LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

Ruston, Louisiana

REGULAR SESSION

Wednesday, October 20, 2010  12:30 P.M.

            The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Wednesday, October 20, 2010, at 12:30 p.m. at Ruston Elementary School, 200 North Bernard Street, Ruston, Louisiana.  Members present were Mr. Michael Barmore, Ms. Lisa Best, Mr. Curtis Dowling, Ms. Lynda Henderson, Mr. Trott Hunt, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Ted McKinney, and Mr. Joe Mitcham.

            President Otha Anders, Ms. Mattie Harrison, Mr. Eddie Jones, and Mr. Jim Kessler were absent.

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

            Vice President Joe Mitcham called the meeting to order.  Mr. Dowling gave the invocation and MaKayla Lewis, a 4^th grade student, led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.

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

            Principal of Ruston Elementary, Pam Harris, welcomed the Board to one of the oldest schools in the city.  She noted the school is a good school but does have accountability issues on which they are working.  Ms. Kim Shackelford as well as a plethora of resources from the Central Office are being utilized.  Ms. Harris shared programs and interventions the faculty is using or putting in place to address areas needing strengthening.  In closing she said the school is not where they want it to be, but they are working to get there.

            Director of Instruction, Personnel, and Special Programs, Mary Null, verbalized her pleasure in recognizing employees in the Business Department for the good job they do in appropriately managing finances.  For preparing the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and enabling the Lincoln Parish School System to again attain the Government Finance Officers Association’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting and also the Association of School Business Officials’ Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting Award for the fiscal year ending June, 2009, she turned the floor over to George Murphy, Business Manager.  Mr. Murphy received plaques from Mrs. Null and recognized the following Business Department employees:  Kathy Pool, Bonnie Fogger, Suzette Bagwell, Cindy Hinton, Diedre Smith, and Kim McCormack.  He verbalized his pleasure in working with the Business Department staff.

            Several schools have been collecting broken and obsolete property reported Ricky Edmiston, Secondary Supervisor.  He distributed a list of the items and asked for permission to declare them as surplus and dispose of them.

            Upon a motion by Ms. Best, seconded by Mr. Barmore, the Board unanimously voted to declare the items on lists from Simsboro High, Dubach High, Lincoln Parish Career Academy, and Ruston High as surplus and grant authority to the administration to dispose of all items in a prudent manner.

            Because the architect was nearing completion of the design and schematic phase of the plans for the renovation and construction of Choudrant High School, Director of Auxiliary Services, Charles Owens, noted that it was time to advertise the project.

            Architect Greg Wallace was in attendance at the meeting.

            Upon a motion by Mr. Mack, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to advertise the Choudrant High School capital construction and renovation project.

            Mr. Owens also communicated that in order to proceed with the construction of a field house at Ruston High School as the Board voted on October 5, 2010, the services of an architect must be secured.  He suggested that the Board grant permission to use Mike Walpole.

            Upon a motion by Mr. McKinney, seconded by Mr. Hunt, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to enter into a contract with Architect Mike Walpole for the Ruston High School field house project.

            Mr. Mitcham, Chairman of the Finance Committee, said his committee and the Building and Grounds Committee met earlier last week to look at the superintendent’s ten-year capital outlay plan.  He turned the floor over to George Mack, Chairman of the Building and Grounds Committee, who said his committee supported the plan and asked for comments from any of the committee members.

            Mr. Bell said he’d appreciated those that attended the joint committee meeting and reiterated that he would appreciate board members’ input.  He had already gotten a suggestion from one board member, Mr. Trott Hunt.  The ten-year plan is a document that can be changed as needed as time goes by and is not all inclusive.  Mr. Bell said the Building and Grounds and Finance Committees may need to meet again to combine some of the ideas.  They are very similar, but may need talking through.  In his opinion, a decision needs to be made in the next month or so regarding some projects at Ruston High in order to make New Tech a reality.  Bond attorney, Grant Schlueter, had given him information on extending the current Ruston district millage for five years.  He believes it is a great plan but needs to know how to begin to move.

            Mr. Hunt asked if some goals for New Tech and commitment of what the administration expects from the program had been prepared.  Superintendent Bell said he had visited with Cathi Cox-Boniol, Director of New Tech @ Ruston (NT@R), about the same and feels that a goal of no drop outs would be one option.  He also felt safe to say that a 10% projected increase in average state assessments might be another.

            Ms. Cox-Boniol said at the end of the first grading period absences had already decreased by half for the 100 students in the program.  The number of in-school suspension referrals had also decreased, and the students are also more engaged during the day.  These and other items can be used to draft some specific goals for NT@R which might be shared at the November board meeting.

            The New Tech coach from the Dallas area, Starla Collins, was at the meeting and said Ruston High’s New Tech is truly growing at a phenomenal pace.  She believes NT@R is in line with some of the exemplary schools in Dallas and is well on target to become a model school for the New Tech network within one year.  They do not currently have a model in the State of Louisiana.

            Mr. Mack opined that another joint meeting of the Finance and Building and Grounds Committees might need to be scheduled prior to the next regular session of the Board.

            Upon a motion by Mr. Mack, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the ten year capital outlay guide.

            David Charpentier, our health care account manager, gave a brief report concerning Health Care Reform.  He related that the school system’s plan would be considered a grandfathered plan.  As required a Model Notice explaining the changes to the plan will go out to employees with their October checks.  Some of the changes include covering dependents up to the age of 26, prohibition on lifetime limits, restrictions on annual limits, and prohibition on pre-existing condition limitations with respect to participants under age 19.  Mr. Charpentier stated that as a result of the changes, he expected the cost of the plan to the school board to rise.  He answered several questions from board members and the public.

            Eleven out of twelve schools in Lincoln Parish improved their School Performance Score during the 09-10 school year according to Accountability Coordinator, Donna Doss.  She received the news a day after positive feedback from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools with their recommendation for accreditation.  Lincoln Parish was one of the top ten most improved districts and also one of the top ten districts based on percent of schools that met their growth target for 2010.  Of the eleven schools that showed growth, seven of those not only met their growth target, they exceeded it. 

            Danny Bell said he is proud of the seven schools exceeding their growth target and also the eleven that showed growth.  The school district is devoting many resources to Ruston Elementary in an attempt to help them reach their goal for next year.

            Mr. Bell recognized the principals of seven schools that exceeded state accountability standards.  Principals Lisa Bastion (Choudrant High), Lisa Mangum (Glen View Elementary), Patrice Hilton (Hillcrest Elementary), Sonja Walker (I. A. Lewis), and Mike Milstead (Ruston High) exceeded their growth targets by at least five points, which earned them an increment of $5,000.  Principals Judy Mabry (Dubach High) and Charles Hogan (Choudrant Elementary) exceeded their targets by less than five points, which earned them a $2,000 increment.  These principal salary performance increments are one-time payments based on School Performance Scores that the Board approved in 2008.  If a principal exceeds their growth target two years in a row, they earn a permanent raise.  In the second year of the program, Superintendent Bell recognized three principals who will receive a permanent raise, an average of the increments earned for the last two years, which will go into effect next year:  Mike Milstead and Patrice Hilton will receive $3,500 per year and Judy Mabry will receive $2,000. He said he was glad to be able to show appreciation and encourage the principals to continue their hard work and hopes to see even better results next year.

            At the October 5, 2010, meeting Ms. Null presented two policy revisions for the Board’s consideration.  She recommended that they be approved.

            Upon a motion by Mr. Barmore, seconded by Ms. Henderson, the Board unanimously voted to approve revisions to:  Responsibility for Vehicle Operation (EDBA) and Dismissal of Employees (GBN).  

            In a Report of the Superintendent, Mr. Bell expressed that Congress has designated October National Principals Month.

            Mr. Mitcham read a memorandum from him reporting on the incident that involved fliers from one of the mayoral candidates being placed in school employees’ mail boxes prior to the election on October 2, 2010.  Although Superintendent Bell had asked at the October 5, 2010, meeting that a committee be formed to deal with the incident, after conferring with counsel on the issue, President Anders decided board members should not be involved in any investigation into the matter.  Instead Jon Guice, attorney with Hammonds and Sills in Baton Rouge, reviewed the situation and reported back to Mr. Mitcham in Mr. Anders’ absence.  Mr. Mitcham shared there was no indication whatsoever or any facts which suggested that Mr. Bell knowingly and intentionally violated any school board policy or state law.  In fact, their review has found no school board policy addressing the situation in the Board’s current policy manual. 

            Jon Guice was in attendance and suggested that the Board waive their traditional procedure and adopt a new policy clarifying acceptable and unacceptable political conduct.  Because the November 2 election will occur before the next school board meeting, he felt is was imperative to skip the month of review before new policy adoption.

            Upon a motion by Mr. Dowling, seconded by Ms. Henderson, the Board unanimously voted to add one item of New Business to the agenda:  Policy manual addition.

            Upon a motion by Ms. Best, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to suspend their normal procedure regarding policy changes and adopt the new Political Activities (GAHB) policy.

            There being no further business, and upon a motion by Ms. Best, the meeting adjourned at 1:47 p.m.

________________________________                ___________________________________

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