Former Lafayette Parish School Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper
Special Note: Four (4) days after our feature, KLFY (Channel 10) in Lafayette ran this feature to include an updated figure of $1.8 million!
In today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature, founder Robert Burns provides a prelude to a fascinating upcoming mini-series entailing former Lafayette Parish Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper and the massive legal fees the System incurred in defending litigation filed by him after the School Board first dismissed its free legal representation, former Lafayette Parish District Attorney Roger Hamilton (who was siding with Dr. Cooper on irregularities) and hired the law firm of Sills Hammond to begin an orchestrated campaign to fire Dr. Cooper. The Board succeeded in firing Dr. Cooper on November 4, 2014. Our prelude feature follows:
Burns provides a prelude to the Cooper mini-series and discusses the massive legal fees the School Board incurred pertaining to his tenure and his termination. CLICK HERE for prior feature on the Lafayette Parish School System stating that it will “take weeks just to download the invoices.” (and the letter Burns sent to Lafayette Parish District Attorney Keith Stutes seeking for him to “politely nudge” the Board into conforming to the public records law and provide the records (see Stutes’ letter to current superintendent Donald Aguillard dated March 22, 2018, one day before a Fed Ex package arrived at Burns’ door with the legal invoices referenced in the table, below)).
Note: Table below was updated on March 26, 2018 to reflect additional invoice totals supplied by the LPSS entailing Phelps Dunbar for 2014 and through March of 2015 which the system had inadvertantly left out of our public records request at the time of the filming of the above video on March 25, 2018.
| Sills Hammond | Phelps Dunbar |
| 2012: DA provides legal services for free. | |
| 2013: LPSS tosses DA and hires outside legal counsel to begin crusade to fire Superintendent Pat Cooper. | |
| 2014: | 2014: |
| 2015: | 2015: |
| 2016: | 2016: |
| 2017: | 2017: |
| 2018: $31,117 (external source) January only. | 2018: $15,057 (external source) January only. |
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This is a similar circumstance as to what happened at Gravity Drainage District 8 of Ward 1 where the District refused to accept their original Counsel’s (the District Attorney’s Office) advice as seen in the clip below, and keep in mind this is the same Attorney (ADA) that helped draft their contract. They also went and hired politically-connected hotshot attorney Rusty Stutes.
http://www.laboards-commissions.com/GDD8_DA_Email.pdf
It’s time for Legislators and the Attorney General’s Office to engage and get involved and hold these individuals who are using taxpayers’ money to cover up their wrongdoing accountable.
You say you’re conservative? Well, here’s your big chance to do something!!