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Board set to take up Michel's contract

A hearing has been set for 3 p.m. Dec. 7 to discuss the future of Lafayette Parish School District Transportation Director Daniel Michel.

The School Board will hear a recommendation from Superintendent James Easton to terminate Michel for insubordination. The superintendent previously recommended Michel's contract not be renewed when it expires in February.

"I would like for us to move on it," Easton said.

Michel's attorney, Clayton Burgess, has said he wants the school district to hold the hearing at a later time next Wednesday, and that the meeting be held in open session.

Burgess has asked twice that the discussion on Michel's termination be held in open session. But, Easton asked the board not to move forward until he could get more information.

"It (open meetings) was not an issue for me," Easton said.

A board member asked to go into closed session to discuss Michel's character and competence, but Burgess objected, as did The Daily Advertiser.

The district has not requested an opinion from the Louisiana State Attorney General's Office on the matter, and is not seeking to circumvent the Open Meetings Law, the superintendent said.

"I never asked to go into closed session," he said.

The school bus transportation system has been under scrutiny since last school year when more than 2,000 students were left stranded under a new transportation plan developed by Michel.

It took the district eight weeks and more than $2 million in debt to fix its transportation problems.

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