Ville Platte- The Evangeline Parish School Board Wednesday voted to call a special election on November 6 to replace District 7 School Board Member Dan Hoffpauir who died Tuesday after a lengthy illness. Hoffpauir had served the District 7-Mamou area as a board member for the past 24 years.
Superintendent of Schools Toni Hamlin said Hoffpauir was “a real gentleman. This is a great loss to the board and to the staff. He will be sorely missed.”
Funeral services are planned Thursday at 3:00 at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Mamou for Hoffpauir, age 73. Hoffpauir operated a Western Auto store in Mamou for 28 years.
The school board has called a special meeting Tuesday July 24 at 6:00pm to appoint a replacement board member until the election is held in November.
Business Manager Amy LaFleur reported that revenues from school sales taxes increased by $524,671 for the fiscal year over the same period a year ago. The school district ended the fiscal year June 30 collected $7.7 million dollars as compared to $7.2 million in 2010-2011.
In her comments to the school board, Superintendent Hamlin said she was unsure how efficient the restructuring of the State Department of Education of school districts into network regions will be. In the past, Evangeline was part of the Acadiana region with neighboring Southwest Louisiana parishes. “We had a lot of things in common with these other parishes including our Cajun and Creole French heritage,” said Hamlin.
Evangeline Parish along with St. Landry and Lafayette parishes are now in a network comprised of parishes such as East Baton Rouge, Orleans and Jefferson parishes.
Superintendent Hamlin reported that Dexter Brown was appointed principal at Evangeline Central School, reclassified from an interim principal while Barbara Lee was appointed principal at Pine Prairie High School, also reclassified from an interim principal at the school.
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