LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
Ruston, Louisiana
REGULAR SESSION
Tuesday, November 5, 2002 6:00 p.m.
The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, November 5, 2002 at 6:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Parish School Board, 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, Ms. Jo Tatum, and Mr. David Wright (arrived after the meeting began).
No member was absent.
President Shadoin called the meeting to order and the invocation was given by Mr. Abrahm. Mr. Shadoin led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag and welcomed special guests.
Upon a motion by Ms. Harrison, seconded by Mr. Anders, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda with an addendum adding one item of New Business: Submission of request for proposals to wireless, wide area network providers.
Upon a motion by Dr. Beasley, seconded by Ms. Tatum, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Sessions held on October 1 and October 17, 2002 as distributed.
President George Bush signed into law the "No Child Left Behind Act" 2001 which reauthorized the ESEA and incorporated the principles and strategies of the new reform, according to Parental Involvement Coordinator Sallie Evans. The implementation of this Act brought about significant changes in the area of parental involvement; therefore, the parish's Parental Involvement policy has been revised to ensure program compliance. She called attention to the revised policy and asked the Board to study the changes with formal action to be taken at the December meeting.
Mr. Wright entered the meeting.
The Board served as a Committee of the Whole and the following Personnel Committee agenda items were considered after being presented by Ronnie Suggs:
1. Retirement of Clifton Lewis, principal at Secondary Alternative School, effective October 24, 2002.
2. Employment of Foster Harris as interim principal at Secondary Alternative School effective November 6, 2002 replacing Clifton Lewis who retired.
3. Leave without pay for the second semester, effective January 6, 2003, for Kim McCready, English teacher at Ruston High.
4. Employment of the following teachers effective November 18, 2002:
Jowana McAbee, elementary at Glen View, replacing Wendi Best who was granted leave without pay.
Larkin Norton, English at Ruston High, replacing Kim McCready who was granted leave without pay.
Upon a motion by Mr. Abrahm, seconded by Mr. Mack, the Board unanimously voted to approve the personnel recommendations.
Business Manager, Juanita Duke, told the Board that $380,162 was collected in the 1967 and 1979 sales tax fund and $228,097 in the 1993 and 2000 funds for the month ending October 2001. These collections were up approximately 7.10% compared to collections the same month last year. Year-to-date collections were 4.21% below this date and time last year. Recovered by audits was $14,551.
A financial report for the month ending August 2002 was presented by Ms. Duke. After calling attention to the shaded line at the bottom which shows balances, she indicated that the general fund had grown during the month of August but would drop in September when salaries of new employees begin to be paid. Sales tax funds are also building in anticipation of payment of salary supplement checks. She briefly commented on all balances.
Ms. Duke presented a self-insured health and dental benefits program report for the period ending August 2002. Monthly collections in the health program were $381,471 which was down from $732,774 in July. The administration contributed $16,300, reinsurance paid $30,467, and $252,738 was paid for claims, bringing the total cost for the month to $299,505. This resulted in an $81,966 gain in the health insurance program for the month of August. Total contributions and interest collections for the plan year are $4,083,797 and total costs for the year are $3,714,410 resulting in a gain of $369,386. Dental plan costs for the month of August 2002 increased from the previous month and were $45,670, with administration paying $824 and claims totaling $44,846. Monthly collections were $31,069 which resulted in a $14,602 loss in the program for the month of August. Total dental costs paid year-to-date are $311,055.
At the October 17, 2002 regular session of the Board, Superintendent Cobb distributed several policies with revisions to their codes and location in the policy manual. He asked for approval of these revisions.
Upon a motion by Ms. Tatum, seconded by Ms. Best, the Board unanimously voted to approve the coding and placement changes in the following policies: Employee Tobacco Use (GAMA), Alcohol and Drug-Free Workplace (GAMD), Employee Drug and Alcohol Testing (GAME), AIDS (GAMFA), and Staff Rights and Responsibilities (GBR). These changes would cause the old policies: Working Conditions (GBR), Employee Drug and Alcohol Testing (GBRAB), Staff Health and Safety (GBRAA), and Staff Rights and Responsibilities (GAM-R) to become obsolete; therefore, these would be deleted from the manual.
As authorized by the Board at the last meeting, a funding source has been found to finance the cooling system replacement at Ruston High School, according to Ms. Duke. Financing up to $440,000 is available to the Board at 0% interest over a 14-year repayment period through the Qualified Zone Academy Bond (QZAB) Program with the Louisiana Community Development Authority (LCDA) as lender. She said that in order to take advantage of the interest-free financing for this year's QZAB allocation, the board would have to approve a resolution agreeing to become a participating member of the LCDA and another authorizing participation in the LCDA's QZAB program. No annual membership fees or dues are required to become a member of LCDA.
Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Anders, the Board unanimously voted by voice vote to approve the resolution joining the LCDA as a participating political subdivision and appointing a representative.
Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Anders, the Board unanimously voted by voice vote to approve a resolution authorizing participation in the QZAB loan program for the purpose of upgrading the central cooling system at Ruston High School, adopting a comprehensive educational plan for RHS, and authorizing and incurring a loan from the LCDA.
Even though sales tax collections have decreased so far this year, Ms. Duke proposed that payment in the same amount provided last year be distributed for the December 1st salary supplement: $1,350 for certified employees and $675 for non certified employees. Because December 1, 2002 falls on the Sunday at the end of the week of Thanksgiving break this year, these checks will be distributed along with regular monthly payroll on Friday, November 22, 2002. She reiterated that the amount of these checks is based on actual collections, and there is no guarantee that the same amounts will be paid next year at this time.
Upon a motion by Mr. Mack, seconded by Mr. Wright, the Board unanimously voted to approve the disbursement of $1,350 for certified and $675 for non certified employees in a December 1 salary supplement check.
Dr. Cobb indicated that although school systems with private carriers or self funded received no additional funds to assist with rising premium costs, the State of Louisiana "bailed out" the State Employee Group Hospital Insurance Program with $92 million last year. In his opinion, it is vitally important that the Louisiana School Board Association work during the next session to insure that all systems are treated equally should the state contribute financially to stabilize health insurance premiums. Furthermore, he commented, that if the state cannot assist every system, they should remove the penalties established by the vesting schedule and experience ratings for those parishes which can no longer afford a private carrier or be self-funded and need to enter the state plan. He presented a resolution encouraging the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Louisiana Legislature to help with rising group health insurance costs.
Upon a motion by Mr. Wright, seconded by Ms. Harrison, the Board unanimously voted by voice vote to approve the resolution encouraging the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Louisiana Legislature to help with rising group health insurance costs.
The wide area network (WAN) for the schools provides access to the Internet through BellSouth T1 and 56KB frame relay services, communicated Technology Coordinator Debbie Sandidge. In the past this was sufficient, but the large number of computers connected to the Internet combined with our network design make downloading or uploading files and web sites very slow. A couple of options are being considered to improve the speed: converting all of the BellSouth connections to T1 coupled with a design modification or changing to a wireless WAN. She asked for permission to request for proposal for wireless WAN and said the proposals would be brought back before the Board before pursuing either option.
Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Ms. Tatum, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission of a request for proposal to potential wireless WAN providers for Internet service, email service, firewall service, filtering for CIPA compliance, IP address management, and/or system maintenance with the final recommendation to be submitted to the Board at the January 7, 2003 meeting.
Because she had requested and had been granted permission to have her concern placed on the Board's agenda, President Shadoin recognized a parent, Ms. Kathy Terry, who spoke to the Board for five minutes regarding the Ruston Junior High cheerleading program. She basically feels that the cost of participation is too high thus eliminating some students. Also cheerleaders who chose not to go to Nationals are being prevented from participating in practices, functions and fund raisers for the trip to Florida which, in her opinion, is splitting the squad. She called attention to 35 pages of information she had included in Board members' packets including a breakdown of RJHS cheerleading costs, picture of the squad, guidelines for the program, concerns from parents, letters from Principal Randy Moore, survey of other programs' costs, and Internet sites where uniforms, shoes, etc. could be purchased. She closed by requesting that the Board reduce the cost of participation in the RJHS cheerleading program and either require all of the girls to attend National competition or not allow any of them to compete at that level.
Mr. Moore distributed information he felt was pertinent to the subject and Mr. Abrahm requested a few minutes to read it. Mr. Shadoin granted his request.
Following this delay, Mr. Moore explained the steps which had been taken prior to this meeting of the Board. He indicated that parents were aware of the costs associated with cheerleading at RJHS prior to try outs and had in fact signed forms indicating such. Also for the first time he had made participating in Nationals optional, on an individual basis, and felt that it was unfair to require girls not participating to fund raise for the trip. Mr. Moore mentioned that the majority of the parents of cheerleaders are satisfied with the program. However, he indicated that ways will be explored to reduce costs.
A lengthy period of questions, answers, and comments ensued including some from two other parents of cheerleaders. It became obvious that while Board members felt the parents had some legitimate concerns, this was not an issue to be decided upon by the Board, rather at the school level.
Upon a motion by Mr. Abrahm, seconded by Ms. Tatum, the Board unanimously voted that the concerns of several parents regarding the Ruston Junior High cheerleading program be rerouted to the school to be handled there.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:46 p.m.
________________________ _______________________________
Gerald W. Cobb, Secretary Robert E. Shadoin, President