LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
Ruston, Louisiana
REGULAR SESSION
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 6:00 p.m.
The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 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 Mr. Otha Anders, Mr. Michael Barmore, Ms. Lisa Best, Mr. Curtis Dowling, Ms. Mattie Harrison (left early), Ms. Lynda Henderson, Mr. Trott Hunt, Mr. Jim Kessler, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Ted McKinney, and Mr. Joe Mitcham.
Mr. Eddie Jones was absent.
President Anders called the meeting to order and Mr. Kessler gave the invocation. Ms. Harrison led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. Mr. Anders welcomed board members, staff, media, honorees, and guests including Dr. Jan Colvin’s Louisiana Tech family law class.
Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Ms. Henderson, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda as printed.
Upon a motion by Ms. Best, seconded by Mr. Mitcham, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on March 6, 2007, as distributed.
Kathy Shipp, Special Education Supervisor, recognized Alice Higginbotham, teacher at Hico Elementary, for being named the 2007 State Clinician of the Year. She indicated that Ms. Higginbotham was nominated for the award by some of her student teachers. After the presentation of a plaque, Ms. Higginbotham introduced her guest and verbalized her thanks.
Mr. Anders expressed congratulations from the Board and staff on earning the award and thanked her for efforts to train those who will be working with the special needs children.
As has become her custom in the spring, Betty Wall, Accountability Coordinator, was in attendance to present state accountability reward checks to the principals whose schools met or surpassed their growth targets and showed growth in the performance of students who were classified as high poverty students. Two Lincoln Parish schools earned the distinction of Exemplary Academic Growth and three schools attained Recognized Academic Growth. Ms. Wall congratulated the principals. The schools recognized and their monetary rewards were:
Choudrant High School Exemplary Academic Growth $10,429
Ruston Elementary School Exemplary Academic Growth $11,808
Choudrant Elementary Recognized Academic Growth $ 6,931
Glen View Elementary Recognized Academic Growth $ 8,682
Ruston Junior High Recognized Academic Growth $ 8,650
Superintendent Danny Bell said that having good teachers is so very important to a school and a successful school system. Accountability is a very difficult thing and it puts pressure on teachers and the students. He personally congratulated the school leaders for meeting their growth targets and for receiving this reward money. This year brought about a change in the process of recalculation which had the greatest impact on the high schools. He commended the schools for what they’ve done and again thanked the principals and teachers.
Mr. Bell introduced special guests as part of Project ACHIEVE: Scott Terry, Lincoln Parish Chamber of Commerce, and Lucius McGehee, Argent Financial Group, who is also a part of the Ruston High School (RHS) focus group.
Scott Terry said how important the schools and educational standards are to the children and to the economic development of the community. He presented each principal who received reward money with two movie passes to Celebrity Theatre; $30 gift certificates for dinner from Applebee’s, Chili’s, Lee’s Cajun Café, Log Cabin, or Ponchatoula’s; and a $25 gift card from First National Bank. On behalf of the 467 business members of the Chamber of Commerce, he said they are extremely proud of each of the principals and wanted to use this means to express their appreciation.
Superintendent Bell said he appreciates the business community and those in the community pitching in and realizing the importance of being a partner in education today. On that note he introduced focus group members who were also present at the meeting, Duddy Garrett, Beth Lyons, Tisdale McDonald, and Melinda McIntyre.
The Board was reminded by George Murphy, Business Manager, that each year schools are allocated funds from the 1979 sales tax fund to purchase instructional supplies. These amounts are distributed on a per pupil basis through the Business Department. Mr. Murphy proposed increasing the allocations $ .25 from the previous year. The distribution would be:
Art K-12- $1.25 per student
Physical Education K-12 - $1.25 per student
Library Supplies K-5 - $ .75 per student
6-12 - $1.25 per student
Music K-5 - $ .75 per student
6-12 - $1.25 per student
Magazines & K-6 - $2.45 per student
Newspapers 7-12 - $2.75 per student
Science K-6 - $1.00 per student
7-8 - $2.50 per student
9-12 - $4.00 per student
Upon a motion by Mr. Mitcham, seconded by Ms. Best, the Board unanimously voted to approve the allocations for 07-08 from 1979 sales taxes as outlined above.
In order to comply with state law, Director of Auxiliary Services, Charles Owens, requested permission to advertise for bids for materials and supplies for the next school year.
Upon a motion by Mr. Dowling, seconded by Mr. McKinney, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to advertise for bids for duplicating paper, toilet tissue and paper towels, dust mops, and gasoline and diesel for 07-08.
Several of the schools and Title I have been collecting and storing broken and obsolete property which has created clutter and now needs to be used for other purposes, reported Ricky Edmiston, Vocational/Secondary Supervisor. He asked the Board to declare the items on lists provided by Dubach High, Ruston Elementary, Ruston High, Simsboro High, and Title I as surplus so they could be disposed.
Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Barmore, the Board unanimously voted to declare obsolete and broken equipment at Dubach High, Ruston Elementary, Ruston High, Simsboro High, and Title I as surplus.
The Board served as a Committee of the Whole and the following Personnel Committee agenda items were considered after Mary Null, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Programs, presented 1. - 4., and Charles Owens presented 5.-6.:
1. Retirement of the following effective May 28, 2007, unless otherwise noted:
Theresa Phillips, elementary teacher at Cypress Springs.
Barbara Young, elementary music teacher at Cypress Springs.
Terri Johnson, counselor at Ruston High, effective June 11, 2007.
2. Retirement of the following support employees:
Debra Crowe, Title I secretary/receptionist at the central office, effective December 17, 2007.
Charlotte Davidson, internal auditor at the central office, effective June 1, 2007.
Marjorie Berguson, secretary at Ruston Junior High, effective June 8, 2007.
3. Resignation of the following teachers:
Luke Polk, agriculture at Dubach High, effective June 30, 2007.
Julie Stephenson, English/Spanish, at Dubach High, effective May 28, 2007.
Kelly Stuckey, physical education at Simsboro High, effective March 15, 2007.
4. Administrative point of reference/transfer of Donna Doss from principal at Dubach High to principal at Simsboro High effective July 1, 2007, replacing Barbara Kirkland who was an interim.
5. Retirement of Johnnie Dyes, custodian and bus driver at Hico Elementary, effective June 30, 2007.
6. Resignation of Vershal Hogan, custodian at Choudrant High, effective March 26, 2007.
Upon a motion by Ms. Henderson, seconded by Mr. Barmore, the Board unanimously voted to approve the personnel requests.
The Building and Grounds Committee of the Board met on two separate occasions to review the condition of the RHS track facility and the request for improvement through construction and renovation. George Mack, Chairman of the Committee, reported that the following items were decided at their last meet on Tuesday, March 20, 2007:
1. Unanimous Committee approval was given to moving forward with the RHS athletic track facility project as described by the Superintendent, Director of Auxiliary Services, Architect, and RHS athletic representatives. Planned renovations and additions include increasing the size of the concession stand and the facility that houses offices and a locker room. The Committee asked that the administration explore the possibility of having the project bid at the May or June meeting of the LPSB. They further asked that the facility construction and renovation be bid in its entirety rather than in two stages due to the fact that funding appears to be available.
2. The committee asked that contact be made with past and present ”Pro” or ”Semi-Pro” athletes to see if they will be interested in contributing funds so that they may be recognized for their successes and their giving back something personally in return to honor an outstanding program for which many former athletes have expressed such appreciation. A list of contributors will be named at some future meeting of the board with a recognition program at the completion of the project. Everyone in attendance was encouraged to make contact with individuals they may know and donations may be sent to the Business Manager at the LPSB.
3. The Committee recognized that the facility is utilized by all district students and not solely RHS students even though the primary use will continue by those attending the largest high school. They feel that moving forward with the project will make it a better facility for the parish and will come to be used often by visiting football teams, soccer teams, and track teams.
At the end of the report, Mr. Anders said the recommendations of the Committee will be acted on at a future meeting of the Board.
President Anders and Superintendent Bell thanked Mr. Mack and the Committee members for their hard work and said they envision a great facility in the future.
During a brief time of discussion which followed it was stated that the approximate cost of the project is $400,000.
Business Manager, George Murphy reported on March 2007 sales taxes. It was a really good month with $560,894 being collected in the 1967 and 1979 funds. Collections in the 1993 and 2000 sales tax funds were $673,071. These were 44.69% increases comparing month-to-month which was a little skewed because taxes on autos were delayed in February and included in March’s figures. Although the average increase for those two months was 25%, collections were up 17.43% over year-to-date collections in March 2006.
Audit recoveries were $1,284 for the month which brings the total for the year to $446,642.
In the financial statement for the month ending February 2007, Mr. Murphy said that each of the funds was where they expected them to be at that point in the year. They were all in the black except for the Child Nutrition Fund which was budgeted to go in the hole because of equipment needs.
Changes to the policy manual are to be introduced at one board meeting and voted on at a subsequent meeting; therefore, Ms. Null asked for approval of the policy additions and deletion that she proposed at the March meeting.
After questions, upon a motion by Mr. McKinney, seconded by Ms. Best, the Board unanimously voted to approve the deletion of one policy: Administrative Personnel Vacations (Annual Leave) (CGPH) and the revision of six policies: Annual Leave (GBRK), Regular and Special Meetings (BCAB), Board Member Compensation and Expenses (BBBE), Elections Board (LDAC), Sick Leave (GBRIB), and Student Assignments (JBCC).
During the past couple of months a committee consisting of parents, business owners, teachers, and administrators has had several meetings to develop the state-mandated parish technology plan according to Debbie Pender, Technology/Instructional Facilitator. The plan for 2007-2014, which has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Danny Bell, was aligned with the Louisiana State technology plan. If approved by the Board, it will be submitted to the La. State Division of Leadership and Technology for their review and each of the principals will receive a copy to use as a guide in preparing their individual school technology plans. She requested approval of the 2007-2014 technology plan.
Upon a motion by Mr. Mack, seconded by Mr. Barmore, the Board unanimously voted to approve the 2007-2014 Lincoln Parish Technology Plan and grant permission to submit it to the Louisiana State Division of Leadership and Technology for approval.
Mr. Owens indicated that verbal approval has been given for change orders at Lincoln Center, Ruston Junior High, and Simsboro School for the construction and renovation projects that are on-going. He asked for formal approval of the following summarized requests:
Project C (Lincoln Center)
Add an exterior lighted sign (similar to I. A. Lewis’s) at a cost of $8,495
Project D (Ruston Junior High)
Add two windows to comply with the fire marshal requirements at a cost of $2,209.78.
Simsboro Project
Add cabinets in kindergarten rooms at approximately $8,000
Architect Mike Walpole was available to help with specific questions after providing a little more information on the change orders.
Mattie Harrison left during the discussion and before the vote was taken.
Upon a motion by Mr. Mack, seconded by Mr. McKinney, the Board unanimously voted to approve the change orders for Lincoln Center, Ruston Junior High, and Simsboro School project.
Superintendent Danny Bell communicated that he plans to open the application process for the Dubach High and Ruston High principal slots on Wednesday, April 11, 2007. Advertisements will be sent to school systems, newspapers across North Louisiana, and placed on the web site. The application period would close at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25, with interviews to be scheduled on April 30 and/or May 1. The interview committee will consist of three principals and two central office staff members who will be appointed by the superintendent. His plans are to present recommendations for the new administrators at the Board’s May 8 meeting.
Following questions, upon a motion by Ms. Best, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to grant their approval to advertise and interview for principals of Dubach High and Ruston High as described above.
Because of the vital role of school bus drivers, lunchroom workers, custodians, secretaries, clerical personnel, teacher aides, bus aides, maintenance workers, and para-professionals in the efficient operation of the school system, Mr. Owens recommended that the Board adopt a Resolution designating April 23-27, 2007, as Support Personnel Week.
Upon a motion by Mr. Dowling, seconded by Mr. Hunt, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the following:
RESOLUTION
That the Lincoln Parish School Board designates the week of April 23-27, 2007, as Support Personnel Week in Lincoln Parish and copies of this Resolution be sent to all of the schools in the parish, and made a part of the official minutes of the Lincoln Parish School Board.
In a Report of the Superintendent, Mr. Bell said that:
1. He appreciates the Project ACHIEVE coordinator, Cathi Cox, and the schools’ faculties and administrators for their hard work. New base lines for testing have been established and when test scores arrive they will know how the schools are measuring up. He is meeting with the new State Superintendent of Education, Paul Pastorek, to hear his vision and to share concerns including accountability.
2. The Choudrant School District bond election is upcoming on May 5. Many activities are planned in the upcoming weeks. He supports Mr. Kessler and the principals as they move forward with this.
Following comments from several board members, the meeting adjourned at 7:21 p.m.
______________________ __________________________
Danny L. Bell, Secretary Otha L. Anders, President