Pat Cooper has declined the Lafayette Parish School Board’s decision to pay out the rest of the terminated superintendent’s contract.
Cooper distributed a letter on Thursday that declines the offer.
I don’t take that course for any other reason than it is not a fair and just settlement for the damage to my reputation and ability to continue my career nor does it provide for adequate understanding by every school board member and school board attorney in this state that they cannot attempt to ruin an innocent person’s professional and personal life by way of cowardly and reprehensible acts. It is not about money…never has been. It is about devious school board members and school board attorneys who attempted to take all happiness and dignity away from the past six years of my life.
The board on Wednesday voted to offer Cooper a payment worth the salary and benefits left in his contract, although it did not specify an amount.
The board in 2014 fired Cooper on allegations that he violated policy. An appeals court later determined that his termination was wrongful. The case now awaits an April 23 hearing to determine damages.
“I will not take less than is right and just,” Cooper wrote. “I will go through the entire court process (District Court, Third Circuit Court, and La. Supreme Court), and Lane Roy and I will pursue individual and personal legal remedies against the seven individuals who fired me illegally if forced into that corner.”
Read the full letter here.
