Vermilion Parish Superintendent issues statement on fundraising, & non-faculty coaches

Over the last nine months, one of the many issues new school superintendent Tommy Byler has had to deal with are fundraisers and non-faculty coaching policies.
Over the last couple of years, complaints have arisen on how schools have fundraisers and no proper documentation for the fundraisers. Byler tackled those questions and came up with a paper trail that documents everything, before and afterward, about the fundraiser.
The next issue he tackled was dealing with CECP Non-faculty coaches. The school district allows non-school board employees to be head coaches and assistant coaches of specific sports.
The school board had no policy in place on non-faculty coaches and how they can be paid, and ways they can raise money.
Over the last nine months, Byler and assistant superintendent Paul Hebert put policies in place for non-faculty coaches.
The Louisiana Ethics Board recently investigated the school district and how it dealt with non-faculty coaches. The Ethics Board gave its opinion on what is discovered.
At Wednesday night’s school board meeting, Byler read a statement to the school board members that the school district is taking the correct steps to fix the problems dealing with non-faculty coaches and fundraising.
Here the statement Byler read to the school board members:
“Over the past couple of years, constituent concerns have been brought to school board members as to some of the practices that were in place concerning non-faculty coaches, athletic fundraising and booster clubs as they relate to our school finances. Many of these concerns brought to light that some of the practices that had been in place for many years had changed with new IRS, Ethics and employee laws that went into effect in 2016.
“Because of these findings, many practices have been changed in relation to our non-faculty coaches, band workers and dance and cheer sponsors. Many of the questions concerning supervision, finances and employee status have helped us to create new processes that put VPSB in line with current laws and best practices.
“In addition, a recent ethics opinion has verified that the steps we are taking to clear up many of our past concerns are moving in the right direction. The ethics opinion did bring to light a couple of areas that must be addressed and in the end was a positive step on all accounts to help us move forward on many of the past practices that needed to be addressed.
“We will continue to work with our schools, our booster organizations and our non-faculty coaches to ensure that all of the proper steps and procedures are being followed and that we have systems in place to hold all parties accountable and follow the guidelines from all aforementioned governmental agencies.”