Dear Public Ed Supporters,
I hope that the holiday season is off to a good start. As your calendars fill up with festive events, please remember that our elected officials can enact policies that impact our daily lives all year round. This petition started so that our EBRPSS School Board would remove Superintendent Narcisse for countless terrible decisions impacting faculty stipends, hiring and firing, and school reassignments. Students, too, were faced with exhausting and rigid course scheduling practices. Transportation has been cut. Critical positions in the program for children with special needs have been eliminated. Our district faces a $56 million budget shortfall in the 2023-24 school year.
YOU can do something about this starting today. There are THREE crucial run off elections. TODAY, Saturday, November 26th, is the first day of early voting. Those of you who live in School Board Districts 7, 8, and 9 have a chance to vote all next week and on December 10th in the run off races for School Board candidates who support sensible policies, listen to families in the school system, and who demonstrate that they value our faculty.
Even if you voted for these candidates in the general election, you still need to return to the polls and vote for them again in the run off.
The most pro-public ed candidates are Cathy Carmichael, Pamela Taylor Johnson, and Katie Kennison. These candidates are committed to enacting policies that nurture the whole child.
Cathy Carmichael won 40% of the vote in District 7 while incumbent and Narcisse supporter Mike Gaudet got 35% of the vote. Gaudet had and has tens of thousands of dollars from charter groups such as Stand for Children; whereas, Carmichael is a grassroots candidate who is a parent, volunteer in , and advocate for our public schools. Her district covers neighborhoods from Pelican Lakes, Gardere, Riverbend, Southdowns, Woodgate, Kenilworth, Pollard Estates, and other areas around LSU.
Pamela Taylor Johnson will enter a runoff with Patrick Martin for District 9. Incumbent David Tatman was voted out. Johnson served on the Juvenile Court in East Baton Rouge Parish, a position to which she was elected from 1994-2019. District 9 includes the Tara High, Jefferson Terrace Elemtnary and LaSalle areas. She will fight for community schools, provided needed expertise and leadership to the board.
Katie Kennison is in the runoff for District 8 against incumbent Connie Bernard. Kaite is a mom of kids at Mayfair Lab and Wildwood. The day after the November election Bernard announced she had changed her mind about giving up her School Board seat and will pursue a fourth term after all to keep representing this portion of southeastern East Baton Rouge Parish.
Visit www.geauxvote.com for more information about your ballot and polling place.
Do not neglect to vote for candidates who will listen to petition signees, protestors, email writers, or callers with concerns about our children's education.
Spread the word.
Mary Juneau
Friends of Public Ed Founder