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Meeting to discuss possible new school
North Lafayette site first suggested last year BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer
A meeting next week will discuss the possibility of a new school on the north side of Lafayette. The 100 Black Men of Greater Lafayette, School Board member Amy Trahan and Superintendent Francis Touchet Jr. will talk with the community at 6 p.m. Wednes-
day at the Downtown Convention Center, 124 S. Buchanan St., about a new school. Few details were released about the planned school, including what grades it would serve or its location. The meeting is designed to get feedback from community members about how a new school could best serve the community. Trahan
and Touchet also are expected to share information about the planning process. The possibility of new school buildings in north Lafayette was first floated last fall as part of a series of optimization proposals from a district-hired strategic planner. The planner suggested moving Paul Breaux Middle to the Northside High
property and creating two new buildings, one for sixth through eighth graders and one for ninth through 12th. However, the board rejected other proposals for consolidation and closures, which meant they would not have the funding necessary for the change. A last-minute pitch to close Paul Breaux and turn Northside High into a 6-12 facility received strong public opposition because it would place older students in one facility with little
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separation. The district recently secured $61.5 million in bonds for renovations and wing additions at Judice Middle, L.J. Alleman Middle and Acadiana High. Those schools have long been on a list for replacement and repairs. The district would likely need to secure similar bonds to pay for new north-side schools.
Email Ashley White at ashley. white@theadvocate.com.
LSU replacing dean of law school Allen says she raised concerns about ‘irregularities’ in finances
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
University of Louisiana at Lafayette safety Tyree Skipper, right, and long snapper Hunter Simms, bottom left, pose for photos with fourth grade students Friday at J.W. Faulk Elementary School.
Students at J.W. Faulk Elementary had special lunch guests Friday — University of Louisiana at Lafayette football players. Students were celebrating behavioral success with a jersey day and were allowed to wear spirit shirts for their favorite sports teams. Teachers got in on the fun with a ‘tailgate’ lunch filled with sports day classics like dips and veggie platters. The biggest touchdown of the day was having the football players eat lunch with students. They sat with students at their tables, talking about Saturday’s big game and what J.W. Cajuns long snapper Hunter Simms chats with Jayceon Herbert and other kindergarten students on Friday. Faulk students were learning.
ä More on the Ragin’ Cajuns home opener in their new stadium in Sports, 5C.
LSU on Friday announced that Paul M. Hebert Law Center Dean Alena Allen will end her tenure as dean at the conclusion of the academic year. But an attorney representing Allen said the dean had not agreed to resign her position when she was asked just a day earlier — and she was considering legal action over alleged whistleblower retaliation, Allen racial and gender discrimination, and violations of LSU policy. In a letter to LSU on Friday, Allison Jones, Allen’s attorney, said the LSU Board of Supervisors “engaged in systematic discrimination and retaliatory conduct” against Allen after she raised concerns about “irregularities” in the LSU law school’s finances. According to documents provided to The Advocate | The TimesPicayune, Allen said she was concerned that the school’s budget showed it receiving the full cost of tuition when in fact it granted numerous discounts. That led to budget shortfalls, and private donations from the school’s foundation filling the gap, she said. But while she reported the irregularities and worked to address them, she said she faced questions from LSU leaders that led her to believe she was being blamed for
ä See LAW, page 7A
State’s expanded restrictions on deer baiting sparks contoversy BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN
of some lawmakers, who say they infringe on American freedom and disrupt Louisiana hunting culture. State officials argue the meaAfter a deer tested positive for a fatal disease in Catahoula Parish, sures will protect the state’s deer Louisiana added deer baiting re- population in the long term by strictions to several new parishes, helping to prevent the spread of sparking controversy among the chronic wasting disease, or CWD, which has reduced deer populahunting community. The rules have also drawn the ire tions in other parts of the country. Staff writer
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They say deer baiting can create new gathering spots for deer that would not otherwise interact, increasing the contact rate among animals and facilitating the spread of CWD. Critics have suggested the risks of CWD may be overblown and question whether the mitigation measures would be effective.
Earlier this year, the Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries Commission issued a declaration of emergency that banned deer baiting in parts of Richland, Caldwell, La Salle and Catahoula parishes, expanding the state’s “CWD Control Area.” Preexisting bans had been established in parts of Tensas, Madison, Concordia and Franklin parishes,
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according to the order, which also expanded the control area in Concordia and Franklin parishes. The order was effective May 1. It came after a buck in Catahoula tested positive for CWD, the first case found in a wild Louisiana deer outside Tensas Parish, according
ä See DEER, page 7A
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