LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

Ruston, Louisiana

 

REGULAR SESSION

Tuesday, December 4, 2018     6:00 p.m.

 

The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, December 4, 2018, at 6:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Parish School Board, 410 South Farmerville Street, Ruston, Louisiana. Members present were Ms. Debbie Abrahm, Mr. Otha Anders, Mr. Michael Barmore, 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 and Mr. Curtis Dowling were absent.

 

President Mitcham called the meeting to order and Ms. Wiley gave the invocation. Ms. Abrahm led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.

 

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

 

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

 

Lisa Bastion, Chief Academic Officer/Assistant Superintendent, stated that Superintendent Milstead had shared preliminary information concerning the District Performance Score results. Although Lincoln Parish was not an “A” District this year, we were very close and the administration was very proud of all of the schools and where they fell as far as performance goes. Based on principal increment performance guidelines, several principals were being recognized and presented a monetary performance award for the outstanding growth in their schools. Principals and former principals and their letter grade and school’s growth were as follows:

            Tony Antley      Choudrant High         “A”          +0.2

            Ricky Durrett    Ruston High              “A”          +7.2

            Rusty Farrar     Simsboro High          “B”          +2.9

            Mandy Brown   Ruston Elementary    “C”          +9.7

            John Young       I.A. Lewis                 “C”         +9.5

 

Each principal thanked the board, Mr. Milstead, and the administration for their support. They also thanked their teachers, staff, students, and parents for their hard work, support, and dedication.

 

                        Superintendent Milstead expressed that these are five of the best, but there is a total of thirteen outstanding principals that all understand what it takes to “grow” a school. Because of their combined hard work and determination, Lincoln Parish is the highest performing district in north Louisiana.    

 

Following a month of studying three policy revisions, Ms. Bastion asked board members to approve the proposed changes to the policy manual.

 

Upon a motion by Mr. Barmore, seconded by Mr. Hancock, the Board unanimously voted to approve revisions to Parent Conferences – IHAD, Child Abuse – JGCE, and Student Privacy and Education Records – JR.

 

George Murphy, CFO/Business Manager, explained that the Louisiana Office of Community Development was requiring a Board Resolution delegating signature authority on the Agreement to receive matching funds of $3,202.30 from the Disaster Recovery Unit for flooding in 2016. He read the Resolution in full as follows:

            A resolution providing for delegating signature authority on the FEMA Match Agreement to George Murphy, CFO.

 

            BE IT RESOLVED by the Parish School Board of the Parish of Lincoln,

            State of Louisiana that signatory authority be granted to George Murphy on the FEMA Match Agreement.

                       

            This resolution having been submitted to a vote, the vote thereon was as follows:

            Ten Yeas and Two Absent by roll call vote.

            And the resolution was declared adopted on this, the 4th day of December, 2018.

 

 Upon a motion by Mr. Barmore, seconded by Ms. Henderson, the Board unanimously voted by roll call to approve the Resolution delegating signature authority to George Murphy.

 

Board members are required to receive six continuing education hours annuallybecause of Act 705 of the 2010 legislative session. An additional responsibility had been imposed by revised statute 43:1170, requiring elected officials to receive a minimum of one hour of education and training on the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act during each term of office. Finally, a press release giving the training status of each member must be published in the official journal each year.  Mr. Milstead asked for permission to publish the board members' 2018 training hours; nine met or exceeded the minimum requisite and three members, Mr. Dowling, Mr. Hunt, and Ms. Henderson would obtain theirs prior to the end of December 2018.

 

Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Ms. Wiley, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to enter board members ' 2018 training certificates into the official minutes of the Board.

 

Two policies were needing revision according to the Board’s policy service, Forethought Consulting.  Lisa Bastion asked members to study the following revised policies until the next meeting:  GBK – Employee Discipline and GBN – Dismissal of Employees.

 

Mr. Murphy voiced a public announcement of the Notice of Public Meeting was required in order for the Lincoln Parish School Board to adopt on January 8, 2019, the resolution calling the election to authorize the issuance of general obligation bonds and/or to authorize the levy of an ad valorem tax for May 4, 2019. He read the Announcement of Public Meeting in full as follows:

 

Notice is hereby given that at its meeting to be held on Tuesday, January 8, 2019, at 10:30 a.m. at the Cypress Springs Elementary School, 1040 Saratoga Street, Ruston, Louisiana, the Parish School Board of the Parish of Lincoln, State of Louisiana, plans to consider adopting a resolution ordering and calling a special election to be held in Consolidated School District No. 1 of the Parish of Lincoln, State of Louisiana to authorize the issuance of general obligation bonds and/or to authorize the levy of an ad valorem tax.

 

Mr. Mitcham reminded board members and the public no vote was being taken at this time, this was merely an announcement that a public meeting would be held at the next board meeting which would be held at Cypress Springs Elementary. He asked for questions or comments from board members and the public. Several questions were asked, after being answered by Mr. Milstead and Mr. Murphy the meeting continued.

 

Dr. Doris Lewis, Director of Human Resources, communicated the following personnel changes:

1.        Termination of Kelli Lumpkin, teacher at Ruston Elementary, effective November 1, 2018.

 

2.        Resignation of Angelica Sanders-Moline, math teacher at I.A. Lewis, effective December 19, 2018, and

 

Tori Parks, teacher at Ruston Elementary, effective November 17, 2018.

      

3.        Employment of the following, effective November 26, 2018, unless otherwise noted:

      

       Misty Dickey, computer proctor at Choudrant Elementary effective December 10, 2018, replacing Betty Hinton who retired;

      

       Catherine Hild, teacher at Ruston Elementary effective November 12, 2018, replacing Kelli Lumpkin who was terminated;

 

       Hannah Wallace, teacher at Ruston Elementary replacing Tori Parks who resigned; and

 

       Katherine Folmar, social studies teacher at Simsboro School, replacing Cecilia Acosta who resigned.

 

4.     Termination of Erica Minnifield, special education bus aide in the Ruston area, effective November 6, 2018.

 

5.     Employment of Nathan Burks, bus operator in the Ruston area effective November 26, 2018, replacing Anne Waldron who retired.

 

6.     Termination of Jacqueline Burks, cafeteria technician at Choudrant Elementary, effective November 7, 2018.

 

Mr. Murphy reported that sales tax collections were down the first five months of the fiscal year by $1.1 million compared to 2017. This equates to a 14.6% decrease. Recoveries through audits looked good, these were up compared to last year.  

 

In his report on the Financial Statement for October 2018, Mr. Murphy noted the Total Fund Balance was down $1.2 million compared to September 2018 and down $2.5 million compared to October 2017.

 

He said the health care fund was down $143,000 for the month of October 2018 and down $193,000 year-to-date.  He reminded those present that in January 2019 changes that were recently approved would become effective, and should help. 

 

In his construction update, James  Payton, New Construction Coordinator showed pictures and communicated the following update:

 

Due to weather conditions and LPPJ working on another project at this time, work on the carline road at Choudrant Elementary was halted. They should begin work again after the first of the year. Once complete, it would impact the safety and well-being of all students, parents, and bus operators involved.  

 

Work continues at the STEM site despite adverse weather conditions. The interior walls were 70% complete. The steel roof should be on the first week of January. The contractor was trying to stay on schedule with a proposed completion date of May 2019.

 

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

                       

1.       Committee Preference forms for 2019 were included in board members packets. He asked that those be completed and turned in by the next board meeting.

 

2.        Information regarding the LSBA Convention in February 2019 was also included in packets. They would be receiving more information in the near future.

 

3.    The January board meeting will be held at Cypress Springs Elementary at 10:30 a.m. on January 8th.

 

4.    The issuance of bonds was something that had been looked at for some time. It was important to give voters a chance to look at what was being proposed. The original main thrust was the safety of our children. It was important to be proactive before something does happen in a school. It is a small investment with a huge return for the safety of our children.

 

5.    Two members would be going off the board at the end of the month. Curtis Dowling was elected six times and served for a total of 24 years. He followed in his father’s footsteps who was also a longtime school board member. Kuddos to Mr. Dowling and all he has done. Trott Hunt was elected three times, served 12 years, and had been invaluable to the board. He appreciated what Mr. Hunt has done for the board, the community, and the students. The ideas and concepts that Mr. Hunt brought to the board had been game changers.  

 

Mr. Mitcham mirrored what Mr. Milstead had stated regarding these two board members who had been good friends and great board members. He appreciated their service.

 

After comments from the public and several board members and following a motion by Ms. Wiley, the meeting adjourned at 7:03 p.m.

 

 

_______________________________                            _______________________________

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