After 20 years of being on school board, Fontana finally agrees to be president

Helping people work out their differences is what Anthony Fontana does as an Abbeville lawyer. Starting January of 2016, Fontana may have one of the toughest challenges he has had to deal with that has nothing to do with his law firm.
Fontana has served as a Vermilion Parish school board member for the last 20 years. In that time, not once did he want to be the president of the school board. He politely turned the nomination down.
The board president is the person who runs the meeting. He or she has no more power than any other board members. The board president also addresses the audience concerns during the meeting.
This month is the final month of Chris Gautreaux’s two-year stay as the school board president. So, last week, the school board members nominated and selected Fontana as the new president for the one-year term.
When asked why he finally became president, Fontana gave his reasons.
“I think I have the skills to help this school board get together,” he said. “Also, this is probably going to be my last term. I am not saying 100 percent it will be (my last term), but I am 65 years old.”
Before running 20 years ago, Fontana filled the unexpired term of a school board member for nine months. If God lets him finish this term, he will have been a school board member for almost 25 years.
“I think it is time,” he added. “I have been trying to get the younger members involved because they do not know anything about certain things.
The final reason why he wants to be a school board president is because whoever is school board president, he or she gets an 8x10 picture of their self on the wall in the school board meeting room.
Right now, there is no picture of Fontana.
“The only way I get my picture right there, (on the wall) is to be president,” Fontana said. “I have grandchildren. I would like for them to know I was here and I did something.”