LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

Ruston, Louisiana

REGULAR SESSION

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 6:00 p.m.

The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, February 2, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. at the STEM Center located at 525 Tarbutton Road in Ruston, Louisiana.  Members present were Ms. Debbie Abrahm, Mr. Otha Anders, Ms. Lisa Best, Ms. Donna Doss, Dr. David Gullatt, Mr. Danny Hancock, Mr. George Mack, Jr., Mr. Joe Mitcham, and Mr. Hunter Smith.

Ms. Lynda Henderson and Ms. Susan Wiley attended remotely. Mr. David Ferguson was absent.

President Mitcham called the meeting to order. Dr. Gullatt gave the invocation, and Ms. Best led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.

President Mitcham welcomed the media and guests that were present.

Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Ms. Abrahm and Mr. Hancock, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda as printed.

Upon a motion by Dr. Gullatt, seconded by Ms. Doss, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on January 5, 2021, as presented.

                        Following a month of studying three policy revisions, Lisa Bastion, Assistant Superintendent/Chief Academic Officer, asked board members to approve the proposed changes to the policy manual.

Upon a motion by Mr. Hancock, seconded by Ms. Best, the Board unanimously voted to approve revisions to Teleconference/Remote Participation in School Board Meetings – BCAD; Sick Leave – GBRIB; and Sick Leave Bank – GBRIBB.

Debbie Pender, Technology/Data/Security Coordinator, stated that there are two categories of eligible services for which schools and libraries may apply for ERate discounts. Category 1 includes the services needed to support broadband connectivity to schools for data transmission and internet access. This is considered wide area network, from point to point. Category 2 is for internal connections within a specific building, and includes wireless access points, switches, and cabling. She shared that in November the Request for Proposals and Form 470 were posted, both on the central bidding website and Epic Portal. There were three vendors present at the mandatory pre-bid meeting in November, Detel, Media Link Telecom, and Hunt Telecommunications (A Uniti Company). Media Link and Hunt Telecommunications submitted proposals by the January 15, 2021, deadline. These proposals were evaluated and rated on the following criteria: Cost of eligible products and services, design and technical bid submittal including single vendor for WAN and Internet Services, technical support office and technicians staff within 90 miles, ability to deliver service at the start of the funding year, and references and experience. A committee of four scored the two proposals; Hunt Telecommunications, A Uniti Company, received the highest score.   

Upon a motion by Ms. Doss, seconded by Mr. Anders and Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to approve to enter into a contract with Hunt Telecommunications, A Uniti Company, for Category 1 ERate Services.

Juanita Duke, Chief Financial Officer, reminded the Board that in November they approved to change the plan year date for the cafeteria plan, the tax deferred plan for supplemental employee benefits. Due to recent changes with the CARES Act and new legislation passed, Ms. Duke asked permission from the Board to approve changes to the Flexible Spending Benefits Plan. The first change is to extend the flexible spending account deadline by 60 days after plan years ending January 31, 2021, and December 31, 2021.  The second change is due to Act 32 of the 2020 Second Session of the Louisiana Legislature.  This change will add language to amend the plan entry date for health insurance benefits to be the date of hire for new employees when the school system is under a declared national or gubernatorial emergency that is a threat to the health and well-being of individuals whose work places them at risk.  

Upon a motion by Ms. Best, seconded by Mr. Smith, the Board unanimously voted to approve the recommended changes stated above, and authorize the Superintendent to sign any documents necessary to begin implementation of these changes immediately.

Ms. Bastion asked Board members to study the following policy manual revision in preparation for the March 2, 2021, meeting: EGAA – Workers’ Compensation.

Amy Brister, Early Childhood Coordinator, introduced herself to the public and the Board. Ms. Brister explained that in 2015 BESE established community networks for early childhood. Each network has a LEAD Agency. Lincoln Parish School Board is the LEAD Agency for Lincoln Parish Early Childhood Education or also known as birth-five. This includes all Type III centers of early childhood, Head Start, and public and non-public pre-K programs.

Childcare sites were able to choose to become a part of our Lead Agency, which means they would become a Type III center. Ms. Brister added that in order for these sites to be a Type III center they have certain LDOE guidelines and requirements. They must agree to CLASS observations twice a year, their teachers must be certified, complete required professional development hours, participate in the coordinated enrollment day, and they must use a Tier 1 curriculum. LPSB has purchased curriculum and provided training for the childcare centers, Head Start, and the pre-K sites. Curriculum training has also been provided in the past for directors and principals on how to coach their teachers and help them become more effective. Supplemental resources and materials have also been provided, which goes along with the Tier 1 curriculum.

                        Superintendent Durrett thanked Ms. Brister for her report and for her hard work. He said he wanted to make sure board members were aware of the birth -5 teaching in Lincoln Parish and the importance of getting these children ready for kindergarten “on level”.  After a question by a board member, Ms. Brister explained there are 12 early childhood sites, but within these sites there are 17 infant classrooms, 22 one and two year-old classrooms, and 54 three and four year-old classrooms.     

                         In her Personnel Report, Dr. Doris Lewis verbalized the following:

1.     Retirement of Carolyn Jones, special education teacher at Hillcrest Elementary, effective January 26, 2021.

2.     Resignation of Lauren Bennett, teacher at Glen View Elementary, effective December 19, 2020.

3.     Employment of Bryan Beck, special education teacher at Ruston High School, effective January 5, 2021, replacing Jan Norwood who retired.

4.     Disability Retirement of Scott Hearne, bus operator in the Choudrant area, effective January 23, 2021.

5.     Resignation of Thomas Cranford, bus operator in the Ruston area, effective December 19, 2020.

6.     Employment of Jason Coleman, bus operator in the Ruston area, effective January 4, 2021, replacing Thomas Cranford who resigned.

According to Ms. Duke, sales tax collections for the month of January were up 41.96% compared to the same month last year. She said that if the new 2020 collections were subtracted, the actual increase would be 13.45%. The majority of the increase was from construction and online sales tax payments that the sales tax office received for the month of December. Total year-to-date collections, including the new tax, were up 19.94%. Ms. Duke shared that tax collections were up 9.8% without the new tax.   

Moving on to the December financial statement, Ms. Duke shared that for the first six months of the year $5.3 million had been transferred from the General Operating Fund to the Insurance Transfer account. The General Fund balance was $4.4 million. She stated the total ending fund balance of general operating funds was $13.6 million, of that we have an unassigned fund balance of approximately $7.5 million which is about 13.7% of our operating expenditures for the year. Ms. Duke reminded the Board that December is the last month before annual property tax collections would be received. Currently the 5 Mill Maintenance fund has an ending balance of $144,000. The Ruston District No. 1 M&O fund received a transfer of $150,000 to help pay utilities, and has a deficit balance of $37,000. The Choudrant M&O received a transfer of $30,000, and has a balance of $8,000 before the annual collections are received. January property tax collections will increase the balance of the M&O funds.      

                        Ms. Duke explained that the health insurance fund was reported on a calendar year basis.  Total contributions for the 12-month plan year were $14.1 million, total expenditures for claims were $8 million, and total expenditures for fixed administrative costs were $ 4 million. There was a reduction of $900,000 in costs for the year and excess net assets were $2.6 million for the year.  

                        In a construction report, James Payton, New Construction Coordinator, narrated several pictures:

1.   Work at the Simsboro baseball and softball complex continues. Some work had been completed but there is some ongoing. Trees and stumps were removed in a heavily wooded area and a new 60-inch, 800 ft. commercial grade fence was built. In an area behind the baseball bleachers, a 72-inch fence was built for signs and banners. A gate was also built so the softball field could be locked when not in use. On the north side of the softball dugout, 52 trees and an old barbed wire fence were removed. The work has really improved the sports complex.          

2.   Preparation for the upcoming construction of the Eco-Car Building at Ruston High School has begun. In an area below the Ag Building, four 100 ft. trees, with no root system, were removed. These would have presented a problem later on. The contractor reported that he intends to begin work on the new building on February 9.

                        Dr. Gullatt said that he wanted to thank property owner Steve Cranford for donating the piece of land adjacent to the sports complex. Mr. Cranford has always been a great supporter of the Lincoln Parish School system.            

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

1.   In an attempt to help make up the education ground some students may have lost during an irregular spring and fall of school affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the district will be offering four weeks of summer school this year. Plans are to offer two two-week sessions on June 7-18 and July 12-23. The summer program will be offered to students whom schools have identified as needing remedial attention in order to be ready for the next grade level. For students who are failing, or in danger of failing, the summer school will be mandatory if students want to have a chance to move to the next grade. Summer instruction will be all in-person. Breakfast and lunch will be provided, and students will be bussed to their site, which may be different from where they usually go to school. The first session will focus on catching up on material from the grade students are in, and the second session will aim to prepare them for the next grade level. Special education students will be included. We realize we are not going to make up a whole year’s time in two weeks, but there are some students who are just slightly behind. Even if some students are farther behind, some intense work for two weeks will help. The program will be fully funded by new Covid-19 relief funds from the federal government, the CARES Act. The district will also offer two weeks of ACT test prep for juniors and seniors who may have missed an opportunity to take the ACT test in 2020. There will be two testing dates, June 12 and July 17, and a week of prep classes leading up to each. The district is down to only 8% of students enrolled in the virtual program, with the other 92% back in school in-person every day.

2.   The last day of school is still planned for May 24 for students and May 25 for teachers, provided we don’t have any more closures. We will be closed May 31 for Memorial Day.   

3.   The school calendar for 2021-22 has not been finalized because we have not received testing dates yet. We anticipate beginning at the first of August.

4.   Board members will be required to complete Cyber Security Training. It will be completed online. More information will be provided in the near future. 

   After several comments, the meeting adjourned at 6:35 p.m. on a motion by Ms. Best.

                        _______________________________    _______________________________

                        Ricky Durrett, Secretary                         Joe E. Mitcham, Jr., President