LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
Ruston, Louisiana
REGULAR SESSION
Tuesday, May 3, 2022 6:00 p.m.
The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Parish School Board, Ruston, Louisiana. Members present were Ms. Debbie Abrahm, Mr. Otha Anders, Ms. Lisa Best, Mr. Clark Canterbury, Ms. Donna Doss, Mr. David Ferguson, Mr. Danny Hancock, Ms. Lynda Henderson, Mr. George Mack, Jr., Mr. Joe Mitcham, Mr. Hunter Smith, and Ms. Susan Wiley.
President Joe Mitcham called the meeting to order and welcomed visitors. Mr. Hancock gave the invocation and Ricky Edmiston, Supervisor of Auxiliary Services, led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.
Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Ms. Doss, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda as printed.
Upon a motion by Mr. Hancock, seconded by Ms. Wiley, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on April 5, 2022, as presented.
Brandon Sutherland, Communications Coordinator, recognized and presented a plaque to the Louisiana Middle School State Student of the Year, Melissa Le. He summarized background on the remarkable eighth grader from A.E. Phillips and shared the process she had gone through to reach the highest level in the competition. Several board members congratulated the state winner. Superintendent Ricky Durrett said that he attended the award ceremony in Baton Rouge and it was very exciting to be there for the announcement. Mr. Mitcham and several board members congratulated Ms. Le.
Superintendent Durrett communicated that Dr. Shelia Nugent would be transferring from Glen View Elementary principal to the central office leaving a vacancy at Glen View. Seven individuals applied for the position and interviews were held April 28, 2022. The interview committee consisted of Amy Brister, Angela Hoffman, Dr. Doris Lewis, Keshia Douglas, and Dana Talley. Lisa Bastion, Asst. Superintendent/Chief Pandemic Officer, chaired the committee but did not vote. Mr. Durrett thanked the interview committee for their time and commitment. The committee’s unanimous recommendation for the principal position at Glen View Elementary was Phaedra Blake.
Mr. Durrett introduced Ms. Blake and stated that she previously taught at Glen View and has worked in administration for the last eight years in another parish. He said she will be an asset to Glen View and the parish.
Ms. Blake thanked everyone for the opportunity and said she was excited to join the Lincoln Parish community again. She is looking forward to working with the students, teachers, and the Lincoln Parish School Board team.
Juanita Duke, CFO/Business Manager, announced that the 2020 - 2021 financial audit was complete. She thanked her staff for their dedicated work and she gave special recognition to Kathy Pool, Assistant Business Manager, for her tireless work ethic in the business department and the significant part she had in preparing for the audit. She then introduced Amy Tynes, a partner with Allen, Green & Williamson, to present the auditor's report.
Ms. Tynes presented the audit report of the School Board's financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2021. 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 each report.
In the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the auditor issued 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 without any modifications. Ms. Tynes made note that the Governmental Auditing Standards Board (GASB) now requires that school activity accounts be included as a financial statement column. She reviewed the government-wide results, which includes all funds of the School Board, including all capital assets, debt, and other liabilities. Ms. Tynes shared that the School Board's long-term liabilities include other post employee benefits ($136 million) and LPSB’s share of the state’s pension liabilities ($84.1 million). On the Statement of Net Position, she reported the School Board's ending net position had a deficit of $124 million caused by the liabilities for pension and other post employee benefits. She commented this was common for the majority of governments because governmental accounting standards require these long-term liabilities be included in the financial statements.
For individual funds, she reported the General Fund had an unassigned ending fund balance of $11.7 million, which represents 22% of total expenditures. Ms. Tynes noted that the Education Stabilization Funds now has its own financial statement column on the balance sheet. There are multiple names for these funds such as Strong Start, ACHIEVE, and ESSER I, II and III, but the Education Stabilization Funds are the entire “bucket” of funds received. The General Fund revenues were $55.7 million, which is a $5.7 million increase over last year. The new 2020 Sales Tax represents $3.8 million of the increase. Total expenses for the General Fund were $53.1 million, which was only an increase of $1.7 million over the prior year. Before any transfers (in or out) were made the General Fund had a “profit” of $2.6 million. After transfers were completed there was an increase in the fund balance of $4.6 million. There was a prior period adjustment in the General Fund, Education Stabilization Funds, and the Nonmajor Governmental Funds. The adjustment is the result of ESSER funds that were awarded for Covid related expenses. In 2020, these expenses were paid from the General Fund; when ESSER funds were awarded, transfers were made to the General Fund to cover those costs.
Ms. Tynes explained that the Nonmajor Governmental Funds consist of funds for Special Revenues (related to grants and taxes), Debt Service, and Capital Projects. Special Revenue Funds consist of School Food Service, and other federal programs, such as special education funds, sales tax funds, school activity funds, and the maintenance funds. Debt Service Funds are restricted to pay bonds, and Capital Projects are funds set aside for “brick and mortar”. The Insurance Proceeds Fund had a fund balance of $2.5 million as of June 30, 2021. The internal service funds are self-insured Workers’ Compensation and Group Health Insurance. Total operating revenues in Group Health Insurance increased by about $100,000, but actual claims decreased by $2.2 million, ending 2021 with a $2 million increase in net position.
Moving on to the Single Audit Report, the compliance part of the audit, Ms. Tynes said as of June 30, 2021, expenditures from the Education Stabilization Funds were $5.1 million. The district received a total of $14 million in federal grants for 2020-21. The financial statement audit includes any testing of internal controls, testing of financial transactions, and testing of compliance with state law. An unmodified opinion was issued with no federal findings. There were no significant deficiencies related to internal controls regarding the financial statement audit as well as no instances of non-compliance for different variations of the state law that are required to be tested. For the audit of the federal awards, an unmodified opinion was also issued and there were no significant deficiencies nor any other audit findings related to compliance. The major federal programs tested were the Special Education Cluster and the Education Stabilization Funds. For those expenditures tested of the $5.1 million there were no audit finding related to compliance. Ms. Tynes said this was a very clean report. She added that a management letter was included in the audit recommending improvement of controls over the depreciation schedule for those items that the school board purchases over $5,000. She reiterated that this was a clean report. Mr. Durrett thanked Ms. Duke and her staff for their hard work and Mr. Mitcham thanked Ms. Tynes and her staff for all they do.
The following personnel items were shared by Dr. Doris Lewis, Director of Human Resources:
1. Administrative Points of Reference effective July 1, 2022:
Dr. Shelia Nugent from Glen View principal to Facilitator of Federal Programs/ACHIEVE at Title 1 due to a new position.
2. Retirement of the following effective May 28, 2022, unless otherwise stated:
Karen Taylor, teacher at Glen View;
Kelli Colvin, Coordinating Teacher at Hillcrest, effective June 7, 2022;
Betty Allen, copy room aide at Ruston High, effective May 27, 2022; and
Donna Ashley, in-school suspension monitor at Ruston Junior High.
3. Resignation of the following effective May 28, 2022, unless otherwise stated:
Stacy Martin, teacher at Choudrant Elementary;
Amber DeVaux, special education teacher at Choudrant High,
Katie Pyles, teacher at Dubach Elementary;
Colleen Savage, school psychologist at Pupil Appraisal, effective May 14, 2022, (revised date);
Amanda McHaney, assistant principal at Ruston High, effective June 28, 2022;
Emily Littlefield, math teacher at Ruston High;
Kara Patterson, special education teacher at Ruston High;
Emilee Pate, science teacher at Ruston High;
Margaret-Rose Legler, ELA teacher at Ruston Junior High; and
Joshua Brown, health & physical education teacher/coach at Simsboro School, effective June 28, 2022.
4. Employment of Shaketha McNeal, secretary in the Transportation Department effective April 8, 2022, replacing Nina Boddie who resigned; and
Ecko Ford, Human Resources assistant at the central office effective May 9, 2022, replacing Sheryl Durrett who is retiring.
Ms. Duke reported sales taxes collected for the month ending April 2022, were up 2.4% compared to the same month last year. This was not as large as the increases we have seen over the past nine months of this fiscal year, but is more in line with what we have seen in past periods of slow steady growth. Sales taxes collected fiscal year-to-date were up 20.56% over the same period last year. Excluding the 2020 sales tax collections, the effective rate of increase is 11%.
Moving on to the financial statement for March 2022, Ms. Duke said the total undesignated fund balance in the General Operating Funds was 30.6 % of budgeted expenditures, which was $16.5 million. Total revenues in the general fund to date were $41.9 million, total expenditures were $35.5 million, and the total ending fund balance in the general fund operating funds was $25.4 million. The total fund balance of all funds combined was $48.0 million.
In the Health Care Fund report, Ms. Duke shared that plan expenses for March 2022 were $871,000 with a change in net assets for March of $345,000. Plan expenses for the first 3 months of the plan year were in line with plan expenses for the same period last year at $3.0 million. Total year-to-date change in plan net assets was $493,000.
Following a month of studying revisions to one policy, John Young, Chief Administrative and Operations Officer/Assistant Superintendent, asked board members to approve the proposed changes to the policy manual.
Upon a motion by Ms. Doss, seconded by Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to approve revisions to GBRHA – Sabbatical Leave.
Rik Cason, Transportation Coordinator, reminded board members that at the April 5, 2022, board meeting authorization was given to advertise for five new conventional school buses. Bid information was sent to Ross Bus Sales, Kent Mitchell Bus Sales, and Scott Truck, LLC, all of which are in Louisiana. Bid information was also posted online at central auction house public bidding site and published in the Ruston Daily Leader.
Mr. Cason said that the bid opening was held at the Lincoln Parish School Board office on April 28, 2022. No online bids were received and Ross Bus Sales submitted a “No Bid” letter. Bids were received from Kent Mitchell Bus Sales and Scott Truck, LLC. After careful analysis and comparison of bids, it is recommended that the bid from Scott Truck, LLC, be accepted as the lowest bid which fully meets specifications for the conventional buses.
Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Ms. Henderson, the Board unanimously voted to accept the bid from Scott Truck, LLC, for $90,620 each for the purchase of five 2023 conventional school buses for a total sale price of $453,100.
Superintendent Durrett shared with the Board that a Request for Qualifications was advertised for a multi-year contract for Architect Services. Responses were opened on April 26, 2022, from three proposers for architect services for the following projects: expansion of the Simsboro cafeteria, renovations to Ruston High’s gymnasium, and other future unknown projects that may arise in the next five years.
The Architect Qualifications Review Committee met on April 28, 2022, to review the Statement of Qualifications and score each based on 12 qualification items. The Review Committee consisted of Jason Howell (external consultant), Danny Hancock, Ricky Edmiston, James Payton (absent), and Juanita Duke. Mr. Durrett stated that Michael L. Walpole, Architect, LLC, received the highest overall score and it was his recommendation to procure Mr. Walpole’s services for the next five years.
Upon a motion by Mr. Hancock, seconded by Mr. Mack, the Board unanimously voted to authorize the Superintendent to negotiate and execute a five-year contract with Mike L. Walpole for architect services for expansion of the Simsboro cafeteria, renovations to Ruston High’s gym, and future projects that may arise during the contract term.
Mr. Edmiston shared that as part of the ESSER Building Back Better Plan, the district is upgrading all water fountains in schools and office locations. These upgrades to touchless water filling stations will vary based on the type of fountain at each site and needs of each school. He asked permission to advertise for water filling stations for 85 water fountains. Installation will be provided by Lincoln Parish maintenance employees, and the project must be complete by September 2024.
Upon a motion by Ms. Doss, seconded by Mr. Anders, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to advertise for bids for upgrades to water fountains for all school sites and office locations where water fountains currently exist.
In order to comply with state law, Mr. Edmiston voiced the annual request for permission to advertise for bids on materials and supplies for schools with an aggregate cost of $30,000 or more.
Upon a motion by Ms. Wiley, seconded by Ms. Best, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to advertise for bids for the purchase of duplicating paper and gasoline and diesel for the 2022-2023 school year.
Ms. Duke communicated that on March 26, 2022, a majority of the voters approved the renewal of millages for the Consolidated School District No. 1 and the Ruston School District No. 1. The total votes for Consolidated School District No. 1 including absentee ballots was as follows: 1,502 FOR and 495 AGAINST, passing by a majority of 1,007 votes, or a 50.4% margin. The total votes for Ruston School District No. 1 including absentee ballots was as follows: 1,079 FOR and 307 AGAINST, passing by a majority of 772 votes, or a 55.7% margin. In order to comply with the La Election Code, the Board must adopt a resolution canvassing the results of the election.
Upon a motion by Ms. Best, seconded by Mr. Canterbury, the Board unanimously voted by roll call to adopt the following:
RESOLUTION
A resolution providing for canvassing the returns and declaring the results of the special elections held in (i) Consolidated School District No. 1 of the Parish of Lincoln, State of Louisiana and (ii) Ruston School District No. 1 of the Parish of Lincoln, State of Louisiana, on Saturday, March 26, 2022, to authorize the renewal of special taxes therein.
In a Report of the Superintendent, Mr. Durrett said…
1. Choudrant High School’s graduation will be May 17, at Howard Auditorium and Ruston High School’s will be the same night at Thomas Assembly Center, both will be at 7:00. Typically we don’t plan two graduations on the same night but there were scheduling problems. Simsboro High School graduation will be May 19, 7:00, at Howard Auditorium.
2. This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Due to testing, some schools celebrated earlier.
3. The last day of school was scheduled for May 27, but has been moved to May 26 for students and teachers. This is due to the fact that required instructional minutes will have been completed by that time.
4. The Choudrant High baseball team is still in the playoffs. They play again Friday in the quarter-finals. Simsboro, Choudrant, and Ruston High school track teams will compete at the state track meet this week. SHS and CHS will compete on Thursday, and RHS will compete Saturday; all will take place at LSU in Baton Rouge.
5. The school year started out “rocky” due to Covid issues but the district has had a really great second half of the year.
After a comment from one board member, upon a motion by Ms. Best, the meeting adjourned at 6:53 p.m.
______________________________ _______________________________
Ricky Durrett, Secretary Joe E. Mitcham, Jr., President