LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

Ruston, Louisiana

REGULAR SESSION

Tuesday, March 6, 2018   6:00 p.m.

The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, at 6:00 p.m. in the Lincoln Parish School Board Central Office, 410 South Farmerville Street, Ruston, Louisiana.  Members present were Ms. Debbie Abrahm, Mr. Otha Anders, Mr. Michael Barmore, Mr. Curtis Dowling, Mr. David Ferguson, Mr. Danny Hancock, Ms. Lynda Henderson, Mr. Trott Hunt, Mr. George Mack, Jr., Mr. Joe Mitcham, and Ms. Susan Wiley.

Ms. Lisa Best was absent.

President Mitcham called the meeting to order, and the invocation was given by Mr. Hunt.  Ms. Henderson led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.  Mr. Mitcham welcomed visitors to the meeting.

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

Upon a motion by Mr. Barmore, seconded by Mr. Hancock, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on February 6, 2018, as distributed.

Independent Auditor, Margie Williamson, presented an audit report for the year ending June 30, 2017.  She called attention to two reports, the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and the Single Audit Report and briefly went over the results of the audit.

 In the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), the LPSB received an unmodified audit opinion, the best opinion possible, which means that the Board’s financial condition, position, and operations were fairly presented in the financial statements. On the statement of net position, she shared that long-term liabilities were $4.9 million due within one year and more than one year $217 million, which mostly consist of other post employee benefits ($66 million), LPSB’s share of the state’s pension liabilities ($90 million), and bonds ($60 million). The General Fund increased by $216,000 after transfers of $2.1 million to parishwide maintenance, school food service, and parishwide capital project fund. It had an ending balance of $23.2 million with 2.7 million restricted and committed was $3.8 million that were for salaries and benefits. Unassigned amounts were $16.4 million. Although Special Revenue Funds generally don’t have a balance, she reported that School Food Service had an ending fund balance of $625,000 after a $300,000 transfer from the General Fund plus their share of the MFP, and the Parishwide Maintenance Fund balance was $360,000. The two self-insured funds, Workers Comp and Health, decreased a little over $900,000 and had an ending balance of $2.9 million.

Moving on to the Single Audit Report, the compliance part of the audit, Ms. Williamson said $7.9 million was the total of federal grants the district received for 16-17. The federal programs her firm tested were Title I and Special Education.  There were no findings, and prior year findings had all been resolved.  Additionally she called attention to two Agreed-Upon Procedures reports from the Legislative Auditors that mandated what must be tested based on best business practices. Management added procedures to comply with numerous tests at the central office and all of the schools. There were some exceptions but none rose to the findings status. In closing she stated this was a good report.

President Mitcham and Mike Milstead, Superintendent, thanked George Murphy, Business Manager, Kathy Pool, Assistant Business Manager, and the business hall for their hard work and the excellent audit report. 

Lisa Mangum, Elementary Supervisor, gave an update on the Reading Recovery program. At the beginning of the school year, six teachers tested 106 first graders. Sixty of the lowest performing were selected to receive the STAR services. Presently 32 students are reading on the appropriate level and have been dismissed, 10 have moved from group to one-on-one, 6 are still receiving services from the first semester, 6 left the school district, and 6 exited the program because they were not performing at an appropriate level. An additional 49 students were recently tested with 19 chosen to receive individual lessons and 16 to receive small group lessons. 

                        The following personnel items were reported by Dr. Doris Lewis, Director of Human Resources:

1.        Retirement of the following :

Penny James, Speech Therapist and Child Search/LEP Coordinator with Pupil Appraisal, effective June 19, 2018; and

Susan Hermes, itinerant Gifted Teacher at Glen View, effective May 22, 2018.

2.        Employment of Jennifer Harper, Cafeteria Clerk/Technician at Simsboro, effective February 28, 2018, replacing Shalacy Collins who resigned.

3.        Resignation of Deborah Roton, Custodian at Cypress Springs, effective February 8, 2018.

4.        Employment of Herbert Wilson, Custodian at Cypress Springs, effective March 5, 2018, replacing Deborah Roton who resigned.

5.        Retirement of Cathy Franklin, Bus Driver in the Ruston area, effective April 1, 2018.

6.        Employment of John Whittington, Bus Driver in the Ruston area, effective April 1, 2018, replacing Cathy Franklin who retired.

7.        Resignation of Jonathan Bonner, Bus Driver in the Ruston area, effective February 5, 2018.

                        Mr. Murphy reported that sales tax collections for the month of February 2018 were up year-to-date $1.2 million, or 10.54% and down 3% for the month.    Recoveries through audits were down 64% for year.

                        Moving on to the January 2018 financial report, Mr. Murphy stated the Total  Fund Balance was down about $4.7 million compared to January 2017 primarily due to  Capital Outlay expenses of approximately $4 million.

                        Next George Murphy reported on the Health Care Fund stating the balance was up $367,000 indicating the primary reason was the estimated claims incurred not reported, which fluctuates. Overall the operations for the month were down $21,000. He stated that there are plans to talk to the retirees this summer regarding the Medicare program. Plans are to monitor the fund since reserves are not what they used to be; however, sales tax funds could be used to supplement if needed.   

                        Five revised policies and one deleted policy had been studied for a month and were brought back for a vote.  Lisa Bastion, Chief Academic Officer, asked for approval of the revised and deleted policies.   

                        Upon a motion by Mr. Barmore, seconded by Mr. Hancock, the Board unanimously voted to approve the revisions to:  EE – Child Nutrition Program Management; IDDH – English Learner Program; IFD – Parent and Family Engagement; IFDA – Parental Rights/Student Rights of Privacy; and JR – Student Privacy and Education Records; and the deletion of IDCJ – Supplemental Educational Services.

Superintendent Milstead stated that community members, CHS alumni, present faculty members, and current Choudrant Board Member, Mr. Hancock, were supporting an effort to name the baseball complex at Choudrant High in honor of Coach Tony Antley. He noted that Coach Antley began his teaching/coaching career at CHS in 1991 and has served as head baseball coach for 27 consecutive years, and was presently in his 28^th season, and has an impressive overall record.

After a motion by Mr. Hancock, seconded by Mr. Hunt, the Board unanimously voted to name the Choudrant High School baseball facilities for Coach Tony Antley, designated as the “Tony Antley Baseball Field”.

            May supplement checks are funded through sales taxes and the 2000 parish-wide millage. Mr. Murphy said recurring revenue was adequate to increase the supplement check by $500 to certified personnel and $250 to support personnel from last year’s amounts, which was his recommendation. It was his opinion that the increase could be sustained for the next few years. In answer to a question, Mr. Murphy said payment of salary supplement would cost approximately $4.5 million. 

Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Mr. Barmore, the Board unanimously voted to approve the payment of salary supplement checks on May 25, 2018, in the amounts of $5,825 for certified staff and $2,913 for support staff.

 Board members were asked by Ms. Bastion to study the following policy revision and addition until the next meeting:  DJCA – Payday Schedules and DFAA – Industrial Tax Exemption.

Mr. Milstead proposed to open the application process for Principals of Cypress Springs and Ruston Elementary on Wednesday, March 7, 2018. The application period will close at 12:00 noon on Tuesday, March 20, 2018. Advertisements for the positions will be sent to all LPSB schools, placed on the LPSB website, and printed in the Board’s official journal. Interviews for the positions will be held on March 22 and/or March 23, 2018, and a hiring report will be presented to the Board at its April 3, 2018 meeting. The five member interview committee will consist of principals and central office staff appointed by the Superintendent.  

                        Upon a motion by Mr. Barmore, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to advertise and interview for Principals of Cypress Springs and Ruston Elementary as explained above. 

Because the state mandated numerous testing and testing makeup dates as well as the way holidays fall in the coming year, Lisa Bastion reported very little flexibility in the school calendar for 2018-2019.  She asked the Board to adopt the proposed calendar that was very similar to the current one except Spring Break and Easter have to be split next year. As usual, several buffer days were built into the calendar.

Upon a motion by Ms. Abrahm, seconded by Ms. Wiley, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the proposed calendar for the 18-19 school year as follows:

Lincoln Parish 2018 - 2019 School Calendar

            Staff Development                                                                    August 13-14, 2018

All Staff Faculty Meetings                                                         August 15, 2018

First Day of School-Students (1/2 Day)                                      August 16, 2018

Labor Day                                                                                 September 3, 2018

Columbus Day                                                                          October 8, 2018

Staff Development                                                                    October 9, 2018

Thanksgiving                                                                            November 19-23, 2018

Christmas/New Year                                                                 Dec. 20, 2018-Jan. 4, 2019

End of First Semester                                                               January 11, 2019

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day                                                       January 21, 2019

Presidents’ Day                                                                        February 18, 2019

Staff Development                                                                    February 19, 2019

Spring Break                                                                            March 25-29, 2019

Easter                                                                                      April 19-22, 2019

Last Day of School-Students (Full Day)                                     May 23, 2019

Instructional Staff Workday (1/2 Day)                                        May 24, 2019

In a Report of the Superintendent, Mr. Milstead said that:

                        1.   Board members are invited to attend a short presentation on Thursday evening at 5:30 for the official naming of the CHS baseball field.

                        2.   The Board’s attorney, Jeff Robinson is negotiating with the City of Ruston on two Cooperative Endeavor Agreements, one regarding RHS baseball field and one regarding the Lincoln Center.    

                        3.   Talks with Hill Oil concerning a ¾ acre piece of property adjacent to RJHS are ongoing. More information will be shared at the next board meeting with a positive outcome expected. 

4.   Next Monday he will be meeting with Mayor Ronnie Walker and Parish Administrator Courtney Hall regarding the industrial tax exemption proposal. The law now allows existing and new businesses to apply for tax exemption. They will discuss policies as to who could apply, and options for those who are approved.

5.   Simsboro High School is playing Hicks High School in the state semi-finals tomorrow afternoon after being dismissed for one-half of the school day.

6.   A meeting with representatives from Head Start concerning the property swap with the City of Ruston is scheduled for tomorrow.  The city will administer the former Lincoln Center building, and the Mayor is very open to including the Head Start program and working with the program’s administration.

7.  The Enhanced School program has 507 students registered; the overage is due to children of teachers who will be working in the summer program. His goal is to not be limited to 500, but to eventually offer it to all children who are interested in the program. Title monies have been transferred and a grant is being written to help fund the program adding 30 additional school days.  Budget specifics will be shared in the future.

8.   The April 3 Regular Session of the Lincoln Parish School Board is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. at Ruston Junior High School.

9.  Spring Break is the last week in March.  Easter falls during this break.

10.   The crisis plans at the individual schools are being reviewed again.  He appreciates the recent article in the Daily Leader written by Derek Amaya after a conversation with him.  All principals have been receptive and even offered suggestions regarding how schools can be more secure.  It would be ideal to have a School Resource Officer in all schools every day of the school year.  Everything that can be done will be done to keep the children as safe as possible – starting with securing the outside and then looking at the inside.   

   After several comments from board members, upon a motion by Ms. Abrahm, the meeting adjourned at 6:44 p.m.                

_______________________________                      _______________________________

Mike Milstead, Secretary                                         Joe E. Mitcham, Jr., President