Orleans Parish School Board president fails to win support for controversial moves

In the first full Orleans Parish School Board meeting of 2013, new President Ira Thomas tried to exercise his power on several fronts. In the end, though, all of his controversial moves were blocked.

Thomas filed an agenda item to nullify and renegotiate interim Superintendent Stan Smith's contract; instead, board members voted to review and then probably ratify that contract. Second, his attempt to void the contract of Deputy Superintendent for Charter Schools Kathleen Padian died when no other board member would support it. Finally, even though Thomas blocked a key tax-credit item from being added to the agenda, three board members went through the necessary procedure to get a special meeting called to address that issue Thursday.

Cynthia Cade, who was Thomas' closest ally on the school board in recent years, was out of town and unable to come to his aid.

Thomas joined the board in 2009 and won re-election in November. He represents eastern New Orleans and works as the police chief for Southern University at New Orleans. In January, the board elected him president unanimously in spite of several members' disagreement behind the scenes.?

Before Hurricane Katrina, Thomas was the head of security for the school board. He lost that job and sued the board for wrongful termination. Board attorney Ed Morris filed to get the suit dismissed last year after three years passed with no action on it.

Although Thomas objected to Padian's and Smith's appointments in May 2012 and has berated them at meetings, his proposals to nullify their contracts came as a surprise, added to the agenda at the last minute Monday evening.

Morris said he thought both contracts were invalid. In Padian's case, he said, the agenda item promoting her to deputy superintendent last year did not explicitly direct the board's staff to draw up a contract for her. Therefore, Morris said, the full board had never approved the contract the board's president at the time signed, rendering it invalid.

The issue with Smith's contract is that the board didn't OK all of its terms and conditions. The board set Smith's salary as interim superintendent but did not specify that when a permanent superintendent was hired Smith would return to his former position as chief financial officer, with a higher salary but no official car. Those financial terms should have gone back to the full board for approval, Morris said.

Board member Seth Bloom, a lawyer and one of those critical of Morris' arguments, asked why the attorney had not raised an objection at the time. "How did it get through (you) if it wasn't legal?" he asked.

Bloom questioned why the board couldn't simply fix any problems, and he filed a substitute motion to have the board look at Smith's contract, amend it if needed and then ratify it at a future meeting. That won the day over Thomas' more extreme measure to nullify and renegotiate the contract. Board Vice President Leslie Ellison and members Woody Koppel, Nolan Marshall Jr. and Sarah Newell Usdin voted in favor of Bloom's motion. Thomas abstained and Cade was absent.

On Padian's contract, Marshall attempted a compromise motion that would have voided her contract but then required Thomas, Ellison and Morris to negotiate a new one. That failed for lack of a majority, with Bloom, Koppel and Usdin voting against it. Then no one offered a motion to vote on Thomas' original item, rendering it dead. Thomas fumed at that, saying the board was sanctioning an illegal contract.

Former School Board President Thomas Robichaux, also a lawyer, said earlier Tuesday that the contract negotiations and signings for Padian and Smith had followed standard board procedure.

Padian's contract was discussed in a lengthy executive session -- a move that Caroline Roemer Shirley, head of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, said was illegal. The board did not let her speak further because she had submitted her "public comment" card too late.

Under the law, boards may discuss a matter behind closed doors if it's a personnel issue or if the board has received a "formal written demand" that threatens a lawsuit or implies a threat to sue, Louisiana Department of Education lawyer Joan Hunt said Tuesday. Padian told reporters she had not said or written anything indicating she might sue the board.

For personnel issues, Shirley said in an interview, the board is required to give the person to be discussed 24 hours' written notice and the option to have the matter discussed in open session instead.

Thomas also stood alone on the question of whether the board should approve about $2 million in tax credits for the new Wheatley School in Treme. The deal is set to close in the next 14 to 21 days -- if the OPSB signs the last papers this week. The major issue it needs to take care of is reauthorizing a corporation to receive the tax credits. The previous board created that corporation in the fall, but the decision has to be redone with the new board membership.

Usdin, Recovery School District Superintendent Patrick Dobard and representatives of several business and school reform groups argued that failing to check the final box on the project would not only take money away from kids but also embarrass the city.

"It will send an unfortunate message to investors nationwide" to stay away from New Orleans schools "because we cannot work together, OPSB and RSD," Dobard said.

Adding an item to the agenda at the meeting must be done by unanimous vote. Thomas cast the sole vote against adding the tax-credit item. He said he didn't understand why the board was being asked to allocate $22 million in order to get $2 million in credits. Usdin said that could be discussed if the item went on the agenda.

Despite Thomas' objections, the matter will be discussed Thursday instead. Usdin, Koppel and Bloom submitted a request for a special meeting; by board policy, if three members request a special meeting, it must be held.

The board approved new committee assignments with relatively little dissension. Usdin will chair the accountability committee, Ellison budget/finance, Bloom legal/legislative, Cade policy and Marshall property. Marshall will also chair the school building master plan oversight committee, which is a joint endeavor of the RSD and OPSB.

Source: http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2013/02/orleans_parish_school_board_pr_2.html

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