LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

Ruston, Louisiana

REGULAR SESSION

Tuesday, December 3, 2024   6:00 p.m.

The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. at 410 South Farmerville Street, Ruston, Louisiana.  Members present were Ms. Debbie Abrahm, Mr. Otha Anders, 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, Mr. Hunter Smith, and Dr. Danielle Williams.

President Phillips called the meeting to order and welcomed guests and media.  Mr. Mitcham gave the invocation.  Dr. Williams led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.

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

Upon a motion by Mr. Mitcham, seconded by Ms. Abrahm, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Special Called Session held on October 24, 2024.

Upon a motion by Mr. Smith, seconded by Mr. Hancock, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Session held on November 7, 2024 as distributed.

Brandon Sutherland expressed to the Board how proud he was to have the opportunity to introduce a very special group of individuals.  The first group, our district Students of the Year, were selected from over 5,500 students in Lincoln Parish.  They are, Collins Reigelman (A.E. Phillips School), Elementary Student of the Year; Avery Dixon (Ruston Junior High School), Middle School Student of the Year; and Abby Seney (Ruston High School), High School Student of the Year.  Teacher of Year honors went to Jennifer Breeding (Lincoln Parish Early Childhood Center), Early Elementary Teacher of the Year; Diamond Mitchell (Dubach School), Elementary Teacher of the Year; Sarah Waits (Ruston Junior High School), Middle School Teacher of the Year; and Stephanie Young (Choudrant High School), High School Teacher of the Year.  Finally, he introduced Principal of the Year winners, Mandy Brown (Ruston Elementary School) Elementary Principal of the Year; and Chris Jones (Choudrant High School), High School Principal of the Year.

Following a month of studying policy additions and revisions, Assistant Superintendent John Young recommended the board members approve the proposed policy additions and revisions to the policy manual.

Upon a motion by Ms. Doss, seconded by Mr. Mitcham, the Board unanimously voted to approve these revisions and additions:  BCBB – Notification of School Board Meetings, BCBJ – Broadcasting and Taping of School Board Meetings (New), CED – Employment of Superintendent, GAK – Personnel Records, GAMK – Use of Pronouns and Given Names (New), GBC – Recruitment, IDBA – Sex Education, IDDF – Education of Students with Exceptionalities, and JGC – Student Health Services.

Student Support Services Director Justin Barron gave the Board some background on the next agenda item to consider entering into Memorandum of Understanding with Winn Community Health Center, Inc. (aka Lincoln Community Health Center) for school-based health clinics in six Lincoln Parish schools.  He explained how we got to “this point” of introducing school-based health clinics for some schools.  He spoke to nurse salaries, Medicaid funding and recovering reimbursements, and the loss of some grant funding and ESSR funding.  These health clinics would initially be in six Lincoln Parish schools (Hillcrest Elementary, Ruston Elementary, Glen View Elementary, Cypress Springs Elementary, IA Lewis School, and Ruston Junior High).  Lincoln CHC would employ six clerical staff members, six fulltime nurses, and three fulltime Nurse Practitioners to cover these six health clinics.  Students participating would have no out of pocket expenses.

Mr. Barron introduced Mr. Deano Thornton, CEO and founder of Winn Community Health Center, Inc.  Mr. Thornton expressed to board members that the clinics would be provided at no cost to LPSB and would begin at the start of the 2025-2026 school year.  Services offered include medical, behavioral and dental, and would enhance, not replace what is being done in schools now.

Upon a motion by Mr. Smith, seconded by Mr. Hancock, the Board voted by roll call 7-5 in favor of authorizing the Superintendent to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with Winn Community Health Center, Inc. (aka Lincoln Community Health Center) for a period of three years.

President Phillips voiced that a public announcement was required by state law to be read in an open meeting and published in the Official Journal to give Notice of Public Meeting to be held on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, whereby the Lincoln Parish School Board would consider a resolution to call a special election for the renewal of an ad valorem tax.  Additionally, the Louisiana Legislative delegation for Lincoln Parish will be notified of the public meeting being held for this purpose.

President Phillips read the Announcement of Public Meeting in full as follows:

Notice is hereby given that at its meeting to be held on Tuesday, January 7, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Parish School Board Office, 410 S. Farmerville Street, Ruston, Louisiana, the Parish School Board of the Parish of Lincoln, State of Louisiana, plans to consider adopting a resolution ordering and calling for a special election to be held in Simsboro School District No. 3 of the Parish of Lincoln, State of Louisiana, to authorize the renewal of an ad valorem tax therein.

No action was needed.

Supervisor of Auxiliary Services Ricky Edmiston told the Board that each year we are required by law to advertise for bids on materials and supplies for schools with an aggregate cost of $60,000.00 or more.  He asked the Board to consider granting permission to advertise for bids for duplicating paper for the second half of the school year.

Upon a motion by Ms. Doss, seconded by Mr. Anders, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to advertise and to accept the lowest qualified bidder for bids for duplicating paper for January 1 – June 30, 2025.

Mr. Durrett told the board that in order to provide safe and efficient bus service for the students of Lincoln Parish, cameras on route buses and activity buses need to be upgraded.  The request to buy cameras is based on the ability to provide an accurate account of incidents that occur on buses by students, parents or drivers.  In addition, when accidents occur with other vehicles, accurate footage of the incident is available.

Upon a motion by Ms. Henderson, seconded by Mr. Smith, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to request proposals to purchase cameras for buses and authorize district administration to award the proposal to the vendor with the highest evaluation score.

In a School District Performance Scores 2023-24 Update, Assessment and Accountability Supervisor Dr. Lillie Williams-Hearn reported that the Lincoln Parish School District maintained an “A” status for the second year in a row.  She went over the final 2024 district scores, as well as the district's identified subgroups' scores, and included a comparison to 2023 scores.  During the presentation, trend data were reported for the various indices that are used to calculate the overall district performance score.  Additionally, SY 2023-2024 Early Childhood Site Performance Profiles/Scores, which LDOE does not include in the calculation of the overall district performance score, were shared for the four Lincoln Parish school sites that house pre-kindergarten programs.  This information became available from the Louisiana Department of Education just prior to the Thanksgiving break, indicating the district's performance score dropped slightly by one half point overall.

Dr. Williams asked for more detailed information that might explain why scores dropped and seemed to be on a downward trend.  Dr. Williams-Hearn said that the purpose of this presentation was to strictly review the data that was only recently made available and that more time would be needed to analyze the data to form a clearer understanding.

Mr. Young, filling in for Dr. Doris Lewis, communicated the following personnel changes:

Ms. Duke reported sales tax collections for the month of November were up approximately 3.69% over this month last year.  Overall, for the year collections are up 6.44%.

In the monthly financial report for October, Ms. Duke stated that in the general fund, the total revenue collections is 28.7% of the budget.  For expenditures, approximately 24% of budget has been spent.  Total change in fund balance accumulated for the fiscal year to date is a positive $3.1 million, compared to $3.7 million for the same time period last year.  For special revenue funds, the total revenue recognized is 26.2% of budgeted.  Expenditures are approximately 34.3% of budget.  Total change in fund balances combined shows a decrease of $3.16 million, compared to the decrease of $2.9 million in the previous year.

Moving on to the Health Insurance Fund report for October, Ms. Duke reported total plan contributions for the month of October is $1.36 million.  Total contributions for the plan year is $12.4 million.  Total plan expenses in the month of October is $1.4 million, for a change in net assets of a decrease of $35,000.  Total accumulated for the plan year expenses is $14.2 million, with a total decrease in plan net assets for performance for the 2024 plan year of $1.7 million.

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

Upon a motion by Mr. Mitcham, seconded by Mr. Canterbury the meeting adjourned at 7:42 p.m.