Harlan Kirgan
For years the St. Landry Parish School Board has followed a procedure of committee meetings followed by a regular meeting with all Board members present.
At its Dec. 3 meeting the Board met as a committee of the whole prior to the regular session. The Board has met as a committee of the whole on occasion in the past, but that may become the normal procedure.
The Board divides its members into committees to discuss its business. Those committees are Executive; Buildings, Lands and Sites; Academic; Finance; and Personnel, Employee Benefit and Transportation.
The committees usually meet on the Monday and Tuesday a week ahead of the full Board meeting on the first Thursday of the month.
Within those committee meetings members make recommendations to the full Board meeting.
At the Dec. 3 meeting, Courtney Joiner, legal counsel, discussed the proposed policy for a committee of the whole.
“Over the course of the last few months there have been questions of what can and cannot be done during those committee of the whole meetings and we need to correct that,” Joiner said.
“Typically, what a committee of the whole does is what your individual committees do,” he said.
With a committee of the whole the Board would not have to appoint committees, he said. Or, the Board could create standing committees that would be called upon when needed.
“This school system is unique from the standpoint that a lot of school systems that we deal with don’t have committee meetings at all. Lafayette doesn’t have committee meetings,” he said.
Joiner said it took the Board three to four years to settle on a procedure to fill positions on its Executive Committee.
Removing the committee structure would be efficient, he said.
“I think is a very efficient way for the Board to operate. It is clean. I think it will help streamline,” he said.
Board member Mary Ellen Donatto said with a committee of the whole the expectation would be a lawyer would always be present at meetings.
Board member Denise Rose said Board members usually meet in committees over two days and most of the Board is present even if they are not on the committee that is session. There is often confusion about who is on the committee in session, she said.
“I think it is worth trying,” she said of the committee of the whole.
Board member Joyce Haynes said the committee of the whole should help discussions and build consensus.
Board member Randy Wagley said it would be easier for the public to attend when the committee of the whole meets once a month.
Wagley also suggested that the Board’s vice president preside over the committee of the whole as a way to prepare to be Board president.
Board President Donnie Perron said he expects the Board will approve the committee of the whole procedure to go into effect in 2021.