By Monique Roth

L’Observateur

RESERVE – Redistricting plans should soon be under way again for St. John the Baptist Parish school district.

The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board voted this week to hire South Central Planning and Development Commission, based in Houma, to create

a new redistricting plan.

The vote was a culmination of months of heated debates about whether a new firm should be hired to take over the plans.

Some members were staunch in opposition to hiring a new firm, arguing

that no more money should be spent on a plan.

A previously submitted plan by Data Center LLC was rejected by the state because of an issue with split districts. Cedric Floyd of Data Center LLC told the Board earlier in the month that he would fix the issue and resubmit the plan for free.

South Central Planning was hired for a lump sum fee of $15,000.

In other news, after a nearly two-hour executive session, the Board again postponed a vote on two resolutions that would have hired two firms to serve as special legal counsel to handle sales tax collection cases for the Board.