The Town of Krotz Springs has requested - and received - a temporary restraining order that stops the school board from closing Krotz Springs Elementary.
The St. Landry Parish School Board was scheduled to discuss the closure of the school at tonight's meeting, but has not voted to close the school.
The TRO temporarily stops the board from proceeding to close the school; transfer students and teachers; taking any actions designed to close the school or taking any action that is "inconsistent with maintaining the status quo."
The TRO would be in place until a July 10 hearing when the parties will argue about a preliminary injunction on the matter.
The school board's attorney, Courtney T. Joiner, requested permission from the court to take writs to the Third Circuit Court of Appeal on the TRO, and the court granted it. We've reached out to the school board attorney to ask him about that, and we'll update this story as soon as we can.
In their petition, the town argues that the board did not follow their own district administrative rule regarding school attendance, which is required by state school policy. The petition also criticizes a board discussion that was held at a retreat last month, saying citizens didn't think they could go.
"The public was of the opinion that this was a closed meeting since it was stated as a retreat in the newspapers," the petition states.
In Louisiana, public bodies can have a retreat, but they must post the agenda and it is an open meeting. Boards can only close doors in extremely narrow circumstances, and discussion of closing a school would not be one of them. KATC attended the meeting, as did dozens of citizens. You can read our story about it here.
Here's the story we aired that night:
This is a developing story; we'll update it as we receive more information. KATC TV3's Paris Flannigan will be at the board meeting tonight; to read about what's on the agenda click here.
