LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

Ruston, Louisiana

REGULAR SESSION

 Tuesday, October 1, 2002   6:00 p.m.

The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, October 1, 2002 at 6:00 p.m. in the Board Room of the Lincoln Parish School Board Office, 410 South Farmerville Street, Ruston, Louisiana.  Members present were President Rob Shadoin, Mr. Billy Abrahm, Mr. Otha Anders, Dr. Marty Beasley, Ms. Lisa Best, Mr. Curtis Dowling, Ms. Mattie Harrison, Mr. Jim Kessler Mr. George Mack, Mr. Joe Mitcham (arrived after the meeting began), Ms. Jo Tatum, and Mr. David Wright (arrived after the meeting began).

No board member was absent.

President Rob Shadoin called the meeting to order and Ms. Best gave the invocation.  Mr. Shadoin led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag and welcomed honored guests, members of the official staff and of the press.

Mr. Joe Mitcham entered the meeting.

Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Mr. Kessler, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda with an addendum of New Business.

Upon a motion by Ms. Tatum, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on September 3, 2002 as written.

Secondary Supervisor, Howard Whitlock, presented background information on the Teacher of the Year program and introduced the parish winners.  The following 02-03 parish winners were presented with a plaque of appreciation by Superintendent Gerald Cobb on behalf of the Board, a certificate of recognition from Megan Owens, Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, and $500 from their business sponsor for their excellence and hard work:

Martha Hayes - Cypress Springs - Elem. Division  - Federal Home Products 

Brenda Lofton - A. E. Phillips - Junior High Division -  Hogan Hardwoods

Miranda Parnell - Simsboro School - High School Division - Davison Transport

Mr. Whitlock was pleased to announce that Ms. Lofton and Ms. Parnell have also been chosen as Regional Teachers of the Year and will compete at the state level in the near future.

Mr. Shadoin congratulated the three parish Teachers of the Year and thanked the Chamber and businesses for their recognition.

Mr. Wright entered the meeting during the Teacher of the Year recognition.

Ruston High School had two National Merit Semi-Finalists to be recognized: Sarah Elizabeth Keil and Jared Grant Serio.  Mr. Whitlock indicated that these two students scored in the top 1% of students in the country who took the PSAT, the preliminary college entrance exam, last fall.  Dr. Charles Scriber, Principal of Ruston High, introduced the students and Dr. Cobb presented a plaque to them along with congratulations from the Board in recognition of their achievement.

The Board served as a Committee of the Whole and the following Personnel Committee agenda items were considered after Ronnie Suggs, Assistant Superintendent, presented 1.-4.; Director of Auxiliary Services, Charles Owens, presented 5.; and Brenda Theodos, School Food Service Supervisor, presented 6. :

1.   Request for sabbatical from October 29, 2002 through December 20, 2002 from Augustine Moore, teacher at Choudrant Elementary.

2.   Resignation of Diane Madden, science teacher at Ruston Junior High, effective September 5, 2002.                   

3.      Retirement of Pre GED teacher at the Secondary Alternative School, Doug Stewart, effective September 16, 2002.

4.      Employment of the following teachers:

Johnise Brantley, special education at Ruston Junior High, effective September 9, 2002 replacing Diane Madden who resigned.

Raymond Hunt, Jr. ROTC at Ruston High, effective September 11, 2002 replacing Charles Hampton who resigned.

5.      Resignation of Carolyn Davis, custodian at Glen View, effective August 12, 2002.

6.      Employment of Theresa Gilbert, school food service technician at Cypress Springs, effective August 18, 2002 in a new position due to increased enrollment.

Upon a motion by Mr. Wright, seconded by Dr. Beasley, the Board unanimously voted to accept the personnel recommendations of the administration.

The nineteenth annual Lincoln Parish Academic Awards Banquet has been scheduled for Monday, November 18, 2002 according to Dr. Cobb.  It will be moved back to the Ruston Civic Center as the Louisiana Tech Student Center has been renovated since last November and will not accommodate the large numbers expected to attend.  Guest speaker will be Mr. James Davison, Ruston businessman.  Dr. Cobb asked the Board to put the date on their calendars.

Juanita Duke, Business Manager, said that September 2002 was another month with a decrease in sales tax collections over the same month last year, 1.72%.  Year-to-date figures for 02-03 compared to year-to-date figures for 01-02 show 7.85% less has been collected.  In the 1967 and 1979 sales tax fund $337,253 was collected, with $202,351 being collected in the 1993 and 2000 sales tax funds.  In addition, $7,291 was recovered by audits during the month.  She indicated that a wait and see attitude will have to be taken before determining what amount can be paid in December 1, 2002 salary supplements.

Next, Ms. Duke presented the June 30, 2002 year end financial statement which contained figures to be presented to the auditors.  She called attention to the fund balances and pointed out that the general fund actually contains a little over one month of expenditures which is good.

In order to make the Board aware of performance and cost of the self-insured health benefits program on a month-to-month basis, Ms. Duke presented a new report which ended with July 2002.  If information can be received from our Third Party Administrator in a timely manner, she would like to begin to make this a monthly report.  Included with the two page report was a notice that was distributed with employees' October checks and will be mailed to retirees this week getting the health and dental benefits program information out.  The notice showed that medical claims for the first seven months of the calendar/plan year have increased 43% over the previous year's or $924,322.  This hefty increase is being paid from the general fund at this time.  Dental claims have increased 21% or $45,861.  Membership numbers comparing last year and this year were also included although there were no drastic changes.  Average medical claim cost per covered family per month is $414 which is a $103 increase over 2001.  Dental cost per covered family is up $11 per month to $45.  Average number of medical claims per month has also increased from 1424 in 2001 to 1651 in 2002 and dental claims from 235 in 2001 to 245 in 2002.  After reviewing claim information with Benesys, the third party administrator, it was ascertained that not many seriously ill people are covered by the plan,  but members are simply going to the doctor and using the plan more often than they have in the past.  The final paragraph of the notice mentioned that increased cost per family with changes to either plan benefits or premiums or both are being considered for the next plan year beginning January 2003.  She called attention to the self-insured health benefits program  report for the year 2002 which contained contributions being made by member premiums and by the Lincoln Parish School Board and monthly costs.  The fund retained earnings as of July, 2002 total $426,390.  Page two of the report presented the same type of information for the dental benefits program which is experiencing a deficit balance of $45,181 as of July 2002.  Supplemental funding by the Board has made up for the lack of funds and will continue to do so until some change is made in the plan's premiums.  Several questions were asked and comments were made.  It was the consensus of opinion that medical expenses are out-of-sight and the administration with the Board's approval continues to have an incredible insurance plan for its employees and retirees.

Superintendent Cobb presented an update on the Education Excellence Fund in the state's Millennium Trust.  Lincoln Parish is being allocated $996,863 in a one-time disbursement from the state's trust which was established with the proceeds from the state's sale of tobacco settlement bonds this past year.  After sharing some spending restrictions, he said because technology is forever-changing at a fast pace and continued funding and support is key in keeping up with its changes and innovations in the classroom, he would like to use approximately $30,000 of the funds to support technology.  In closing he commented that the latest correspondence received from the state indicates that they will allow expenditure plans to include a provision for parishes to withdraw all funds and do investing on their own or to leave them money with the state for investment.  He will request to withdraw all funds due the parish along with an additional request to use a portion of funds for technology in 02-03. Board members were supportive of his plans to spend a small portion for technology needs and invest the remainder of the Tobacco Settlement Funds.

The next meeting of the Board, October 16, will need to be rescheduled in order for Dr. Cobb to attend an important "No Child Left Behind" accountability meeting.  He proposed that the date be moved to Thursday, October 17.

Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Ms. Tatum, the Board unanimously voted that the October 16, 2002 Lincoln Parish School Board meeting be changed to Thursday, October 17, 2002.

At the September 3, 2002 meeting, Board members were given a copy of a revised Employment of Personnel policy (GBD).  Dr. Cobb asked the Board to approve the revisions to the policy.

Upon a motion by Mr. Dowling, seconded by Mr. Mack, the Board unanimously voted to approve the revisions to policy: Employment of Personnel (GBD).

The addendum to the agenda, permission to cut and sell timber at Choudrant Elementary, was the final item of New Business to consider.  Mr. Owens said that as a result of increased enrollment at the school, it has become necessary to enlarge the parking lot to accommodate additional faculty and staff and to enlarge parent pick up and bus loading areas.  The only area conducive to this expansion at a reasonable cost is situated south of the existing parking lot and consists of approximately three acres of near level land covered with timber ranging from saw logs to pulp wood.  Because he believes there is enough value in the timber to warrant harvesting, he asked for permission to cut it.

Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to offer for sale all marketable timber on the aforementioned tract.

In a Report of the Superintendent, Dr. Cobb mentioned that:

1.      Payment of support raise supplements of about $476 went out to support employees.

2.      Constitutional amendment #3 which will be voted on November 5 is another attempt by the state to reduce the MFP.  He urged the Board to vote, "No."

3.    He received a Beginning College Freshman report and the leader in the state in terms of students who do not have to take development courses, 26%, and who are in good standing at the end of the year at 97% is Lincoln Parish.  "We are preparing our students for college."

4.      Congratulations should be extended to Mr. Shadoin, whose daughter is about to get married, and an invitation to the wedding was included in packets.

After brief comments and observations by several Board members, the meeting adjourned at 7:03 p.m.

__________________________________        __________________________________

Gerald W. Cobb, Secretary                                     Robert E. Shadoin, President