By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The results are in from two important elections that took place over the weekend in St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes.
The St. John Parish School Board successfully acquired permission to take on a $10,180,000 bond to aid in funding for the repair of East St. John High and the possible rebuilding of Lake Pontchartrain Elementary School.
Executive Director of Business and Finance for the St. John School District Felix Boughton said the money will be sold in segments and that the board is currently making a schedule for the sales.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency pays 75 percent of the eligible costs of projects while the state and/or applicants cover the remaining 25 percent. Boughton said it will cost about $30 million to rebuild Lake Pontchartrain Elementary and a little more than $20 million to repair East St. John High. He estimated that the school board will need about $17.5 million to cover the difference.
Although the newly approved bond issue will not cover the full amount of the school’s portion, Boughton said once the projects are approved by FEMA, the district will still be allowed to move forward with the projects because they have some funding in place.
“The big thing is that, whenever we sell the bonds, which is just borrowing money, we have to make sure that we have enough for East St. John High and Lake Pontchartrain Elementary first before we do any other projects with it,” said Boughton.
The passing of the bond issue came at about the same time FEMA a $3 million grant for the same purpose — Boughton hinted at a lack of communication between FEMA and the school board, saying he was unaware that FEMA ever sent out a press release release regarding the grant and that he did not receive a notification himself.   
“This is FEMA giving information when we’re kind of still negotiating. We didn’t get it either. It’s just weird,” said Boughton.   
The school board plans to prepare a response to the press release.   
In St. Charles Parish, residents participated in a runoff election to decide which contender would fill the District 2 St. Charles Parish Council seat. William “Billy” Woodruff just barely edged out contender Mary Keller Clulee with 50 percent of the vote. Woodruff cut it close, receiving only 20 more votes than Cluee for the win.