By JIM BUTLER

The School Board extended Supt. Jeff Powell’s contract four years Tuesday afternoon. The action came following an executive session in which members reviewed and discussed Powell’s annual evaluation, which provides the superintendent with the same personnel confidentiality as any other employee.

Evidently the overall review was pleasing as seven of nine members voted in the subsequent return to open session for the extension.

Voting no were Sandra Franklin and Linda Burgess. They preferred two years but Franklin’s substitute motion to that effect failed 2-7.

Franklin and Burgess also voted against a two-year extension in  2021, as did Willard McCall, who voted yes this time. That extension took effect in June 2022 and would have expired this Dec. 31.

Powell was hired in July 2019.

The board also in executive session heard an update on parish-wide security measures.

Removed from the agenda was an executive session motion to discuss the board’s arrangements with the firm overseeing the District 62 bond issue projects.

The subject will instead be on the agenda for a special meeting on August 20.

Removed from Tuesday’s agenda was executive session consideration of Powell’s contract.