The Lafayette Parish School Board voted to appoint former educator and coach Ted Davidson to serve on the board in an interim position.
Davidson received five of the boardโs eight votes during a . He will serve in the position until a special election can be held in the fall.
The board also approved a resolution to hold a special election to fill the seat because the officeโs term doesnโt expire until 2027. Candidates will qualify for the election in July with a primary election in November and a general election in December.
Davidson replaces Chad Desormeaux. The first-time board member resigned on April 1 after he was arrested and charged in connection with shoplifting from the self-checkout station at Super 1 Foods. He also is facing additional shoplifting charges.
District 2 largely represents Lafayette Parish north of Gloria Switch Road, including Carencro. The schools in District 2 are Bob Lilly Elementary, Ossun Elementary and Carencro Middle.
Davidson, who said he has lived in Carencro for 35 years, was an educator for more than 40 years and served 36 of those at Acadiana High as a teacher, track coach and football coach. He retired in 2018. He told the School Board Wednesday night that he has young grandchildren who will soon be in the school system.
โI have great interest in serving my community,โ he told the board. โMy agenda is to serve my district and to serve the students of Lafayette Parish and to assist the employees of Lafayette Parish and supply them with the tools that they need to educate our students.โ
School Board Vice President David LeJeune nominated Davidson for the position after LeJeune said Davidson reached out to him about filling the vacancy. LeJeune, School Board President Hannah Smith Mason, and board members Roddy Bergeron, Britt Latiolais and Kate Labue all voted for Davidson.
Stasia Herbert-McZeal also was nominated to fill the vacancy. She ran against Desormeaux in the 2023 election. Board members Amy Trahan, Josh Edmond and Jeremy Hidalgo voted for Herbert-McZeal.
Herbert-McZeal, who is a psychologist, is a Carencro native. She said she planned to run for the position during the fall special election.
โMy big thing is collaboration,โ she told the board. โEven though it would be a District 2 seat, there are eight other districts and we all have to work together to get the job done.โ
Davidson joins the board at a tumultuous time. It is facing a lawsuit claiming it failed to follow its own procedure and violated state open meeting laws when it voted to take Comeaux High School offline, was presented with an audit of its financial controls that had 77 findings and the district is seeing a decrease in enrollment, a combination of declining birth rates and an increase in public charter schools.
Davidson told The Acadiana Advocate he knows he has a lot to learn and that there are many issues for the school board to tackle in the coming months. But he wants to work to improve the community while heโs on the board.
โIโm happy to be part of the system,โ he said. โI want to give back to my community and try to be an advocate for the district and the kids.โ