LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
Ruston, Louisiana
REGULAR SESSION
Tuesday, January 9, 2024 12:00 p.m.
The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, at 12:00 p.m. at Glen View Elementary School, 1601 Bittersweet Avenue, Ruston, Louisiana. Members present were Ms. Debbie Abrahm, Mr. Clark Canterbury, Ms. Donna Doss, Mr. David Ferguson, Mr. Danny Hancock, Ms. Lynda Henderson, Mr. George Mack, Jr., Mr. Joe Mitcham, Mr. Gregg Phillips, and Dr. Danielle Williams.
Mr. Otha Anders and Mr. Hunter Smith were absent.
President Mitcham called the meeting to order. Mr. Hancock delivered the invocation and two Glen View students led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.
President Mitcham recognized Glen View Principal Phaedra Blake. She thanked everyone for coming to her amazing school today. She also pointed out that this month is School Board Appreciation Month and thanked board members for what they do, not only for Glen View, but also for all of Lincoln Parish.
Mr. Mitcham asked the Board to consider two addendums to the agenda. The first is a report from Kip Franklin with Homeland Security concerning a new emergency alert system for Lincoln Parish. The second is a resolution pertaining to authorized signatures (banking) due to a change in school board officers, and in addition, authorizing the use of Mr. Mitcham’s signature until documentation is complete for the new board president.
Upon a motion by Mr. Hancock, seconded by Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to amend the agenda and add these two items.
Upon a motion by Ms. Doss, seconded by Mr. Canterbury, the Board unanimously voted to accept the agenda as amended.
Upon a motion by Ms. Henderson, seconded by Dr. Williams, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on December 5, 2023, as distributed.
Superintendent Ricky Durrett congratulated the Ruston High School State Championship Football Team. He expressed how proud we are of all they accomplished this year, and recognized the senior team members and coaches in attendance. Coach Jerrod Baugh expressed to the Board how appreciative they are of the support they received and how important it is that everyone in Lincoln Parish works together to do what is best for our kids.
Kip Franklin, Director of Homeland Security for Lincoln Parish told the Board that Lincoln Parish is now using a new emergency notification system called Linc Alerts. This system is strictly for emergency notification for parish citizens, but residents can also receive operational messages from the police jury. He distributed cards with a QR code to use to set up this system.
The Election of Officers for 2024 was the next item on the agenda. Mr. Mitcham turned the floor over to Mr. Ricky Durrett, Secretary. Mr. Durrett yielded the floor to board attorney Jon Guice who declared the floor open for nominations for President for 2024. Mr. Hancock nominated Mr. Phillips. Mr. Guice asked if there were any other nominations and hearing none, Mr. Ferguson moved that nominations be closed. Mr. Phillips was unanimously elected President for 2024.
Mr. Mitcham thanked the Board for allowing him to serve as President for the past eight years, along with Ms. Henderson as Vice President.
Mr. Phillips asked for nominations for Vice President for 2024. Mr. Ferguson nominated Dr. Williams. Mr. Phillips asked if there were any other nominations, and hearing none, Ms. Henderson moved that nominations be closed. Dr. Williams was unanimously elected Vice President for 2024.
Ms. Henderson expressed that she enjoyed serving as Vice President and thanked the Board for the privilege of serving in this capacity.
Chief Financial Officer Juanita Duke 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. She then asked President Phillips to read the announcement. After reading the announcement, Mr. Phillips stated that this item would be considered at the February meeting.
No action was needed.
Board members were asked by Assistant Superintendent John Young to study the following policy manual revisions in preparation for the next meeting: EBBH – Use of Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and Cardiac Emergency Plan, GBG – Probation, IHAD – Parent Conferences, JGB – School Wellness, and JGC – Student Health Services. This information will be studied for the month of January and there will be a vote at the February Board meeting.
Ms. Duke asked the Board to consider adoption of a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce for 2024. This resolution is a recurring item and it enables the Chamber to provide assistance to the school system through events held during the year that benefit our students throughout the district. She requested the Board consider adopting this resolution to allow Lincoln Parish School Board to participate with them and pay up to $1,000 in fees.
Upon a motion by Mr. Mitcham, seconded by Mr. Hancock, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce for the year 2024.
Next Ms. Duke asked the Board to consider adoption of a resolution pertaining to Authorized Signatures (Banking) for Lincoln Parish School Board. She stated that due to a change in school board officers, the adoption of this resolution would designate our new president, Mr. Phillips, as a signer on all school board bank accounts with Mr. Durrett. In addition, this resolution reauthorizes Mr. Durrett to designate any additional signers on school board bank accounts. This official document will be provided to our banking institutions for the changes to be made.
Upon a motion by Ms. Doss, seconded by Mr. Mack, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the resolution for Authorized Signatures (Banking) for the Lincoln Parish School Board, and to authorize the use of Mr. Mitcham’s signature until all records have been updated and changed with our banking institutions.
In her Personnel Report, Dr. Doris Lewis, Human Resources Director, verbalized:
1. Resignation of the following:
Allison Milstead, teacher at Choudrant Elementary, effective January 20, 2024;
Victoria Smith, English teacher at Ruston High, effective December 22, 2023; and
Joshua Russell, science teacher at Ruston Junior High, effective January 13, 2024.
2. Employment of the following:
Christina Johnston, elementary teacher at Choudrant Elementary, effective December 14, 2023, replacing Kristen Telford who resigned;
Angela King, special education teacher at Hillcrest, effective December 4, 2023, replacing Crystal Pugh who was reassigned;
Emily Jusselin, school secretary/bookkeeper at Hillcrest, effective December 15, 2023, replacing Krystan Channell who transferred;
Suzette Stroud, Biology teacher at Ruston High, effective January 5, 2024, replacing David MaHaffey who resigned; and
Victoria Axton, English teacher at Ruston High, effective January 5, 2024, replacing Victoria Smith who resigned.
3. Retirement of Andrew Haulcy, skilled craftsman in Maintenance, effective December 22, 2023.
4. Staff point of reference:
Derek Sharp, from maintenance technician to skilled craftsman in Maintenance, effective January 5, 2024, replacing Andrew Haulcy who retired.
5. Employment of the following, effective January 8, 2024:
Tonya Mills, cafeteria technician in Child Nutrition, replacing Remonia Wright who resigned; and
Priscilla Caesar, cafeteria technician in Child Nutrition, replacing Rickell Crane who resigned.
Ms. Duke presented three 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 the general obligation bonds sold to the public for Ruston School District No. 1, Simsboro School District No. 3, and Choudrant School District No. 6. This annual reporting is a requirement of the Security and Exchange Commission. The reports provide investors with certain current key operating information about each district for use in making informed buy or sell decisions about bonds that continue to be openly traded in the municipal securities market. Some operating information reported for each taxing district includes tax collection performance, changes in financial reporting methods, current assessed value of property, historical millage rates, and a list of top ten taxpayers within each taxing district.
Ms. Duke reviewed information in the Ruston School District No. 1 annual report noting historically 99% of tax bills in the district are paid annually and that the ten largest property taxpayers make up 17.12% of the tax base in the District. Moving to Simsboro School District No. 3 annual report, she said that average tax bills paid by taxpayers is over 99.5% and the top ten taxpayers make up 66.75% of the assessed valuation of the tax base in the Simsboro School District. Lastly, to the Choudrant School District No. 6 annual report, Ms. Duke reported on average 99% of the tax bills are paid by taxpayers annually and that the ten largest property taxpayers make up approximately 20.91% of the tax base in the Choudrant District.
Ms. Duke called attention to figures on the December 2023 sales tax report and said that collections were up 3.42% over this month last year and sales tax collections were up .64%. She reminded the board of the large rebate we incurred at the beginning of the fiscal year and excluding that, we are approximately 3.4% over collections this time last year.
In the financial update for November 2023, Ms. Duke reported total year-to-date revenues of $26.7 million and expenditures are $23.6 million. There is a decrease in fund balances overall of $1.6 million. Total combined fund balances are $49.5 million; with $20.8 million representing undesignated fund balances within the General Fund, which is approximately 34% of General Fund budgeted operating expenditures.
Moving on to the November 2023 health plan report, Ms. Duke stated that plan expenditures are $1,460,000. The total year-to-date for the planned calendar year expenditures is $14.47 million compared to $11.8 million last year. Total operating expenses for the plan has increased approximately $2.5 million (correction made to original report) compared to the same period in the previous year mostly due to higher prescription drug costs.
In response to Dr. Williams’ question regarding limited Medicaid revenue, Ms. Duke stated administration is still working through issues implementing a new billing system this year and should be filing our first batch of claims in the near future. She assured related services are being provided to students, and that once the billing system is in place we will be able to bill for services provided retroactive to the start of the school year.
In his Enrollment Update, Mr. Durrett said that the absentee rates in schools were higher during the month of December mainly due to sickness and that trend will probably continue into January. He also reported there are currently 19 students at YRC.
In a Report of the Superintendent, Mr. Durrett said:
1. January is School Board Member Recognition Month across the state of Louisiana. We appreciate all of you serving in this capacity. Brandon Sutherland, Communications Coordinator, recognized Dr. Danielle Williams with the distinction of being a Certified School Board Member. The Louisiana School Board Association offers this award to board members who voluntarily obtain 20+ training hours during a calendar year.
2. The February board meeting will be held at Ruston Elementary School at noon in the school gymnasium.
3. The Diversity Committee met this past month and will bring a report to our next board meeting.
4. There is the potential for some winter weather this next week. We are in close communication with Homeland Security and the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Department to make decisions about school closures.
5. Former board member, Jim Kessler passed away over the weekend. Please remember his family.
6. We are also remembering our neighboring district and Monroe City in the loss of a student in a tragic accident. We also want to remember the family.
There being no further business, upon a motion by Mr. Mitcham, seconded by Mr. Hancock, the meeting adjourned at 12:43 p.m.
_____________________________ _____________________________
Ricky Durrett, Secretary Gregg Phillips, President