Superintendent of Schools Carey Laviolette opens bids for unused school board property at Wednesday’s Iberia Parish School Board meeting.

The Iberia Parish School Board received two bids for unused school board property at Wednesday’s regular meeting.

Two bids for separate properties up for sale were received by the board and taken under advisement after the bids had been opened by Superintendent of Schools Carey Laviolette.

The first opened bid was for $29,100 from Jerome Fitch Construction that for the former site of Jeanerette Primary School. The second bid was from the law office of Garron Johnson for the former Lee Street Elementary School property. That bid came in at $48,000.

A motion was made to take the bids under the IPSB administration’s advisement and be looked at again at a future date. The motion passed unanimously.

In other business, the IPSB unanimously voted for an ongoing project to be considered substantially completed at the meeting.

Renovations to the Alternative Center for Education were deemed substantially complete by the board with little discussion regarding the project. CDX Construction is working the project and Paul Allain is serving as the architect.

The board also unanimously voted on several state mandated changes to school board policies across the state.

“I think we’re probably getting to the end of the list with the changes from the 2018 legislative session,” legal counsel Wayne Landry said. “The reason for the changes is that we have to address them.”

“These are policy changes sent down from the state,” Board President Dana Dugas said. “We have to follow their lead.”

Board member Mike Mayeux asked during discussion about one change of policy, where people who have a felony conviction can now work in the school system.

“It says a school board employee who has been convicted of a felony. We’re required to change that?” Mayeux asked.

Landry said that the new law only applied to certain areas.

“School boards, you still can check out your hires the best way you can but if you’re asking if we can adopt our own policy, I’d say no. It’s a right because of that statute,” Landry said.

“It has to show he did his probationary period and some of them have expungements. If a convicted felon has gotten an expungement, the way the statute was written before it prohibited a body from hiring even though it was off its record. We haven’t opened the gate for any convicted felon, they’re going to have to jump through some hoops.”

Board member Raymond “Shoe-Do” Lewis agreed with the new law.

“My personal opinion, how much is enough? When a person is tried and convicted of a crime, they do their time and what the courts say and try to seek gainful opinion, how much is enough?”