School closure legal, judge rules

• By KORAN ADDO
• Advocate Westside bureau
• Published: Oct 21, 2009 - Page: 1B

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PLAQUEMINE — State District Judge Robin Free ruled in favor of the Iberville Parish School Board on Tuesday, rejecting claims in a lawsuit that state laws were violated in advance of the board’s 8-7 vote April 21 to close North Iberville High School.

In response to the closure, Maringouin Mayor John Overton filed the lawsuit May 22, charging that School Superintendent Ed Cancienne lobbied School Board members for their votes prior to the board’s official vote, a violation of state Open Meeting Laws.

The lawsuit also asserted that Cancienne misrepresented the purpose of a special 31-mill property tax proposition that included funding for improvements to parish schools.

By closing the high school after the tax was passed, Overton’s lawsuit claimed, the school system violated Louisiana law stipulating that revenue generated from a tax is to be used “exclusively for the purpose for which the tax was levied.”

That tax, expected to generate $10.5 million per year for 20 years for the school district, was approved by Iberville Parish voters in March 2008.

Attorneys offered closing arguments in the trial of the lawsuit Tuesday. The trial began Sept. 21, but was recessed due to scheduling conflicts.

Overton’s attorney, Russell J. Stutes, told Free that Cancienne waited until he had secured enough board members’ votes to close North Iberville High before he made his intentions public and also before the official School Board meeting.

“That is a clear subversion of the law,” Stutes said. “This strikes at the very heart of Open Meeting Laws.”

Stutes also brought up the tax proposition. “If I wanted to know where my tax dollars are going, (school officials) testified that a person could go to Cancienne and could believe what he says,” Stutes continued.

“Lots of people in this courtroom went to Cancienne and they believed him and they shouldn’t have.”

In his closing arguments, School Board attorney Mike Fontham said Cancienne did nothing wrong by talking to School Board members individually and explaining why he thought the school should be closed.

Cancienne did not initially intend to close the school, Fontham said, but the superintendent had to change course when he learned that North Iberville High graduates had been turned away from state colleges because they had not completed necessary coursework.

In rendering his ruling, Free immediately dismissed claims that Cancienne violated Louisiana’s open meetings law.