School safety clash: Sheriff and superintendent at odds over SRO ban, school safety measures

GREENSBURG — November’s St. Helena School Board meeting erupted into a heated exchange involving board members, administrators, and Sheriff Clay Chutz. The controversy stemmed from the banning of Deputy Chad Dupuy, a school resource officer with the sheriff’s office, from St. Helena College and Career Academy. The tension was further fueled by concerns over campus safety and disagreements about law enforcement’s role in the school.

The escalation continued into the second week of December 2024 after UWK received a tip that there was a 911 call for a potential shooting on the high school’s campus Dec. 10th, but it turned out to be a false call. Sheriff Chutz confirmed to UWK that his office is investigating two separate incidents but declined to comment on the ongoing cases.

According to St. Helena Parish School District Superintendent Dr. Kelli Joseph, a shooting happened off campus during a basketball game on Dec. 10th but said the alleged shooter ran through school property while attempting to flee. She said no students from the school were involved and that on duty officers made sure everyone was safe following the incident.

Joseph said, School Resource Officer Chad Dupuy remains prohibited from entering the campus but told UWK that the district has now hired a new SRO earlier this month, which will be funded through the district and not the sheriff’s office.

October 4 incident

Dupuy, who has previously been an SRO in Livingston Parish, was initially banned on October 4 after detaining a food service worker at the high school. The sheriff’s office claimed marijuana was found in a backpack allegedly belonging to the cafeteria worker.

Dr. Joseph told UWK she was informed that day by the school’s food service director that Dupuy had detained the worker and placed her in handcuffs.

“It was during the lunch shift when kids were out. And so I went over there to find out what was going on. And sure enough, she was in handcuffs, leaning against the wall, crying,” Joseph said. “What I witnessed, I thought, was inappropriate. Now the sheriff can say—and he said in that meeting—(Dupuy) was well within his rights to detain the individual. I don’t know if that was the right thing to do or the most appropriate thing to do because the individual was simply leaning against the wall, and she was crying. She was not being combative or disruptive. She wasn’t doing anything at all. So I don’t understand why he made the decision to handcuff her. What he wanted to do was to parade her from the back of the campus, which is where the cafeteria is, to the front of the school, where his unit was, and I was asking him not to do that.”

Joseph said she intervened and requested Dupuy not parade the worker across campus in handcuffs. Eventually, the worker was escorted to a police unit, handcuffed again, and later released. Chutz confirmed no charges have been filed against her.

Later that evening, Chutz attended a school board meeting and was informed that Dupuy would no longer serve as the school resource officer.

“I asked why. I was told it was because of the faculty member that he had detained previously that day, which I stated, ‘You mean from an incident that I haven’t even investigated yet’?” Chutz asked.

Chutz temporarily pulled Dupuy from the campus but reinstated him to monitor the school from across the street after an internal investigation, which included a use-of-force review, found the allegations unfounded.

Safety sweep or raid?

Another flashpoint was a September 25 safety sweep conducted by the sheriff’s office and multiple other agencies, involving 14 detection dogs searching all buildings and vehicles on campus. The operation lasted nearly two hours.

Although no contraband was found in the school, Chutz said one faculty member had drugs in their car and another had a firearm.

While Chutz described the sweep as a necessary safety measure, Joseph characterized it as “excessive and disruptive.”

“Some people will call it a comprehensive safety drill. Some people will call it a raid,” Joseph told UWK. “But the one thing that you don’t bring to a comprehensive safety drill are zip ties to arrest teenagers or children, and you don’t bring 14 dogs, four agencies, and—by the way—one of the dogs drank out of our kids’ water fountain. You don’t bring those things to a safety drill.”

Chutz defended the operation, explaining that zip ties are standard equipment for such situations and called the dog’s behavior “unacceptable” but an isolated incident.

A history of violence

The conflict over campus safety stems, in part, from a history of violence at St. Helena College and Career Academy. In September 2023, a school shooting claimed the life of a student, injured two others, and resulted in the arrest of a juvenile. A separate incident in January 2023 saw over 35 shots fired in the school parking lot, although no injuries were reported.

MORE | St. Helena shooting witness: ‘It was very traumatic…I didn’t know which way to run’

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“When I was elected sheriff, I made a promise to do everything in my power to try to stop this type of violence,” Chutz said during the board meeting. “On July 25, 2024, I hired Deputy Chad Dupuy as a School Resource Officer. Both Superintendent Kellie Joseph and Principal Angela Strickland overwhelmingly agreed with me that Deputy Dupuy was the right choice. In 39 days working at the school, Deputy Dupuy has handled a total of 20 incidents, in which a report was written, dealing with approximately 83 individuals, which resulted in 24 arrests.”

Dupuy’s role as SRO was partially funded through a $49,000 State Homeland Security Grant, which the school district applied for. While Joseph initially supported Dupuy’s hiring, she said her position has changed due to “unfortunate incidents” during his tenure.

Joseph told UWK that the school’s focus is on finding a resource officer better aligned with its needs.

“During that time, the sheriff also stated that it would be a probationary period and that if things worked out, then it would work,” Joseph said. “Based on the various unfortunate situations that occurred during Officer Dupuy’s short tenure at our high school, we felt it necessary, in order to keep our kids safe, to move in a different direction, and so we don’t want Officer Dupuy to serve the kids on our campus. We want someone else, who better fits or is more aligned with what we need on our campus.”

Chutz maintained that Dupuy remains the SRO assigned to the school and expressed willingness to collaborate with Joseph to resolve the issue.

“My door’s always open for people to come in and interview. I told the superintendent that. I’ve told everybody that. I don’t know where my budget is or who I’m going to hire or when I’m going to hire. For every position, I’d like to be able to hire people and interview people, extra people. As of right now, I have an SRO. The school says I don’t, but they’re my SRO, and my person as an SRO is still Chad Dupuy until further notice,” Shutz said.

Joseph reiterated her commitment to maintaining a collaborative relationship with the sheriff’s office but insisted the school needs a different SRO moving forward.

“We’ve had safety drills. We’ve had random searches. It did not require 14 dogs. It did not require 4 agencies. It was never on that level. And we were successful in what we wanted to accomplish, so we want to continue that relationship with the sheriff. I think the impasse is, the sheriff is more interested in the individual. We’re more interested in the position and getting someone in the position that’s more aligned to what we need in our school. That’s all we’re asking,” Joseph said.

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