LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

Ruston, Louisiana

REGULAR SESSION

Wednesday, October 17, 2007  12:30 P.M.

The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Wednesday, October 17, 2007, at 12:30 p.m. at Simsboro High School, #1 Tiger Drive, Simsboro, Louisiana.  Members present were President Otha Anders, Mr. Michael Barmore, Ms. Lisa Best, Mr. Curtis Dowling, Ms. Mattie Harrison, Ms. Lynda Henderson, Mr. Trott Hunt, Mr. Jim Kessler, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Ted McKinney, and Mr. Joe Mitcham.

Mr. Eddie Jones was absent.

Prior to the business meeting, board members enjoyed a delicious lunch in the school cafeteria.

Mr. Anders called the meeting to order, and Mr. McKinney gave the invocation.  Ms. Best led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.  Mr. Anders welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Upon a motion by Mr. Dowling, seconded by Mr. Hunt, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda as printed. 

Principal of Simsboro High School, Donna Doss, also welcomed guests to the school and invited them back at any time.  She and her staff are committed to student achievement and are really busy in that pursuit.  Mrs. Doss mentioned a few of the programs and strategies in use at Simsboro in keeping with her goal of making education a top priority.

Business Manager, George Murphy, called attention to the General Fund balance of $3,600,000 on the August 2007 financial statement.  The five mill maintenance fund, funded through property taxes, and the ad valorem and M & O funds, funded with ad valorem taxes, all have negative balances because those monies have not been received this year.  The balances will correct themselves when property taxes are received.  A $423,000 partial settlement of back taxes has been received from the assessor’s office this week.  The child nutrition fund remains in the hole.  The sales tax funds are all doing well.

Mr. Mitcham entered the meeting.

For the month of September 2007 the health insurance fund lost $256,683 according to Mr. Murphy.  However the fund is up $663,327 after nine months.  He met with the TPA yesterday, and there are no premium increases on the horizon.  Mr. Murphy does plan to discuss various issues with the superintendent before bringing a recommendation for changes to the board.

At the October 2, 2007, meeting the superintendent presented revised Suspension and Expulsion policies for the Board’s consideration.  He recommended that they be approved.

Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Barmore, the board unanimously voted to approve the revisions to the Suspension (JDD) and Expulsion (JDE) policies.

Five qualified bidders submitted bids on the Ruston High School track construction and renovation project.  Charles Owens, Director of Auxiliary Services, noted that Triad Buildings of Ruston, Inc. came in as low bidder with their base bid of $667,000.  The bid was in excess of the $425,000 projection because of addressing some exterior electrical and other issues that warrant significant additional funds.  After further and careful review, and because additional funding is available and can be added to the budget prior to the close of the budget year, he recommended the acceptance of the bid and the approval of Triad for the work.

Architect Mike Walpole wanted to make sure that it was understood that the bid price included the renovation of the existing building as well as the new addition.  This will almost double the size of the building.

Upon a motion by Mr. Mack, seconded by Ms. Henderson, the board unanimously voted to accept and approve Triad Buildings of Ruston, Inc., as the low bidder and contractor for the Ruston High School Track Building Renovation and Construction Project.

In the process of construction and renovation at several school sites, Charles Owens mentioned that verbal approval had been given for several changes.  He came before the board to ask for formal approval of change orders so that they can be processed properly.  He listed the projects, schools, and monetary amounts as follows:

        Project D:  Ruston Junior High            Total:   $  5,590.00

        Project E:  Ruston High                      Total:   $15,873.60

        Simsboro Project                               Total:   $  3,148.00

Mr. Walpole provided further explanation of the change orders.

Upon a motion by Mr. Hunt, seconded by Ms. Harrison, the board unanimously voted to approve the change orders for Ruston Junior High and Ruston High as mentioned above.

In a Report of the Superintendent, Mr. Bell:

                        1.         Expressed appreciation to Mike Walpole and his staff as they have been exceptional moving the construction projects along.

                        2.         Said that Ms. Doss is doing a great job at Simsboro.  She has a wonderful attitude.  He appreciates what she, the other principals, and the dedicated teachers are doing.

                        3.         Indicated that his staff and he are going to be looking at the direction the parish is going in attempts to move the schools forward.  He feels the initiatives in place are on track and even ahead of some of the other systems. The new state superintendent is not satisfied overall with the districts’ performances.  Even more pressures on the school districts are going to be coming.  Critical elections are coming up, and change is in the air.  This will trickle down to the school districts; however, he has been doing and will continue to do what he can to make the school system better. 

Following several comments, the meeting adjourned at 1:25 p.m.

___________________________                       _____________________________

Danny L. Bell, Secretary                                  Otha L. Anders, President