By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

RESERVE – It was a morning of heated debate as the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board hammered out issues pertaining to personnel and transportation at a special meeting Thursday.

In somewhat of a surprise move, the board voted to award a three-year bus maintenance contract to Tyrone’s Auto Repair, despite the fact that its proposal was not the lowest.

The lowest proposal was submitted by Dale “Pierre” Cambre, who until Thursday was contracted by the district on a day-to-day basis to service the bus fleet after the death of former mechanic A.O. “Boy” Williams.

Tyrone’s Auto Repair submitted a proposal of $255,000 per year, while Cambre’s proposal was for $248,000 per year. The only other proposal submitted was from First Student, which handles fleet operations in neighboring St. James Parish. Its proposal was for $326,529 per year.

Although the proposal from Cambre was recommended for acceptance by district administration, some board members questioned the process through which the recommendation was made.

Board member Albert Burl III questioned why Cambre was allowed to alter his proposal after it was initially submitted. Executive Director of Business and Finance Felix Boughton explained the submission of a proposal differs from the submission of a sealed bid in that there is some flexibility allowed regarding elements needed to put potential vendors in compliance with the requirements.

Assistant Superintendent Herbert Smith said because these are local vendors that likely have not submitted such a proposal before, the administration felt the extra leeway was warranted.

The final blow to Cambre’s proposal, however, probably came when a St. John Parish school bus driver told the board she attempted to get her bus’ oil changed at Cambre’s repair shop, but the work was not able to be performed because he did not have the right equipment.

“I’m a bus driver, and I want our kids to be safe,” she said.

Ultimately, the board voted to award the contract to Tyrone’s Auto Repair by a vote of 7-3, with Russ Wise abstaining. Gerald Keller, Lowell Bacas and Clarence Triche voted against the measure.

Prior to the bus mechanic agenda item, a seemingly simple personnel matter ignited another firestorm among some board members.

When Director of Human Resources Leigh Ann Beard asked the board for approval of Venus Simms as the new coordinator of pre-K, kindergarten, and RTI, board member Rodney Nicholas read a lengthy statement he obtained from the Head Start website concerning the regulations regarding the federal program. He noted that when a person is to be removed from a director position in the program, federal guidelines stipulate it must come before the board for approval.

“We have to decide if we’re going to follow federal guidelines or we’re going to follow the Millet Manifesto,” said Nicholas.

Superintendent Courtney Millet said the demotion of Ondena Farlough, who held the position until Nov. 11, came because there were a number of citations and paperwork deficiencies concerning the program in St. John Parish.

“The fit was not where it needed to be,” she said. “We are doing our best to provide the best Head Start program we can.”

She added that she had to send the name of the new director to the Dallas office by the end of the day yesterday.

“This is very critical that we move on this today,” said Millet.

Still, some members of the board seemed unmoved by her pleas.

Board President Patrick Sanders said, “I think process has been circumvented. Has the board been notified that there is a vacancy in the administration. The answer is clearly ‘no.’”

Motions regarding the matter — one to keep Farlough in the position and one to appoint Simms to the position — both failed, however, leaving the superintendent confused about how to proceed.

She said she will probably reappoint Farlough to the position for the time being to remain in compliance with federal regulations.

“I am disappointed in the action or lack of action taken today regarding our preschool administrator recommendation,” said Millet.

In other action, the board approved an employee insurance plan for next year. The plan included a 4 percent hike in premiums and a deductible increase to $1,000.

The board also voted, however, to apply $100,000 in recently received sales tax revenue to allay some of the extra financial burden on district employees.