Thursday’s meeting of the Bogalusa City Schools Board was cut short, after board member Calvin Hymel stormed out of the meeting and left the board without enough members present to conduct business.
The board was about to start public comments, when Hymel stood up at his seat.

“I’d like to say something,” Hymel said, speaking quietly at first. “But I ran for school board to make changes in this school system. And our teachers right now are treated so bad they don’t even want to be at Bogalusa High School.”

As Hymel continued, his volume increased and he demonstratively began waving a folder in the air.

“Something’s gotta be done! And it’s going to have to start right now,” said Hymel, who was the BHS football coach for 17 years and an educator for 34 years. “I’ve got 30 days and I’ll be back. If it ain’t done, I’ll go somewhere else and meet, Baton Rouge or somewhere. It’s sad the way our school system is right now!

“If we can’t do something about discipline, then we don’t even need to be here. The kids are running the schools!

“And I tell you what, y’all better start making some changes, or y’all ain’t gonna have a job. It’s terrible!”

Hymel then left the meeting.

“That’s just one board member’s opinion,” board vice president Paul Kates said, concerning Hymel’s outburst.

“We can’t attend to any business without a quorum,” board president Curtis
Creel noted.

Hymel didn’t back down when contacted for comment on Friday.

“Discipline is out the window right now at the school. “Hymel said Friday. “We have three closed campuses right now and I think we ought to open up one of them and put kids there who don’t want to follow the rules. I went on (the high school) campus last week and students were all over campus and not in class.”

At the start of Thursday’s meeting, the only board members present were Creel, Hymel, board vice president Paul Kates and Eleanor Duke. Adam Kemp, Rev. Raymond Mims and Dr. Brad Williams were unable to attend the meeting.
A quorum is more than half of the board members. After Hymel left, only three of the seven board members were present, meaning that no official business could be handled.

Superintendent Willie “Toni” Breaux was also not present at Thursday’s meeting. Financial director Deloris Walker sat in as her replacement. Efforts to contact Breaux on Friday were unsuccessful.

All business on the agenda was tabled until a future meeting when a quorum is present. Walker said a called meeting might be scheduled before the next regular meeting on Thursday, Oct. 22.

Daily News reporter Randy Hammons contributed to this story.