Results announced for District 7 and Colleges/Universities elections

October 6, 2022

Baton Rouge, La. - At its October meeting, the TRSL Board of Trustees received voting results for the District 7 and Colleges/Universities elections.  

District 7
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Phillip P. Oliver (Calcasieu Parish School Board) will serve as the District 7 Board of Trustees representative after receiving the most votes in an election against Christen P. DeRise (Iberia Parish School Board). Oliver received 50.66% of the vote, while DeRise received 49.08%. 
Oliver has worked for the Calcasieu Parish School Board for 13 years and currently serves as the school district’s visual arts consultant. He is a third-generation educator who attended McNeese State University and Lamar University.

Oliver’s four-year term will begin in January 2023. District 7 includes actively working TRSL members in Acadia, Calcasieu, Cameron, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Mary, and Vermilion parishes.
 
Colleges/Universities
 
Because no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the Colleges/Universities election, a run-off will be held with the top two candidates who received the most votes in the primary.
 
Moving forward in the run-off will be Tom Stafford (Louisiana Tech University College of Business) with 42.83% of the vote and Jennifer Cook, M.Ed. (Louisiana State University) with 31.10% of the vote. Additional voting results are as follows: 

• John D. McKay (Louisiana State University’s Louisiana Small Business Development Center) received 15.46% of the vote.
• Don Ator (Louisiana State University) received 10.24% of the vote.

 
Voting information for the run-off election will be mailed to eligible voters on Oct. 20, and the deadline to vote is 4:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 21.
 
Run-off results will be announced at the TRSL board meeting in December. The candidate receiving the most votes will represent active TRSL members employed in a college or university for a four-year term beginning January 2023.