members asked her if she would be interested in replacing Diasselliss after his retirement. Her response was “absolutely not.”

She said she will remain acting head of personnel and expects little change in her responsibilities to the school system.

“Several of them asked if I wanted to go into legal but I really love personnel,” LaBorde said. “I would not want to go into just the legal. I enjoy my job too much.”

LaBorde is a licensed attorney in the state of Louisiana. She graduated law school in 1993 and was certified in 1994.

“I am an educator and an attorney,” LaBorde said. “I expect that I will be doing many of the things I have been doing for a long time – general council, garnishments, personnel and working with the other attorneys.”

Diasselliss announced that he would be moving toward retirement last year. LaBorde said the date was finalized in the last month or so.

LeBlanc is a resident of St. James Parish and a member of the St. James Parish School Board.

“The District Attorney’s Office will still be involved with us,” LaBorde said. “LeBlanc will be the legal representative provided by the District Attorney but with fewer duties because I am here and because we now contract litigators.”