Assistant hire continues driving drama at LPSS

While Lafayette Parish Public Schools Superintendent Pat Cooper has repeated his support for Special Assistant Thad Welch, the hiring of his former school maintenance and transportation director from McComb, Miss., has raised questions among school board members, especially after they learned that Welch does not have a high school diploma as required by the position's job description.

Cooper has admitted that an administrative mistake -- overlooking the fact that Welch does not have a high-school diploma or GED as required by the job description -- was made in the process that brought Welch to Louisiana. But despite his mea culpa, the hiring has led to sharper scrutiny of the system's hiring practices.

It has also led District 7 board member Mark Cockerham to add an item to Wednesday night's agenda asking the board to "ratify" all of its personnel moves during the 2012 year, basically as a gesture in support of Welch.

Over the past weeks, KATC has requested numerous records from the Lafayette Parish School Board and conducted interviews with many of the parties involved in both Welch's hire in March of last year and the discussion that has ensued subsequent to questions District 4 board member Tehmi Chassion raised about the hire in December.