LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
Ruston, Louisiana
REGULAR SESSION
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 6:00 p.m.
The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, at 6:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Parish School Board, 410 South Farmerville Street, Ruston, Louisiana. Members present were President Otha Anders, Mr. Michael Barmore, Ms. Lisa Best, Mr. Curtis Dowling, Ms. Mattie Harrison, Mr. Trott Hunt, Mr. Eddie Jones, Mr. Jim Kessler, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Ted McKinney, and Mr. Joe Mitcham.
Ms. Lynda Henderson was absent.
President Anders called the meeting to order. The invocation was given by Mr. Mack, and Ms. Best led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. Mr. Anders welcomed board members, staff, members of the media, and special guests.
Upon a motion by Mr. Barmore, seconded by Ms. Best, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda as printed.
Upon a motion by Mr. Barmore, seconded by Mr. Hunt, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Sessions held on October 6, 2009, and October 21, 2009.
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; Brenda Theodos, Child Nutrition Program Supervisor, presented 2; and James Payton, Transportation Coordinator, presented 3:
1. Employment of Kyle Kavanaugh, social studies teacher at Ruston High, effective September 21, 2009, replacing Todd Boddie who resigned.
Resignation of the following school food service personnel:
Salina Howell, technician at Ruston High, effective October 8, 2009, and
Velma Rivers, manager at I. A. Lewis, effective October 20, 2009.
Resignation of bus driver in the Ruston area, Sarah Williams, effective October 7, 2009.
Upon a motion by Mr. Mitcham, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to approve the administration’s personnel recommendations.
The system received stimulus funds and chose to implement extended school to provide intense intervention, remediation and enrichment activities for two of the highest poverty schools, Cypress Springs and Ruston Elementary, according to Willie Washington, Director of Title I. The extended day program began on October 1, 2009, and will end on March 25, 2010. The program will run in the summer and will begin again in October 2010 and run through May 2011. The school day is extended on Monday through Thursday for an hour and a half a day for a total of eighty-one days. The project will cost approximately $285,000 for all expenses except food service. He asked Pam Harris, principal of Ruston Elementary, and Doris Lewis, principal of Cypress Springs, to share about their program.
Pam Harris indicated that eighty-four 3rd through 5th grade students who she felt could increase their student achievement in the areas of math and English/language arts were split into 7 classes with an average of 12 – 14 students per class. Classroom instruction geared toward LEAP and iLEAP skills following the Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum is followed by individualized computer instruction.
Doris Lewis gave an overview of their themed program called Wild Kingdom which consists of six teachers. Based on LEAP, iLEAP, and DIBELS scores, students were selected for participation in the program. Approximately forty-seven 3rd and 5th graders are being taught from October 5 through December 10, and on January 4 through March 25 4th graders will receive instruction. She invited board members to their Readers Theater on December 3 at 3:00 p.m.
Hopefully with hands-on instruction and teaching at a slower pace the students participating at each of the schools will be able to master the skills needed to have greater success on the LEAP and iLEAP tests. The students and teachers are excited about the extended day program, and the principals are getting very positive feedback.
The Readiness Report, the second step in SACS accreditation, was included in packets. Paula Pardue, Secondary Academic Coordinator, compiled the report which was a collaborative effort of teachers, principals and central office staff. It will be sent to the SACS headquarters. She called attention to a key for scoring, five necessary conditions of improving school districts, three core tasks of continuously improving schools, and evidence or artifacts to support the tasks. A readiness visit will be scheduled by SACS in February or early March.
George Murphy, Business Manager, indicated that sales tax collections for the month ending October 31, 2009, were $1,119,309 which was down 38%. Year-to-date the fund was down 34%. A significant drop from the previous month was noted in November 2008. He hopes that things will begin to level out and some gains will be seen by the beginning of 2010. For the month $59,428 was recovered by audits which was up 26%. Year-to-date audit collections were down 23%. In the 1967 and 1979 sales tax fund $508,777 was collected, and $610,531 was added to the 1993 and 2000 funds. He noted that the primary reasons for the decreases were oil and gas extraction; industrial machinery and equipment; electric, gas, and sanitary services; and automotive dealers and service stations.
Moving on to Septembers 2009’s financial update, Mr. Murphy noted no significant change from the previous month. The general fund was still up $2.8 million year-to-date. The ad valorem funds had not received incoming monies; those should be received in January. The sales tax funds had pretty good balances. He called attention to fund #15, the 2000 sales tax fund, that will pay the 13th checks. Through September the balance of that fund was $4,028,000.
September 2009 was a good month for the self-insured health plan as the previous month’s loss turned into a gain of $694,000. Year-to-date the fund was up $848,000. Mr. Murphy communicated that several significant claims were received in October that will be reflected on next month’s report. Some reasons for the increase in revenue were payments through the stop loss insurance that were received in September.
A new report, Financial Outlook, was added to the agenda in order for George Murphy to give the Board an indication of what he believes will happen in the future. Within the last week information was received from the state that indicated the district’s contribution to the two main retirement plans is going up $1.75 million for the next fiscal year. He has also heard talk of a 2% reduction in the MFP for next year which would be $631,000. Those total cuts would equal $2.4 million. In terms of possible people affected, that is approximately 36 certificated positions. When budget preparations are begun, some tough decisions will need to be made. He said the cuts are not certain but possible, and that the 2.75% increase in MFP isn’t even being discussed. The passage of the Choudrant millage will help several funds, specifically the 5 mill maintenance fund which has paid several hundreds of thousands of dollars toward roof repair in Choudrant over the last few years. Once the project begins, he anticipates fewer roof repairs in the Choudrant district. In the Simsboro and Ruston districts fewer roof repairs were needed after their capital improvement projects. The 93 ad valorem fund which has been paying Choudrant’s utility bills will be relieved of that responsibility. Their M & O tax will be shown on the financial statements for next year. Choudrant’s passage will also help with MFP funds as it increases local effort. Hopefully the community of Dubach will follow Choudrant’s lead with a millage of their own. Stimulus money will be received one more year after this year and after that it will drop off. It is unclear what the state will do with a little over $900,000 which was part of the stimulus money. The administration will attempt to acquire the stimulus money for the qualified school construction bonds for the Choudrant district but he won’t know for sure until they open it up again in January. The system was fortunate to get some for the pre-k center in the last round. There was a reduction in the October 2009 student count but combined with last year’s increase, the total is up 1 student. Next year’s MFP will decrease because of the drop in student numbers this year.
On July 7, 2009, the Board adopted a resolution to call a special election on October 17, 2009, for voters to consider Choudrant School District No. 6, Proposition 1, a bond election for capital improvements, and Proposition 2, which calls for a maintenance and operation millage. According to Mr. Murphy, the total of votes for Proposition 1 was 461 FOR and 342 AGAINST passing by a majority of 119 or 57.4%. The total of votes for Proposition 2 was 456 FOR and 344 AGAINST passing by a majority of 112 of 57.0%.authorized the propositions by a majority of voters. In order to comply with the Louisiana Election Code, the Board must adopt a resolution canvassing the results of that election.
Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Jones, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the following:
RESOLUTION
A resolution providing for canvassing the returns and declaring the results of the special election held in Choudrant School District No. 6 of the Parish of Lincoln, State of Louisiana, on Saturday, October 17, 2009, to authorize the incurring of debt and issuance of bonds and the levy of a special tax therein.
Copies of revisions to the Administration of Medication policy were distributed at the October 26 2009, meeting. Since that time, Forethought made additional revisions to policy JGCD. Ms. Null asked the Board to consider the policy revisions with formal action to be taken at the December 1, 2009, meeting.
Sales tax collections have decreased during the fiscal year primarily due to decreases in oil and gas extraction. Over the years, the system has accumulated a reserve in the sales tax funds for the purpose of maintaining the salary supplement amounts paid to employees in years where tax collections are in decline. George Murphy and Superintendent Bell recommended paying salary supplements in the same amounts as last year: $2,450 to certified personnel and $1,225 to support personnel.
Upon a motion by Ms. Best, seconded by Mr. Mitcham, the Board unanimously voted to approve the payment of salary supplements on November 20, 2009, in the amounts of $2,450 to certified personnel and $1,225 to support personnel.
In a Report of the Superintendent, Mr. Bell said:
1. A mass H1N1 vaccination program will most likely begin during the first or second week in December depending on availability of the vaccine. Following notification to parents and written permission from them, sites will be set up by a team of about ten nurses from outside Lincoln Parish, the system’s nurses, and hopefully volunteer physicians. Some of the sites will be at schools in order for students in 6th grade and up to be given vaccines during the school day. Younger students must be accompanied by a parent. More information will be forthcoming in the near future.
2. Ted McKinney is trying to pull the newly-formed Drop Out Committee together for a meeting in the near future. Hopefully some good recommendations will come from them. He wanted to clear something that came out in print with the graduation cohort rate. The graduation cohort rate for 2007 was 76.5. A recalculation involving grades 9 through 12 occurred for the 07-08 year and many school districts’ rates dropped. Lincoln’s dropped to 65.1 for 2008, but for 2009 the graduation cohort rate for Lincoln is 71.4. It did increase a little over 6%.
3. He is watching the financial situation very carefully. Several new initiatives will be coming up in the future of Lincoln Parish. Mr. Bell hopes the financial situation will not hinder the school system from moving forward and being progressive in providing for the many students in Lincoln Parish. One particular concept that he has not forgotten about is the New Tech High School model. He does think it is going to meet the needs of many students at the high school level. He is not going to give up on that and will soon have a presentation ready for the Board. Louisiana Tech University is thrilled with the prospect of this being brought into the community.
President Anders, realizing that he did not name a parent to serve on the Drop Out Committee at the last meeting of the Board, decided to add Theresa Spivey, mother of three children in the school system.
There being no further business, and following a motion by Ms. Best, the meeting adjourned at 6:53 p.m.
_______________________________ _______________________________
Danny L. Bell, Secretary Otha L. Anders, President