Longtime Covington High teacher and administrator Johnny Boudreaux was named principal of his alma mater on June 1, and a joyful crowd at St. Tammany Parish School Board’s Committee as a Whole meetings joined him in a rousing rendition of the school’s fight song to celebrate the announcement.
Boudreaux, who graduated from Covington in 1985, previously served as an assistant principal at the school. He replaces Brennan McCurley, who was appointed Supervisor of Administration for the school district at the board's May meeting.
“I absolutely have nothing but pride and passion for Covington High and the Covington family,” Boudreaux told the crowd gathered at the C.J. Schoen Administrative Complex in the heart of his hometown. “Once a Lion, always a Lion,” he added.
Boudreaux graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Southeastern Louisiana University and a Master of Educational Leadership from Arkansas State University. Since 2018, he’s been an assistant principal at the school, supervising the special education and fine arts programs, as well as overseeing cafeteria and custodial staff, student discipline and building maintenance.
Also at the meeting, Letrece McCoy was named assistant principal at Chahta-Ima Elementary in Lacombe, and Stephanie Franzo was announced as a new assistant principal at Mandeville Elementary.
In other action at the board’s Finance and Administrative Committee meeting, members unanimously accepted a bid for the purchase of $35 million in General Obligation School Bonds. The low bidder was Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. which offered the lowest interest rate (3.63%) of nine bidders.
Advising bond attorneys told the board that a premium on the bond sale will bring approximately $3.1 million in additional funding to the district for use in upcoming capital projects, which all told will net nearly $38 million total after paying costs associated with the sale. The sale is scheduled to take place June 22.
The interest rate on this sale was lower than the 4.26% accepted last fall, and attorneys said cheaper rates in the bond market, as well as the school district’s AA rating with Standard & Poor, allowed them to get the more lucrative offer and thus allow the debt to be retired sooner.
Parish voters approved this particular bond initiative in 2019.