LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

Ruston, Louisiana

REGULAR SESSION

Tuesday, October 5, 2004   6:00 p.m.

The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, October 5, 2004 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. Otha Anders, Ms. Lisa Best, Mr. Curtis Dowling (arrived after the meeting began), Ms. Mattie Harrison, Ms. Lynda Henderson, Mr. Jim Kessler, Mr. Flynn Ludley, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Ted McKinney, Mr. Joe Mitcham, and Ms. Jo Tatum.

No board members were absent.

President Rob Shadoin called the meeting to order and Mr. McKinney gave the invocation.  Mr. Shadoin led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag and welcomed guests.

Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Mr. Kessler, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda as submitted.

Upon a motion by Ms. Tatum, seconded by Ms. Harrison, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on September 7, 2004 as presented.

Two hundred and fifty schools across the nation have recently been recognized  as a No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School by United States Department of Education Secretary, Rod Paige, according to Superintendent Charles Scriber.  Alma J. Brown was one of the six schools located in the State of Louisiana.  Criteria were high scores on standardized tests and by closing the gap in minority students.  Dr. Scriber presented a plaque in recognition of the honor to Alma J. Brown principal, Dr. Vicki Brown.  He said this kind of achievement is no accident but a result of hard work and dedication to improving test scores.

Dr. Brown expressed appreciation to the Board members and the administration for their support.

Ms. Harrison and Mr. Shadoin offered their thanks to the principal for the work which had been done and congratulations for their selection as a Blue Ribbon School.

Testing, Evaluation, and Curriculum Supervisor, Eric Carter, presented background information on the Teacher of the Year program and introduced the 04-05 parish winners. 

The following teachers were presented with a plaque of appreciation by Superintendent Charles Scriber on behalf of the Board and him, a certificate of recognition by Lomax Napper, Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, and monetary award from their business sponsor for their excellence and hard work:

Lisa Moody - I. A. Lewis - Elem. Division  - Federal Home Products                            

Catherine Letendre - A. E. Phillips - Junior High Division -  Hogan Hardwoods

Kellye Ratcliff -Ruston High School - High School Division - Lewis & Co. and Office Deport

Mr. Shadoin congratulated the Teachers of the Year, wished them success as they competed at the Regional level, and thanked the Chamber and businesses for their recognition.

Mary Null, Elementary Supervisor, recognized Linda Wallace, elementary teacher at Glen View, who has again been recognized for the outstanding teacher that she is - this time by Wal-Mart.  After completing an extensive application, she was selected as the local Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year which awarded $1,000 to her school.  Because of her contributions to education and the positive impact that she has on her students, she was also selected as the state Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year.  This paid $10,000 to the school.  She will now compete in the national competition where she is eligible to win $25,000 for Glen View Elementary.  Dr. Scriber presented a plaque to Ms. Wallace on behalf of the Board and him in recognition of her excellent teaching.

The Board served as a Committee of the Whole and the following Personnel Committee agenda items were considered after Danny Bell, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, presented 1.-3.; Transportation Supervisor, Ronny Volentine, presented 4.-5.; and Brenda Theodos, School Food Service Supervisor, presented 6.-8.:

1.   Request for sabbatical leave for the second semester of 04-05 school year, effective January 5, 2005, for Robin Davidson, teacher at Glen View Elementary.     

2.   Resignation of the following teachers:

Jaimee Hudson, teacher at Ruston Elementary, effective September 27, 2004.

David Aguilar, PE/coach at Ruston High, effective October 4, 2004.

John Stutzman, PE/coach at Ruston Junior High, effective September 22, 2004.

3.      Employment of Leon Moore as social studies teacher at Ruston Junior High effective October 4, 2004 replacing John Stutzman who resigned.

4.      Resignation of Michael Duke, bus driver in the Ruston area, effective October 1, 2004.

5.      Employment of Jerry Huey as bus driver in the Ruston area effective October 1, 2004 replacing Michael Duke who resigned.

6.      Retirement of school food service technician at Dubach High, Margie Larance, effective August 27, 2004.

7.      Points of Reference/Transfers of the following school food service personnel effective October 1, 204 unless otherwise noted:

Mary Roton from technician at Choudrant High to clerk at Choudrant effective August 11, 2004 replacing Jennifer Alexander who resigned.

Sandra Flowers from manager/clerk at Dubach to field manager at the central office replacing Debbie Ware who transferred.

Jennifer Hawkins from clerk at Simsboro to manager at Dubach replacing Sandra Flowers who transferred.

Karen Welch from clerk at Ruston High to clerk at Simsboro replacing Jennifer Hawkins who transferred.

Debbie McBee from technician at Ruston High to clerk at Ruston High replacing Karen Welch who transferred.

8.      Employment of the following school food service personnel effective October 1, 2004:

Roxie Huey as technician at Dubach High replacing Margie Larance who retired.

Diane Gates as technician at Choudrant High replacing Mary Roton who transferred.

Upon a motion by Mr. Mitcham, seconded by Ms. Best, the Board unanimously voted to accept the personnel recommendations of the administration.

During the period from 1997 to 2002 the number of computers in the school system accessing the Internet grew from about 100 to more than 1,200.  The number has continued to increase with a projection of approximately 2,000 by the end of the current school year.  Because of this volume, the technology review committee recommended that the district change to the wireless wide area network proposed by Trillion Digital Communications.  Debbie Sandidge, Technology Coordinator, said the system was officially cut-over on Thursday, September 23, 2004.  Initial implementation issues that are to be expected with any change in this magnitude are being addressed.  However, the goal of a faster network, thus providing the teachers the tools needed to integrate the Internet into their lessons, has already been accomplished.

Mr. Dowling arrived during Ms. Sandidge's technology report.

At this point in the meeting, President Shadoin called a brief recess for a group picture of the Board to be taken.

After being called back to order by President Shadoin, Jack Boyd, Business Manager, communicated that sales tax collections show slow, steady growth with slight increases of about 4%.  September 2004 sales tax collections increased 4.06% over the same month last year.  Year-to-date figures for 04-05 compared to year-to-date figures for 03-04 show 4.55% more has been collected.  In the 1967 and 1979 sales tax fund $364,248 was collected, with $218,548 being collected in the 1993 and 2000 sales tax funds.  In addition, $5,237 was recovered by audits during the month.

Next, Mr. Boyd presented the June 2004 financial statement and indicated that the ad valorem tax and district M & O monies are collected by the Sheriff for the most part in December and January and will be received by the school system in January and February 2005.  Because of the procedure, these funds will be depleted between the present time and  January 2005.  They will be subsidized by the General Fund until the collections are received.  Minimum Foundation Program monies of approximately $2,000,000 are received each month which helps the cash flow in the General Fund.

The 21^st annual Academic Awards Banquet has been scheduled for Monday, November 8, 2004 at the Ruston Civic Center beginning at 6:30 p.m. according to Dr. Scriber.  The guest speaker for the banquet will be Dr. Horace Judson, President of Grambling Sate University.

The self insurance health benefits program report showed that health program's total cost for the first six months of the calendar/plan year have decreased a little more than 4% over the previous year according to Mr. Boyd.  Total costs for the month were $536,584 with a year-to-date total of $2,878,672.  Dental insurance costs have decreased approximately 13.5% during the same period.  Total year-to-date dental costs are $169,846 and total costs last year at this time were $196,495.  These are very positive signs.  Mr. Boyd noted that Benesys has been acquired by Covenant Companies.  He foresees some positive changes in reporting procedures and possible cost savings.

Even though the school system has no academically unacceptable schools or any that fall into School Improvement Level II, III, IV, V, or VI of the School Accountability Program, Superintendent Charles Scriber distributed a new Public School Choice policy along with a revised Board Member Compensation and Expenses policy for review until the October 20, 2004 meeting of the board.

Following a Best/Anders motion, and by unanimous vote, the meeting adjourned at 7:02 p.m.

__________________________________        __________________________________

Charles R. Scriber, Secretary                         Robert E. Shadoin, President