The school board looked to Lafayette demographer Mike Hefner for assistance is drawing up the attendance zone associated with the latest proposal for the possible future of Catahoula Elementary.
Hefner has advised both the board and Parish Government on reapportionment issues over the years.
At a special meeting Monday evening the St. Martin School Board narrowly approved a backup plan that would keep Catahoula Elementary open if a federal judge refuses to allow the school to continue as a preK-grade 8 facility.
The school principal, a former board president and several parents cited the school’s outstanding record, its ties to the community and its lack of discrimination in urging members of the St. Martin School Board to not order the closure of Catahoula Elementary during a public hearing Monday evening.
By a dramatic 5-4 vote Monday night the St. Martin School Board refused to close Catahoula Elementary School, saying it is prepared to fight efforts of plaintiffs in a decades-old desegregation case in federal court.
After 19 years as the city’s legal advisor, attorney Chester Cedars is leaving that position on the first of the