EPSB names Lombas interim assistant superintendent

At Wednesday night’s Evangeline Parish School Board meeting newly hired Superintendent Darwan Lazard named former Personnel and Secondary Supervisor Mike Lombas as the district’s interim assistant superintendent.
Lazard said, “Mr. Lombas has served this district a long time and he is very knowledgeable of curriculum and instruction. I am thankful that I had three or four other persons that expressed interest in the position. I have decided to go this way, and I trust that you will be able to work with Mr. Lombas and me as we go forward.”
During the meeting, Lazard also spent time making the board aware of a dangerous game that parents and grandparents have told him students are taking part in at what they call “pill parties.”
They say that kids are taking pills from their parents or grandparents and then bringing them to the party where they mix all the pills together. The people participating then proceed to take turn picking pills to take.
Lazard said, “We are trying to increase awareness about this because we want to keep all of our children safe. We don’t want to have any heartache or heartbreaks as a result of something as dangerous as this.”
The superintendent shared that they will continue to work to raise awareness concerning these “pill parties.”
During the meeting, Director of Special Education Roxane West and Sp.Ed. Supervisor Kelli Lafleur presented the board with information on the new Work Based Learning program that has been implemented at Ville Platte, Mamou and Pine Prairie High Schools.
This new program offers special education students with the opportunity to earn a high school diploma, which in the past was not an option for these children.
West also took time during their presentation to thank the board for allowing her to use money from a grant she wrote to purchase a bus for the purpose of transporting these students to and from the businesses they are working at.
At the meeting Penny McDaniel also announced that the district will be hosting early childhood week of enrollment from February 13-17th.
Parents with children that can participate in any early childhood programs are encouraged to sign up at any campus by filling out the application.
Other items approved at the meeting were:
• Approval of Pat Williams Construction’s bid in the amount of $2,780,000.00 for a new multipurpose building for W.W. Stewart Elementary to be paid for using Basile bond proceeds.