The Iberia Parish School Board will go into executive session at Wednesday’s meeting to open and receive applications for a new superintendent.

The executive session will be closed to the public while members of the school board receive the full list of applications for the position.

The superintendent job became open after current Superintendent Carey Laviolette announced her retirement earlier this year. Once the applications are disclosed, board members will be conducting interviews with the applicants, culminating in a board meeting where a vote will be taken to appoint a new superintendent to the Iberia Parish School System.

In other business, the board will consider a recommendation to use funds from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund to provide a one-time stipend related to ongoing extra duties by employees of the Iberia Parish School System. The stipend is related to ongoing prevention, preparation and response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Laviolette said stipends can be requested from the ESSER allocation and paid to all employees working in a full-time capacity. If approved by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE), the suggested amount of $1,000 for certified personnel and $500 for non-certified personnel will be paid using a rubric based on the amount of time worked during this school year.

The board will also consider expanding the school system’s summer program to account for learning loss as a result of the past two years of the COVID pandemic.

The Curriculum Department has reviewed guidance released by the LDOE and developed a proposal that offers students the opportunity to engage in summer programming that will strengthen academic performance, according to a proposal of the summer program extension.

The board will vote to approve a recommendation for federal and state funds to go to Iberia Parish’s Safe Route to Public Places project, which would install public sidewalks at Pesson Elementary School near Broussard and Cherokee streets.

The meeting takes place at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13, at the IPSB’s administrative office on Jane Street.