Handcuffed teacher sues school board

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana’s attorney general sued a local school board Thursday over a meeting disrupted by the videorecorded arrest of a teacher being roughly handcuffed on a hallway floor after she criticized the district superintendent’s pay raise.

Attorney General Jeff Landry’s lawsuit accuses the Vermilion Parish School Board and its members of violating the state’s Open Meetings Law by stifling public debate at the Jan. 8 meeting.

The suit asks a state court to nullify all actions taken by the board during that meeting, including its vote to raise Schools Superintendent Jerome Puyau’s salary by roughly $30,000.

Landry’s suit seeks civil penalties against any board members found responsible for violating the Open Meetings Law and says the school system should be reimbursed for any extra money the superintendent received under his raise.

“Every community has a stake in the performance and the governance of its public schools, and the community’s views and thoughts should be taken into account before any action or discussion on an agenda item occurs,” the suit says.

Deputy City Marshal Reggie Hilts arrested middle school English teacher Deyshia Hargrave after escorting her out of the meeting room and handcuffing her on the hallway floor. A viral video of the arrest sparked widespread outrage.

Hilts arrested Hargrave on charges of “remaining after being forbidden” and resisting an officer. Ike Funderburk, the prosecutor and city attorney in Abbeville, decided in January not to pursue any criminal charges against her.

Hargrave has said the incident violated her First Amendment right to free speech.

“And I’m appalled at this, and you should be too,” she said in a video posted on the Louisiana Association of Educators’ Facebook page in January.

Landry’s suit says the school board conducted the meeting “in an atmosphere that was hostile toward and contemptuous of” parish residents who attended it.

Video of the meeting shows Hargrave addressed the superintendent directly, asking him how he could accept a raise when teachers haven’t received a pay increase in 10 years.

Anthony Fontana, the school board’s president at the time, then banged his gavel, told her to stop and said her comment wasn’t “germane” to the vote on the contract. Hargrave countered that she was directly addressing the matter.

At that point, according to school board member Kibbie Pillette, Fontana beckoned to the officer, who interrupted Hargrave while she was speaking and ordered her out.

“I’m going,” she said, making her way out. The officer followed her into the hallway, where a camera recorded her on the floor with her hands behind her back as the officer handcuffed her.

“Stop resisting,” the officer said, lifting Hargrave to her feet.

“I am not. You just pushed me to the floor,” Hargrave said.

Hargrave told The Associated Press in January that she blamed Fontana for the incident.

Fontana, who served six terms on the board, announced his resignation less than two weeks after the Jan. 8 meeting. He had announced last year that he wouldn’t run for re-election.

The board voted 5-3 to approve a new three-year contract raising Puyau’s salary to about $140,000 annually, with incentive targets that could add 3 per cent a year. Puyau has said the raise matches what school officials in similar jobs make.

Pillette, who voted against the superintendent’s pay raise, said he applauds Landry for filing the suit even though it names him as one of the defendants.

“It’s about time somebody gives us some help,” he said. “We have sent (Landry’s office) tons of information about the wrongdoings of the Vermilion Parish School Board.”

The superintendent has said he began receiving hate mail and threatening phone calls as the video spread on the internet.

“It was not good in any way,” Puyau said. “We are a good community. It took everybody by surprise. I’m having a hard time with this, but we care about our teachers and our support staff.”

Gov. John Bel Edwards chimed in after the video went viral online. The Democrat, who is married to a teacher and gets support from teachers unions, said he “didn’t see anything that warranted that type of action” and thought it “cast a negative light” on the state.