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Vermilion Ruling A Victory for Teachers, Public Declares Attorney General Jeff Landry

AG Landry Pledges Continued Enforcement of Open Meetings Law 

BATON ROUGE, LA - A district court late last week ruled in favor of Attorney General Jeff Landry when determining the Vermilion Parish School Board violated Louisiana’s Open Meeting Law for removing teacher Deyshia Hargrave from a meeting after she criticized the district superintendent's pay raise.

In making his ruling, 15th Judicial District Court Judge David Smith also nullified the action taken at that January 8th special meeting: the granting of a roughly $30,000 pay raise to Schools Superintendent Jerome Puyau.

"As I said before, every community has a stake in the performance and the governance of its public schools," said General Landry. "The community's views and thoughts should be taken into account before any action or discussion on an agenda item occurs."

“Ms. Hargrave has been a dedicated public servant, educating our State's youth and even earning Middle School Teacher of the Year Honors for her efforts," added General Landry. "Her voice and the voices of her fellow teachers, who have not received a pay increase in many years despite growing class sizes, should have absolutely been heard."

“I applaud Judge Smith for remedying this injustice, including assurance the Board will abide by the laws and policies related to public comment at future meetings,” concluded General Landry. "And I pledge to continue diligent enforcement of our Open Meetings Law."