Rapides Parish School Board swears in new board members

RAPIDES PARISH, La. (KALB) - Ahead of the first spring meeting, the Rapides Parish School Board swore in newly-elected school board members Coach Wally Fall (District G) and George Johnson (District H).

Fall takes the seat of Keith Breazeale, having defeated the long-time member in a runoff in December with 61% of the vote. Johnson takes the seat of Darrell Rodriguez, who decided not to run for re-election.

This marks both Fall and Johnson’s first term serving on the school board.

“The kids should come first before everything,” said Johnson, on what his priorities are as a member. “What are students learning? The discipline for students? I worry about what’s going on in the nation. My deal was, ‘Who do we call?’ and there was nobody to call. We can vote, but I voted, and it didn’t seem to do any good. So, let’s step out and do something.”

“I’ve been to all the school board meetings in the last year, trying to hit the ground running with what they’ve been talking about lately,” said Fall, with a focus on prioritizing issues facing teachers and students. “But you never know what’ll come up, but I’m a student advocate. They got a friend down here now. They probably had other friends, I’m not trying to say that. I really want to spend my time on student issues, teacher issues, that kind of thing.”

All other members of the school board were also sworn in. Members are elected for a four-year term, so, under state law, all elected officials must take an oath of office, even if they were previously elected board members.

The 2023-2027 RPSB School Board is as follows:

Wilton Barrios, Jr. - District A
Steve Berry - District B
Mark Dryden - District C
Willard B. McCall - District D
Stephen Chapman - District E
Linda Burgess - District F
Coach Wally Fall - District G
George Johnson - District H
Sandra Franklin - District I

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