The Iberia Parish School Board received four applications to become the school system’s new superintendent at Wednesday’s meeting.

The board unanimously approved the applications of Heath Hulin, Jennifer Joseph, Curt Landry and James Russell after Human Resources Director Gannon Dooley announced the names to the board.

The school board advertised the position following the announced retirement of current Superintendent of Schools Carey Laviolette earlier this year. Applicants were able to apply for the position between March 28 and April 11.

All of the applicants are currently employed in the Iberia Parish School System, with three working in administrative positions.

Joseph and Hulin work in assistant superintendent positions, and Russell serves as supervisor of student services. Landry is the principal of New Iberia Senior High.

Following the approval of the applications, Board President Dan LeBlanc asked the board to set a date in which all of the applicants could be interviewed.

Board member Dana Dugas made a motion to set the interviews on the same day.

“I’ll move to set it on May 2 at 4 p.m., and we can interview all four of them at the same time starting in alphabetical order,” Dugas said.

Following the interviews, the board will set a date at a future meeting to vote on a new superintendent of the school system.

In other business, the board unanimously approved a $1,000 one-time stipend to certified personnel and $500 stipend to non-certified personnel within the school system.

The stipend is made available through Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds and is related to extra ongoing duties that employees have contended with as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the vote was made, Wanda Milliman with the Iberia Teacher’s Association addressed the board to ask for a threefold increase to the stipend before it was approved.

“When you become a staff committed to lifting up children of your community, you sign up to do the most for the least,” Milliman said. “It’s been a hard year and I request that you increase this stipend threefold, do not leave money on the table.”

Laviolette agreed this was a challenging year due to COVID-19, but kept the stipend at the recommended amount.

“Every employee had to step up and do additional duties,” Laviolette said.