COVINGTON • FOLSOM • LACOMBE • MADISONVILLE • MANDEVILLE • SLIDELL
ST. TAMMANY
N O L A.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, au g u s t 14, 2024
A R T SMART STA ST TAR RT
STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN MCCUSKER
St. Tammany school Superintendent Frank Jabbia greets students at Florida Avenue Elementary in Slidell on Aug. 8.
St. Tammany students head back to school BY ANDREW CANULETTE
Students whose last name starts with A-L reported for a “Smart Start Day” on Aug. 8 and those with Aug. 8 was the first day back to names starting with M-Z reported school for at least half the public on Aug. 9. The full student bodies school students in St. Tammany of each of the district’s 55 public Parish, and Schools Superintendent schools were due back on campus Frank Jabbia visited Florida Avenue on Aug. 12. St. Tammany began using Smart Elementary School in Slidell to help the youngsters there kick off the Start Days during the COVID panschool year. demic to help thin crowds during
the days of social distancing. The practice created a smooth transition for students, district leaders said, so Smart Start Days have continued. St. Tammany Parish is the fourth largest public school district in Louisiana, with more than 38,000 students registered for the 2024-25 school year. The system is also the parish’s largest employer, with approximately 5,500 people on the job.
Staff writer
Editor’s note: “Where are they now?” The St. Tammany Farmer asked that question about some of the best athletes in local sports history and then we went out and found them. Each edition this summer, we’ll reacquaint readers with one of these familiar faces. We’ll take a deep dive into the success stories that began in parish youth leagues, continued at local high schools and then colleges near and far. Many of these homegrown talents played professional sports, too, reaching the pinnacle of athletic achievement. This week, we feature pro soccer player Andrew Tarbell.
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School Board OKs union agreement Staff writer
After another hourslong debate, the St. Tammany Parish School Board voted Aug. 9 to adopt a new pact with the employees’ union, putting to rest for now an issue that has roiled the school district for the past two months. The board’s approval of the two-year deal with the St. Tammany Federation of Teachers and School Employees came after another round of speeches by union members saying they feel under attack and board members explaining their commitments to their constituents. The debate touched on national politics — and St. Tammany’s support, or lack thereof, of labor unions — as well as employee law, and even the Harrell vitriol that the saga has generated. The board’s vote was 10-4, with board members Matthew Greene, Gia Baker, Deborah McCollum and Brandon Harrell Baker opposing. Board member Michelle Ruffino Gallaher abstained. Known as the collective bargaining agreement, the document addresses myriad employee issues, ranging from pay and benefits to due cause and transfer processes. St. Tammany is one of five school districts statewide that still works under a collective bargaining agreement with its employees’ union.
SQUAD GOALS
In past years, approval of the agreement hasn’t generated nearly the heat that it did this summer. Schools Superintendent Frank Jabbia and Federation President Brant Osborn spent several months negotiating a deal, but the board rejected it in early July. That set the stage for more public comment, a new round of negotiations between Jabbia and Osborn and, finally, the Aug. 9 vote. When it rejected the first proposed agreement, the board did approve the modest employee pay increases included in it. But the debate over the past few weeks didn’t hinge on money so much as whether or not there was even a need for a collective bargaining agreement at all. Jabbia said a streamlined CBA emerged from the second round of negotiations and urged the board to adopt it. A number of employees and other union supporters said they viewed the agreement as a safety net of sorts, one that adds power to their voices. “The CBA situation is adding to teachers’ perception of their powerlessness and, quite frankly, their feeling of being attacked,” one speaker, David Locker, told the board. But some board members disagreed. Baker said the district’s approximately 6,000
ä See BOARD, page 4A
Covington City Council has new look, new faces
Andrew Tarbell’s pro soccer odyssey continues
BY KIM CHATELAIN Contributing writer
BY KIM CHATELAIN Contributing writer
While NFL teams tend to be loaded with players from Louisiana, the same does not hold true for Major League Soccer rosters. The state typically has three or four players sprinkled through the 29 teams that make up the MLS, which last year alone had athletes from 81 countries across six continents on its rosters. When you put those numbers in play, it seems unlikely that a kid from Mandeville would end up being an eight-year professional soccer league veteran with a solid resume and an MLS Cup championship under his belt. But Andrew Tarbell’s somewhat inconspicuous rise from the St. Tammany Parish sandlots to the top-flight professional soccer league in the United States and Canada is not viewed as a long
PROVIDED PHOTO BY TARBELL FAMILY
Andrew Tarbell is a goalkeeper for the Houston Dynamo FC ä See TARBELL, page 2A of Major League Soccer.
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The Covington City Council underwent significant change on Aug. 6 with the swearing in of one new member, the departure of two interim members and a new seat for an existing member. The council has seen plenty of turnover during the past year, triggered by its two former at-large members — Larry Rolling and Rick Smith — winning seats on the St. Tammany Parish Council. The domino effect of their move to parish government was evident by musical chairs-like meeting on Aug. 6. Todd Burrall was sworn in as the District E representative, having been elected to the seat in July when no one else qualified for the special election to fill it.
ä See COVINGTON, page 4A
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