Amid a forgery investigation, Construction Director Robert Gautreaux has been demoted to his old job teaching agricultural science to students, having lasted less than two years overseeing construction and maintenance projects for the Lafayette Parish School System, The Current is reporting.
The newspaprer reports that LPSS officials confirmed Gautreaux’s new position and salary. As director of the Construction, Facilities and Maintenance Department, Gautreaux made $104,000 a year, officials said. Effective July 1, he filled what system officials say was an open 12-month position at his old workplace, the W.D. and Mary Baker Smith Career Center, with a $19,000 pay cut.
The system has not confirmed whether Gautreaux was one of two construction department employees placed on leave the same week its internal forgery probe was turned over to the Lafayette Police Department for criminal investigation, the Current reports.
The system announced last week that Assistant Superintendent Mark Rabalais had assumed direct oversight of the construction department, reporting directly to Superintendent Francis Touchet.
This story is the most recent update to a continuing investigation by The Current into construction and bid practices at LPSS. To read the rest of this story, click here.
We reached out to LPD to see if there have been any developments in their investigation; they told us the investigation is ongoing.
