The Lafayette Parish school board, in a 5 to 4 vote, decided to eliminate the funding for Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper's special assistant.

The superintendent says he is the only person who can hire and fire.  At issue is Cooper's hiring of Thad Welch, as Cooper's special assistant for facilities, but the board got rid of Welch's salary of 76-thousand dollars last night.

Welch doesn't have a high school diploma, even though it is required as part of his job description.

The five members who voted for getting rid of the funding for the position were:

  • Mark Babineaux
  • Tommy Angelle
  • Rae Trahan
  • Tehmi Chassion
  • Greg Awbrey

The four members who voted against getting rid of the funding for the job were:

  • Kermit Bouillion
  • Mark Cockerham
  • Hunter Beasley
  • Shelton Cobb

The item, when it was first put on the agenda, was to be a closed session item, but then it was brought up in open session.

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