Vermilion Parish School Board has yet to interview three superintendent candidates

The Vermilion Parish School Board will decide if they want to interview or not interview the three candidates who applied for the open superintendent position.
The meeting, tonight, begins at 6 o’clock in the Charles Campbell Annex Building at Central Office.
One of the first things on the agenda is to decide to interview the three candidates or not interview. If they vote not to interview the candidates, they can move forward and vote on naming a new superintendent if it is on the agenda.
The application process was closed last week, and only three applied for the job. All three also work in the Vermilion Parish School System.
School Board Kibbie Pillette said there had been a rumor floating around that the school board had already made up its mind about interviewing or not interviewing.
“No decision has been made,” said Pillette. “That will be the first thing on the agenda. We will decide at the meeting.”
In the past, Vermilion Parish school boards had always interviewed the candidates.
The Abbeville Meridional submitted the question, “Would you like to interview the candidates for the superintendent position?” to all eight school board members.
Three school board members responded by saying yes.
“Yes, all candidates should be interviewed in public so that anyone that is interested can reach out to school board members with their questions and concerns about each candidate,” said School Board member Chris Gautreaux. “Washington politics have made it’s way to Vermilion Parish. I don’t want to control anyone. I just want what is right to be done for the parish kids and the employees of this parish.”
School Board member Jason Roy said, “It is our duty to do due diligence in regards to such an important decision. This appointment will set the morale of our entire system; a morale that in my opinion is at an embarrassing low level in relation to our system’s high ranking. Now more than ever, we need a ‘real leader’, someone who can help mend the tethered fabric of our system. We need to conduct full blown interviews as we have real questions that must be answered.”
School Board member Kristy Hebert said, “Of course I want to interview the candidates.”

Who are the applicants?

The applicants are Brad Prudhomme, Tommy Byler and Paul Hebert.
Prudhomme is the interim superintendent today for the parish and has been working in the parish school system for 37 years.
He has taught at Erath Middle, J.H. Williams Middle School and Henry High.
In 2004, he was the assistant principal at J.H. Williams Middle School.
From 2007 to 2020, he was the supervisor of Child Welfare and Attendance for the school district.
This past January, he was named as the interim superintendent.
Byler is the principal at North Vermilion High School where he has been since 2015.
In 2018, he was named the Louisiana High School Principal of the Year.
Prior to 2015, he was the assistant principal at NVHS for a year. He has 28 years in education, 22 of that as a teacher. He spent 16 of those 22 years at Erath High School.
Hebert is the assistant superintendent in the parish. He has held that position since 2013.
He has 18 years in administration and 10 years as a teacher.
He was the principal at Kaplan Elementary and Eaton Park Elementary before being named as the assistant superintendent under former superintendent Jerome Puyau.
All three are expected to be at tonight’s school board meeting.