School boards fire back

Alarmed at Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek's declaration of war, school boards are hitting back.

As Advocate reporter Will Sentell writes here, the president of the Louisiana School Boards Association says of Pastorek's plan, “It is a power grab in the form of a divide and conquer technique.”

That's not all. LSBA President Noel Hammatt, who is also a member of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, says Pastorek has Napoleanic ambitions. He also says its hypocritical of Pastorek, whose salary package approaches $400,000 per year, to advocate taking away the $800 a month allowed for school board members.

Pastorek denies any Napoleanic tendencies.

This confrontation between state and local education authorities is spreading to other states. The Associated Press reports that the Georgia state senate passed a bill allowing the governor to oust school board members in local districts deemed to be failures.