Four Win Seats on Central School Board

Five new members of the Central Community School Board will take office in January 2023 — by far the largest turnover in board membership since the school system was founded in 2007.

Four of the five new school board members were elected on Nov. 8 — Jason Leaphart, Carol Norwood, Nick Carmena, and Mike Davis.  A fifth new board member, Mike Hooper, was elected without opposition at the close of qualifying.

Five incumbent school board members will be leaving the board in January — board president Dr. Jim Gardner, Sharon Browning, Ruby Foil, Dr. Keith Holmes, and Kim Powers. Two incumbent school board members will return for another term — Dr. David Walker and Roxanne Atkinson.

The Central Community School System was founded as a result of passage of an amendment to the Louisiana Constitution in 2006.  Gov. Kathleen Blanco appointed the first seven members of the board in early 2007.

Since then, the membership of the Central School Board has been remarkably stable.  Of Blanco’s original seven appointments, three are still on the school board — Dr. Jim Gardner, Ruby Foil, and Sharon Browning.  Another founding member of the board, Will Easley, resigned in January 2021.

After Will Easley resigned, the school board appointed Phil Graham to serve until a special election could be called.  Mr. Easley’s resignation marked a turning point for the Central School Board.  He had been a strong advocate against rolling forward property taxes without a vote of the people — a practice which allows property taxes to increase enormously over the years without the public understanding why.  While every other school board in the state automatically rolled property taxes forward every four years without a vote of the people, Central never did so, thanks to Will Easley.

However, shortly after his appointment in early 2021, Easley’s replacement, Phil Graham, took the lead in pushing to roll property taxes forward, and the Central School Board followed Graham’s lead with only board member Sharon Browning voting no.

Throughout the pandemic, opposition to the Central School Board’s decision to close schools, mandate masks, and deny religious exemptions was simmering in the community.  When the Central School Board went along with raising property taxes without a vote of the people, an undercurrent of public discontent became even more evident.

As a result, Central mom Kim Powers, who had been fighting mask and vaccine mandates at the state level, decided to challenge Phil Graham when he ran for the remainder of Will Easley’s term in November 2021.

Powers campaigned door to door and won a 63 percent to 37 percent victory in the special election.  After being sworn in by Attorney General Jeff Landry, she continued to challenge the school board’s policy of raising taxes without a vote of the people.  She took the lead on conservative issues, including opposing woke policies, such as the federal government’s attempt to require Central to have a nondiscrimination policy on transgenderism.

For years, the members of the Central School Board had discussed business prior to meetings. However, after her swearing in, Powers often brought up arguments and made motions in school board meetings without clearing them with other board members.  

Her independence drew the ire of board members, and many of them actively opposed her reelection this year — an unprecedented practice in Central where school board members have traditionally stayed out of other board members’ races.

Members of the board supported Nick Carmena against Powers.

On election day, Powers carried the same area she did in the 2021 election — the Central Middle School and Grace Church precincts. However, the school board had added the Gas Utility precinct to her district this year.  Carmena carried that precinct and overcame Powers’ lead at CMS and Grace.

None of the new School Board members has pledged to oppose raising property taxes without a vote of the people, and the fate of that issue is unknown. Five board members would have to vote to roll forward property taxes for it to pass.  The new board takes office in January 2023.