LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

Ruston, Louisiana

REGULAR SESSION

Tuesday, January 10, 2023 6:00 p.m.

The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Parish School Board, 410 S. Farmerville Street, Ruston, Louisiana. Members present were Ms. Debbie Abrahm, Mr. Otha Anders, Mr. Clark Canterbury, Mr. David Ferguson, Mr. Danny Hancock, Ms. Lynda Henderson, Mr. George Mack, Jr., Mr. Joe Mitcham, Mr. Gregg Phillips, Mr. Hunter Smith, and Dr. Danielle Williams.

Ms. Donna Doss was absent.

                        President Mitcham called the meeting to order.  Ms. Abrahm delivered the invocation and Dr. Williams led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.

                        Board members were sworn in by Linda Cook, Lincoln Parish Clerk of Court.  She expressed appreciation for the opportunity to do so and offered her congratulations.

                        Grant Schlueter, bond attorney with Foley & Judell, LLP informed the board that at the February board meeting, the board might wish to consider calling an election.  In order to do that, under state law, an announcement must be read into the minutes, published one time in the official journal, and notification sent to the legislative delegation.  He then asked President Mitcham if he would like him to read the announcement. After reading the announcement, Mr. Mitcham stated that this item would be considered at the February meeting.

                        No action was needed.

Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted, by roll call, to amend the agenda deleting one new business item #9.2: Announcement of a Public Meeting where a Resolution will be considered on February 7, 2023, calling the election for the renewal of ad valorem taxes on April 29, 2023.

Upon a motion by Mr. Hancock, seconded by Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on December 6, 2022, as    distributed.

Brandon Sutherland, Communications Coordinator, communicated that the Lincoln Parish School system has some of the most remarkable students in the state.  He introduced the three who were district students of the year.  They are Cypress Springs Elementary 5^th grade student, Tristen Smith, A.E. Phillips 8^th grade middle school student, Harper Anderson, and Simsboro High School senior, Lauryn Vernon.  He summarized background on each student and congratulated them on this accomplishment.  Several board members congratulated the finalists and wished them well as they progress in the competition and in the future. 

Mr. Sutherland shared that in addition to remarkable students, we have remarkable teachers as well.  This year New Teacher of the Year is an additional category. He recognized Malori Moody of Cypress Springs Elementary as elementary District New Teacher of the Year, and Abigail Ambrose of Ruston Junior High School as middle school District New Teacher of the Year.  Next, he introduced Lauren Casey of Cypress Springs Elementary as Early Elementary Teacher of the Year, Paige Smith of Simsboro School as Elementary Teacher of the Year, Adam Novak of Ruston Junior High School as Middle School Teacher of the Year, and Jill Sutton of Ruston High School as High School Teacher of the Year.  He gave background information on each teacher and thanked them for their service and dedication.

Jennifer Martin of Choudrant Elementary was named elementary District Principal of the Year, and Keisha Douglas was named middle school District Principal of the Year.  Mr. Sutherland congratulated and wished them well at the state level.

The Election of Officers for 2023 was the next item on the agenda. Mr. Mitcham turned the floor over to Mr. Ricky Durrett, Secretary. Mr. Durrett declared the floor open for nominations for President for 2023. Mr. Ferguson nominated Joe Mitcham. Mr. Durrett asked if there were any other nominations. Mr. Anders moved that nominations be closed, seconded by Mr. Smith and Mr. Hancock. Mr. Mitcham was unanimously elected as President for 2023.     

Mr. Durrett asked for nominations for Vice President for 2023. Mr. Mack nominated Ms. Henderson.  Mr. Durrett asked if there were any other nominations, hearing none, he declared the time for nominations for Vice President closed and asked for a vote. Ms. Henderson was unanimously elected as Vice President for 2023. 

Mr. Mitcham thanked the board for their vote of confidence and also welcomed the two new board members.

                        Superintendent Durrett asked the board for their support to consider a Resolution Conveying Support of an Annual Payment in Lieu of Tax Agreement between the Industrial Development Board (IDB) of the City of Ruston, Inc. and CSMS Management, LLC (CSMS).  He stated that we had been working closely with Ruston mayor, Ronny Walker, over the last several months to put together a package of which  LPSB is a small part of trying to bring a Buc-ee’s travel center to Ruston.  This would be an estimated $50 million investment to bring a 53-74,000 square foot travel center to Lincoln Parish that will add 200 full time jobs with benefits to the workforce.  He explained that the School Board’s options for incentives are limited due to how the Minimum Foundation Program formula takes local tax revenues into account when determining state funding for education in Lincoln Parish.  The most viable incentive is to offer the exemption of School Board ad valorem taxes to CSMS through its agreement with the City’s IDB for a maximum period of 20 years.

                        Mr. Durrett introduced Mr. Stan Beard, Director of Real Estate for Buc-ee’s.  He spoke to the Board and thanked them, and the whole community, for being so accommodating to them.  He stated this would be the first Buc-ee’s in Louisiana and they could not have found a better partner than the City of Ruston and our school district. Mayor Walker then expressed his appreciation of the cooperation and work between all our bodies here in Lincoln Parish.

                        Mr. Smith asked for an explanation of what the annual payment in lieu of tax would actually look like.  Mr. Mike Busada, attorney, addressed this question.  He explained that in Louisiana in order to give a tax abatement, there is a mechanism requiring a company to make a certain payment in lieu of taxes.  In this case, CSMS will get 100% of the property tax abated, but they will pay the 2.5% of sales tax to the school board.

                        Upon a motion by Mr. Smith, seconded by Ms. Henderson, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the resolution in support of the City’s IDB agreement with CSMS that will provide for an “annual payment in lieu of tax” agreement that will exempt School Board ad valorem taxes for the agreement term.

                        Mr. Durrett introduced a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with Ruston High School Educational Support Fund. This fund will work with the Lincoln Parish School Board to improve the quality of education and educational facilities owned and operated by the School Board at Ruston High School. The “Foundation” is being established to improve facilities at Ruston High School that may be in need of repair, restoration, refurbishment, or expansion.  These funds can also be used to purchase other educational needs such as computers, books, and other educational needs.  The “Foundation” is to support Ruston High School.

                        Upon motion by Mr. Smith, seconded by Mr. Hancock, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with Ruston High School Educational Support Fund for the year 2023.

                        John Young, Assistant Superintendent and Pupil Progression Chair, reported that at the October 2022 BESE meeting, an update to Bulletin 1566 (Pupil Progression Plan Policies and Procedures) included supports for students enrolled in third or fourth grade who scored below grade-level on the end-of-the-year LDOE approved literacy assessment.  These students shall receive a minimum of thirty hours of targeted instruction based on the science of reading during the summer.

                        Upon motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Mr. Canterbury, the Board unanimously voted to approve this addendum to the Lincoln Parish Pupil Progression Plan for 2022-23.

                        Debbie Pender, Technology/Data/Security Coordinator, requested permission from the Board to advertise for Internal Connections at Choudrant High School.  She stated that the Lincoln Parish School District requires additional internal connections between Choudrant High School and their sports complex comprised of baseball, softball, and track fields, and also includes the school bus parking area.

Upon a motion by Mr. Hancock, seconded by Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to advertise for proposals for the above-mentioned items in accordance with state law and local policies. With approval of the application, approximately 85% of the cost will be paid with Erate funding.

Ms. Pender also requested permission from the Board to declare surplus property.  The Lincoln Parish School District has approximately 2,500 chrome books that expired from Google support June 2022, and they are currently out of warranty for repair.  She is asking permission to declare these chrome books as surplus and dispose of them in accordance with the state bid law and applicable school board policies.

Upon a motion by Mr. Smith, seconded by Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to declare the above-mentioned items as surplus and dispose of them in accordance with state law and local policies.

In her Personnel Report, Dr. Doris Lewis, Human Resources Director, verbalized:

1.      Resignation of Mallory Rogers, English teacher at Ruston High effective December 21, 2022.

2.      Resignation of Natalie Trosclair, cafeteria clerk/technician at Choudrant Elementary, effective December 14, 2022.

Mr. James Odom, Accounting Manager (filling in for Chief Financial Officer, Juanita Duke), presented two annual reports that have been filed with the Municipal Securities Rule-Making Board as required under the continuing disclosure agreements entered into with the purchasers of its general obligation bonds sold to the public for Ruston School District No. 1 and Choudrant School District No. 6.  This annual reporting is a requirement of the Security and Exchange Commission for municipal bonds that are sold publicly.  The reports provide investors with certain current key operating information for use in making informed buy or sell decisions regarding the bonds that continue to be openly traded on the municipal securities market.  Some operating information reported for each taxing district includes tax collection performance, changes in financial reporting methods, millage rates within the taxing district, and a list of top ten taxpayers. 

Mr. Odom reviewed information in the Choudrant School District No. 6 annual report noting historically 99% of tax bills in the district are paid annually and that the ten largest property taxpayers make up 23.5% of the tax base in the District. Moving to the Ruston School District No. 1 annual report, he reported on average 99% of the tax bills are paid by taxpayers annually and that the ten largest property taxpayers make up approximately 20.1% of the tax  base in the Ruston District.   

Superintendent Durrett, filling in for Ms. Duke, called attention to figures on the December 2022 sales tax report and said that collections were up 2.76% over this month last year. Fiscal year-to-date collections were up 3.58% indicating sales taxes are holding steady.

                        In the financial update for November 2022, Mr. Odom reported for the General Fund that year-to-date revenue is $19.1 million, year-to-date expenditures are $18.6 million, and total ending fund balance is $26.4 million; the portion of the fund balance that is undesignated is $16.1 million, or 27.7% of General Fund expenditures. Year-to-date revenue in the Special Revenue Funds is $8 million, year-to-date expenditures are $12.7 million, and the total ending reserved fund balance for all Special Revenue funds combined is $14.9 million.                        

Moving on to the November 2022 health plan report, Mr. Durrett stated that plan contributions for the month were $1,191,912, and plan expenses were $949,086. He noted stop loss payments were collected from our stop loss carrier for a few members who had high cost medical care, which will help to offset some of the cost.  Year-to-date, our insurance fund is doing very well. 

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

                        1.   January is School Board Member Recognition Month across the state of Louisiana. This is a way to show appreciation for board members’ dedication and hard work. School Board members are extraordinary people who voluntarily tackle the enormous job of governing school districts. Board members’ actions and decisions affect the present and future lives of our children. To show our appreciation we display the Proclamation and Resolution passed by Governor John Bel Edwards in 2017 declaring January Board Member Recognition month. We have it displayed tonight.

2.      There was a hard freeze over the holiday break and there were a few small issues that were taken care of quickly.  Our maintenance department did a great job of preparing before getting out for the break.

3.      The LSBA Annual Convention if scheduled for March 7 – 9 in Lake Charles.  If board members are interested in going, let Mrs. Smith know and she can get you registered.  March 7^th is a board meeting night.  Depending on the number of board members who attend the convention, we will possibly look at moving the meeting date.  For those who do not want to go to the convention, we will have Jon Guice come to do board in-service as he has done in the past.

4.      The Ardagh glass plant in Simsboro will be in our district on Thursday to look at some STEM projects that we have in some of our schools.  Through project Lead the Way, Ardagh has funded about a half million dollars over the last few years in Lincoln Parish. They are coming to look at what is going on with the ECO car program and some other projects at our schools to see how they might be able to lend their support.

5.      We received a great report today that we have approximately 100 fewer students in special education compared to last year. The numbers are still higher than we would like in junior high and high school, but we are seeing that some of the things we are implementing are helping to reduce those numbers.  We certainly want to serve these students as needed, but also want to see them grow and move out of these services.

                        There being no further business, upon a motion by Mr. Phillips, the meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.

_____________________________                   _____________________________

Ricky Durrett, Secretary                                    Joe Mitcham, President