Puyau’s attorney sends letter to all 8 school board members

On Wednesday, Superintendent Jerome Puyau’s attorney Lane Roy sent a letter to all eight school board members offering them some legal advice for free.
The letter was e-mailed to each board member at around 2 p.m. on Wednesday, and it will also be sent to them by certified mail.
The Meridional obtained a copy of the four-page letter and printed parts of it. You can read the entire letter on the Vermiliontoday.com website.
Roy wrote, “First, let me say that I have known of the situation in Vermilion Parish for some months now. I have followed the actions of the Board, and it has become crystal clear to me that the Board, for whatever reason it has or does not have, is intent on terminating the services of Superintendent Puyau. I remind that the Board represents the public and not its own ideas in any way. It is mandated to do what is best for the public, and again, not necessarily what a particular board member may personally want to do.”
Roy made reference to the school board thinking about letting Puyau attend high school football games in the parish. The school board, after putting him on paid leave, banned Puyau from walking onto the grounds of school board property. Puyau has a daughter who is an Erath High Extreme Dance Team member.
Roy said in his letter, “It is incredible that the Board would even consider this, because it is clearly, in my judgment, illegal. The properties involved are public properties and any member of the public, as long as he is conducting himself in a reasonable fashion, is allowed on public property. That would include even the School Board offices. Lottie Beebe, at my suggestion, continued to go to the School Board office even after she was directed not to do so by the Board. She had every right to do so. Superintendent Puyau does here and clearly, any attempt at restricting him from public property, including football games at local schools, would be a direct violation of the law and would be, in my judgment, something again that would allow Superintendent Puyau to take action against members personally.”
Roy also advised the board members to move forward and make the education system in the parish the best it can be.
“All of this is something which leaves aside the most important issue that is involved herein, and that is providing our children and grandchildren, our neighbors and friends, with appropriate public education in Vermilion Parish. All that is going on between the Superintendent and the Board, at the behest of certain Board members, take the emphasis off of the most important function of the Board and the most important duty of the Superintendent. We have got to get back to that and move forward. If the Board decides that it does not want Superintendent Puyau any longer, it should negotiate with him to do something about his staying on or simply wait for his term to end and get a different superintendent.”
Roy ends the letter by asking the school board members if the action of the school board is in the best interest of the school system in Vermilion Parish.
“I am confident that they are. If you fail to comply with the law in this matter, I assure you that there will be litigation over the matter and that the System and each of you will be damaged as a result of having to participate in such litigation, and give testimony under oath about what has taken place that led to the current turmoil.
All of the above is something that we hope to avoid, but rest assured that if the Board continues in its present course, litigation, by whatever means necessary and wherever necessary, will be the result,” he concluded.