LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
Ruston, Louisiana
REGULAR SESSION
Tuesday, May 7, 1991 6:15 p.m.
The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, May 7, 1991 at 6:15 p.m. in the Board Room of the Lincoln Parish School Board Office, 410 South Farmerville Street, Ruston, LA. Members present were: Mr. Allen Tuten, Dr. Phil Rice, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Andy Shealy, Mr. James R. Kessler, Mr. Wayne Barfield, Mr. Calvin Wilkerson, Ms. Ann M. Boyd, Mr. Paul Woodard and Mr. David Wright.
Absent: Mrs. Loyace Braggs and Dr. Marty Beasley
Mr. Allen Tuten, president, called the meeting to order and the invocation was given by Mr. Andy Shealy. Mr. Tuten then recognized Mrs. Ann Gilbert, principal of Hillcrest Elementary School, who introduced Shea Deason, a fifth grade student, who was selected to lead the board in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag. Mrs. Gilbert told the board that Shea exemplifies the ideal student. She is on the honor roll and a member of the Gifted and Talented Class. She is a good citizen with lots of school spirit and patriotism. Following the pledge, Dr. Cobb presented Shea with a certificate of appreciation from the Lincoln Parish School Board.
Mr. Tuten welcomed the guests and members of the staff and media who were present for the meeting.
Upon a motion by Mr. Andy Shealy, seconded by Mr. George Mack, the board voted unanimously to approve the following minutes: Regular Session of the board held on April 2, 1991; Special Session of April 16, 1991 and Special Session of April 29, 1991.
A warm welcome was extended to four students who were invited to the board meeting to receive special recognition for their achievements in the Superintendent's Writing Awards Program. Mr. Danny Bell offered comments prior to the presentation of awards to the following students: Stephen Bell, second grade student attending Glen View Elementary; Ivy Phillips, sixth grade student attending I. A. Lewis; Jennifer Reynolds, eighth grade student attending Ruston Jr. High School and Betsy Huey, twelfth grade student attending Choudrant High School.
Mrs. Brenda Theodos, Supervisor of School Food Service, presented a request for permission to use Lincoln Center cafeteria for a Summer Food Service Program for children. This request was submitted by the H.E.L.P. Agency. Lincoln Center has been used for the past eight years for this program and approximately 150 children are fed each day. Upon a motion by Mr. David Wright, seconded by Ms. Ann M. Boyd, the board voted unanimously to allow H.E.L.P. to use the Lincoln Center cafeteria for a Summer Food Service Program.
Upon a motion by Mr. Wayne Barfield, seconded by Mr. Paul Woodard, the board voted to send letters of Continued Employment for 1991-92. The board then heard the personnel items as a Committee of the Whole and Mr. Ron Suggs presented the following personnel information:
1. Upon a motion by Mr. David Wright, seconded by Dr. Phil Rice, the board voted to accept the letter of Intent to Retire, effective June 14, 1991, submitted by Rev. Henry Island, Trade and Industrial instructor at Ruston High School.
2. Upon a motion by Ms. Ann M. Boyd, seconded by Mr. Jim Kessler, the board voted to grant the request submitted by Lucy Spillers, elementary teacher at Choudrant, for a leave without pay for the 1991-92 school year.
3. Upon a motion by Mr. Jim Kessler, seconded by Mr. Paul Woodard, the board voted to grant requests for Sabbatical Leave for the following personnel:
a. Charles Scriber, principal at Ruston Jr. High School, for Sabbatical Leave from 7/1/91 until 6/30/92.
b. Cathi Cox, science teacher at Choudrant High School, for emergency Sabbatical Leave from 5/13/91 until 5/31/91.
c. Rebecca Roach, kindergarten teacher at Choudrant Elementary, for a Sabbatical Leave for the 1991-92 school year.
d. Debra Carter, speech therapist at Glen View/Hico, for a Sabbatical Leave for the 1991-92 school year.
e. James Barker, social studies teacher/coach at Ruston High School, for a Sabbatical Leave for the fall semester of 1991-92.
f. Betty Lee, art teacher at Ruston High School, for a Sabbatical Leave for the 1991-92 school year.
4. Mrs. Brenda Theodos, School Food Service Supervisor, presented the following personnel item for board action:
a. Upon a motion by Mr. David Wright, seconded by Dr. Phil Rice, the board voted to accept the letter of Intent to Retire submitted by Neva Edmonds, SFS technician at Ruston Elementary, to be effective May 31, 1991.
5. Mr. Dwight Mitchell, Supervisor of Transportation, presented the next personnel agenda item and the following action was taken:
a. Upon a motion by Mr. David Wright, seconded by Mr. George Mack, the board voted to accept the disability retirement of Tyrone Harris, bus driver for Grambling Lab Schools, to be effective April 2, 1991.
A report of the Finance Committee was given by Dr. Phil Rice, chairman, and the following action was taken:
1. Bids for the purchase of new band uniforms for Ruston High School were presented to the board. A brief period of explanation and discussion was held concerning the bids received. Upon a motion by Dr. Phil Rice, seconded by Mr. Andy Shealy, the board, upon the recommendation of the Finance Committee, Mr. Frank Ramsey, band director and Superintendent Cobb, voted unanimously to accept the bid submitted by Fechheimer in the amount of $40,075.50. It was determined that this bid met the specifications as set forth in the bid information. The cost of the uniforms will be shared with the Ruston High Band Support Group contributing $15,000 and the balance to be paid from the Sales Tax Instructional Funds.
2. Bids for the lease/purchase of three (3) new buses were reviewed and upon a motion by Dr. Phil Rice, seconded by Ms. Ann Boyd, and upon the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the board voted unanimously to accept the bid submitted by Seaman's Bus Sales in the amount of $22,192 annually for five years with an APR of 7.34% for the lease/purchase of three (3) new buses.
3. Grambling State University High School's request for assistance in purchasing new band instruments was presented to the board. A spokesperson for the GSU High Band Booster Club was present and indicated that this organization would contribute approximately 10% of the $19,000 total replacement cost of new instruments. It was indicated also that Grambling State University would contribute toward this purchase. Pending receipt of a statement from Grambling College giving the amount of their support, the board agreed to table this request. Upon receipt of this information from GSU, the Finance Committee will meet to address this request and will report back to the board as soon as possible.
Dr. Cobb spoke to the board on the awareness of mandated costs programs and the impact they are having on the Lincoln Parish School System. He indicated that it has been necessary for the Lincoln Parish School Board to absorb an approximate total of $2,093,644. in mandated programs during the past five years. Dr. Cobb further indicated that we have no sources of revenue to meet these increasing mandated costs. Some of these costs include the 5% cut in 1986-87, the loss of Sales Tax exemption, medicare tax, new bus purchases, the cut to support services, accrued unfunded retirement liability, fingerprinting program, asbestos abatement, and others. Board members entered into a lengthy period of discussion on this existing problem.
A financial update for the month of March, 1991 was given by Benice Holloway, Supervisor of Finance for Lincoln Parish Schools. She indicated that all fund balances are fine but are feeling the strain of the mandated programs.
An update on the Sales Tax receipts for April, 1991 was given by Ms. Holloway. The update reflected an increase of $8,284.91 or 3.63% over April, 1990, with a year-to-date Increase of 5.4%. As a matter of information, she informed the board that sick leave severance pay does not have to paid out of sales tax. This expense will be transferred back into the General Fund this year. Also, she indicated that employer contributions to the Group Insurance Program had increased due to the increase in number of employees.
A brief summary on the legislative auditor's report for 1988-89 and 1989-90 was given by Ms. Holloway. She told the board that we received an excellent report with only a few minor changes to be implemented.
Ron Suggs gave a report on the auditor's student count. This is mandated by the legislature. He explained that the number of teachers allotted to a school is based on the number of students attending that school. A random check of two Lincoln Parish Schools by state auditors verified that the number of students we reported to the state and the actual number of students housed in those schools were the same. Lincoln Parish received an excellent report on this audit.
Danny Garbarino, principal of Ruston High School, came before the board to give a brief summary on the recent Ruston High School Southern Association of Colleges and Schools review. He indicated that this involved a very detailed self-study by the faculty of the school. He expressed pride and appreciation in the dedication and hard work of the faculty at Ruston High School.
A resolution petitioning the State Department of Education, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and members of the Louisiana Legislature to suspend the LATIP/LATEP evaluations until these programs are adequately revised to reduce the volume of indicators, simplify the logistics of implementation, remove the category ranking of superior teacher, clarify the procedure for scoring the evaluation and utilize local representatives on the evaluation team. if this revision is not possible, the board agreed that the LATIP/LATEP Program should be replaced with an evaluation system which merges our two existing state and local evaluation plans into one statewide uniform system of evaluation to improve instruction, assess instruction, and enhance student learning outcomes.
Upon a motion by Mr. Paul Woodard, seconded by Ms. Ann Boyd, the board voted to approve the adoption of this resolution calling for suspension of the LATIP/LATEP Program.
Teacher Appreciation Week is scheduled to be observed the week of May 6-12. Upon a motion by Mr. Wayne Barfield, seconded by Ms. Ann Boyd, the board voted to adopt the resolution calling for this week to be observed in Lincoln Parish. Copies of the resolution will be sent to every teacher in the system.
Dr. Cobb informed the board that the State Attorney General is initiating litigation against certain milk companies who have conspired over a period of some ten years or more to rig bids on the sale of milk to local school districts in the State of Louisiana. Lincoln Parish School Board would incur no out-of-pocket expenses if they chose to enter into the litigation. Upon a motion by Mr. Jim Kessler, seconded by Mr. Paul Woodard, the board voted unanimously to enter into an agreement whereby the Attorney General of Louisiana will represent Lincoln Parish, along with other parishes in the state, in the filing and prosecution of a lawsuit against any milk companies which participated in any bid-rigging conspiracy involving the sale of milk to school boards.
The Superintendent's Report was given and the following items of information were addressed:
1. Medicaid reimbursement for special needs children has been received in the past two years in the amount of $60,000. With these funds, we have been able to purchase a special education bus. However, a bill is pending in the legislature instructing school systems to send 75% of any recovered medicaid reimbursement to the state and allowing local systems to keep only 25% of these funds. If this bill passes, Lincoln Parish will no longer process forms for this reimbursement. Since the state will receive the majority of these funds, they will have to make application for reimbursement.
2. A graduation schedule for all high school graduations was given to board members.
3. Board members were reminded that the retirement tea honoring all 1990-91 retirees will be held prior the board meeting on Tuesday, June 4, 1991.
Upon a motion by Mr. David Wright, seconded by Dr. Phil Rice, the board voted to adjourn at 7:55 p.m.
Gerald W. Cobb, Secretary Allen Tuten, President