The Vermilion Parish School Board has postponed a hearing for Superintendent Jerome Puyau “until further notice.”
It’s been nearly a month since Puyau was put on paid leave.
Last month, the board compiled a list of complaints and allegations against Puyau.
Now, school board members say there is still no plan of action on how to investigate those complaints.
“Because you cannot have a hearing unless you have an investigation. We have never had an investigation to call a hearing officer in,” said board vice-president, Lara LeBouf.
In a unanimous vote, school board members agreed to suspend the hearing about superintendent jerome puyau’s investigation.
One audience member commented on their cooperation and gave a round of applause, “It’s been the best school board meeting y’all have had in years.”
“I am so adamant that this process is wrong,” said board member, David Dupuis, about the way the investigation has been going.
Members say it’s because there is no plan of action, investigator or committee for the investigation.
“This is exactly why I voted no back then. I think we needed to do a little bit more homework prior to making this decision,” said board member, Jean Broussard.
But the school board disagreed on who has authority to make decisions in the mean time, the suspended Puyau or interim superintendent Paul Hebert.
“How can a superintendent at this particular point in time still be making decisions? By law he can’t,” said LeBouf.
“The guidance that I’ve gotten from counsel is that Jerome Puyau is still the official superintendent and has the authority to make decisions that a super makes,” said Hebert.
We asked some board members about the status of the investigation and to clarify allegations about submitting names of teachers and others who filed complaints against Puyau and they said “no comment.”
