LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
RUSTON, LOUISIANA
REGULAR SESSION
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5,1993
The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, October 5, 1993 at 6:00 p.m. in the Board Room of the Lincoln Parish School Board Office, 410 South Farmerville Street, Ruston, Louisiana. Members present were: Mr. David Wright, Dr. Owen Jean Hall, Mrs. Loyace Braggs, Dr. Marty Beasley, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Andy Shealy, Mr. Jim Kessler, Mr. Wayne Barfield, Mr. Calvin Wilkerson, Ms. Ann M. Boyd, Mr. Paul Woodard and Mr. Allen Tuten.
Absent: None
Mr. David Wright, president, called the meeting to order and the invocation was given by Dr. Marty Beasley.
Mrs. Patsy Bullock, principal of Cypress Springs Elementary School, was present to introduce Carmie Smith, a fifth grade student at Cypress Springs who led the board in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag. Mrs. Bullock told members of the board that Carmie is an honor roll student who especially enjoys science, as well as reading, dancing and horseback riding. Following the pledge, Dr. Cobb presented Carmie with a certificate of appreciation on behalf of the Lincoln Parish School Board.
Mr. Wright welcomed guests and members of the media and staff who were present. A special welcome was extended to Dr. Owen Jean Hall, a new board member appointed by the board to serve in Dr. Phil Rice's former position, representing Ward I-B, until such time as an election can be held in March, 1994. At this time, Sue Sanderson, Lincoln Parish Clerk of Court administered the Oath of Office to Dr. Hall and following the swearing in of Dr. Hall as new board member, he was offered congratulations and welcomed to the board by the other Lincoln Parish School Board members.
Upon a motion by Mr. Andy Shealy, seconded by Ms. Ann M. Boyd, the board voted unanimously to approve, as distributed, the minutes of the regular session of the board held on September 7, 1993.
Upon a motion by Mrs. Loyace Braggs, seconded by Mr. Paul Woodard, the board voted unanimously to adopt the addendum to the agenda to include additional personnel information to be acted on by the board, serving as a Committee of the Whole.
Dr. Charles Scriber recognized Teacher of the Year winners for 1993-94 from Lincoln Parish and presented each of the following with a plaque of appreciation on behalf of the Lincoln Parish School Board for their excellence and hard work:
Patrice Hay - Kindergarten teacher from Hillcrest representing Elementary
Susan Hilton - Ruston Jr. teacher representing Jr. High Schools
Cathy Cox - Choudrant High teacher representing High Schools
Ms. Barbara Torbor, guidance counselor at Ruston High School, presented two National Merit Semi-Finalists from Ruston High School and, on behalf of the Lincoln Parish School Board, presented each of the following winners with a plaque of appreciation for their accomplishments:
Carsey Walker, Jr. - Ruston High School Senior
Jean Jacobsen - Ruston High School Senior
The next agenda item to be considered was the election of a new vice president to succeed Mr. David Wright, new board president. An attempt to elect a vice president at the September 7 board meeting was unsuccessful due to a deadlock vote and the item was tabled until a later date.
At this time, Mr. Wright opened the floor for nominations for vice president to serve until the first board meeting in January, 1994 or the remainder of Mr. David Wright's term as vice president. Mr. Andy Shealy nominated Mr. Wayne Barfield to serve as vice-president. Mr. Calvin Wilkerson nominated Dr. Marty Beasley to serve as vice-president. Upon a motion by Mr. George Mack, seconded by Mrs. Loyace Braggs, the board voted unanimously that nominations should cease.
Voting on a roll call vote for Dr. Marty Beasley: Mrs. Loyace Braggs, Dr. Marty Beasley, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Calvin Wilkerson, Ms. Ann M. Boyd and Mr. David Wright.
Voting on a roll call vote against Dr. Marty Beasley: Mr. Andy Shealy, Mr. Jim Kessler, Mr. Wayne Barfield, Mr. Paul Woodard, Mr. Allen Tuten, and Dr. Owen Jean Hall.
The result of the vote for Dr. Beasley was 6 for and 6 against.
Voting on a roll call vote for Mr. Wayne Barfield: Mr. Andy Shealy, Mr. Jim Kessler, Mr. Wayne Barfield, Mr. Paul Woodard, Mr. Allen Tuten, and Dr. Owen Jean Hall.
Voting on a roll call vote against Mr. Wayne Barfield: Mrs. Loyace Braggs, Dr. Marty Beasley, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Calvin Wilkerson, Ms. Ann M. Boyd, and Mr. David Wright.
The result of the vote for Mr. Barfield was 6 for and 6 against.
Mr. Allen Tuten, after the board was unable on this second occasion to elect a vice-president due a 6-6 deadlock vote, offered a motion that any further attempt to elect a vice-president be tabled until the first meeting in January, 1994. Mr. Shealy offered a second to that motion and upon a roll call vote of 8-4 as shown below, the matter was tabled until January, 1994.
Voting for the motion to table any further attempt to elect a vice-president until the first meeting in January, 1994: Mr. Andy Shealy, Mr. Jim Kessler, Mr. Wayne Barfield, Ms. Ann M. Boyd, Mr. Paul Woodard, Mr. Allen Tuten, Mr. David Wright and Dr. Owen Jean Hall.
Voting against the motion to table any further attempt to elect a vice-president until the first meeting in January, 1994: Mrs. Loyace Braggs, Dr. Marty Beasley, Mr. George Mack, and Mr. Calvin Wilkerson.
Upon a motion by Dr. Marty Beasley, seconded by Mr. Wayne Barfield, the board voted unanimously to ratify the poll vote taken on September 10, 1993 requesting the board's permission to advertise the Supervisor of Finance position.
At this time Mr. David Wolf, bonding attorney with Foley and Judell in New Orleans, came before the board and gave a brief update on board action taken thus far giving preliminary approval to the issuance of refunding bonds for the Simsboro, and Choudrant Districts. Refunding being to reissue the bonds at lower interest rates in order to reduce the interest to taxpayers thereby saving them money. As a result of this action, approval has been obtained from State Bond Commission for bonds to be issued for those two districts. He further indicated that five (5) bids for each of the issues were received for Simsboro and five (5) for Choudrant and in order for the bids to be opened and tallied, he requested that the board adopt the resolution giving permission for him to open and tally the bids.
Upon a motion by Mr. Paul Woodard, seconded by Mr. Jim Kessler, the board voted unanimously to adopt the resolution providing for the opening of the sealed bids received for the purchase of (i) $1,670,000 of General Obligation School Refunding Bonds, Series 1993, of Simsboro School District No. 3 of the Parish of Lincoln, State of Louisiana, (ii) $1,255,000 of General Obligation School Refunding Bonds, Series 1993, of Choudrant School District No. 6 of the Parish of Lincoln, State of Louisiana; approving the Official Notice of Bond Sale and Official Statement in connection therewith, and authorizing the President and Secretary of the Parish School Board to sign copies thereof as evidence of the approval thereof
Mr. Wolf indicated that he would come before the board later in the meeting to present the tally of the bids and to ask the board to adopt a resolution calling for issuance and sale of the bonds.
Distribution of Instructional Supply Money for 1993-94 from the 1979 Sales Tax Fund was presented to the board by Pam Roy. She informed the board that this is a yearly allotment, allocated on a per pupil basis, which is sent directly to each school to be used for library supplements ($1.50); classroom supplies ($2.75); office supplies and equipment repairs/purchases ($2.75); student services ($2.75); debate and speech ($1.25), and kindergarten ($100 per teacher). The rate shown is the same as last school year.
Upon a motion by Mr. Andy Shealy, seconded by Mrs. Loyace Braggs, the board voted unanimously to approve the distribution of the Instructional Supply Money for 1993-94 as given by Ms. Roy.
The board served as a Committee of the Whole and the following Personnel information was addressed:
1. Dr. Cobb presented background information on the selection process used by the Interview Committee in arriving at a recommendation for the position of Supervisor of Finance. He indicated that 18 qualified applicants were interviewed by the following Interview Committee:
Ronnie Suggs
Charles Owens
Howard Whitlock
Sandra Henderson
Patsy Bullock
It was the unanimous recommendation of this committee to nominate Mr. Bruce Slack for the position of Supervisor of Finance. Following the presentation of this information and upon a motion by Ms. Ann M. Boyd, seconded by Mr. Paul Woodard, the board voted unanimously to approve the recommendation and to name Mr. Bruce Slack as the new Supervisor of Finance for Lincoln Parish Schools.
2. Upon a motion by Mr. Wayne Barfield, seconded by Mrs. Loyace Braggs, the following staff resignations were accepted by the board as presented by Mr. Ron Suggs:
a. Richard Garrett as Supervisor of Finance, effective September 22, 1993
b. Greg Cole as elementary teacher at I. A. Lewis, effective October 1, 1993
3. As a point of reference, Mr. Suggs informed the board that Susan Hinton, elementary teacher, was returning from Workmen's Compensation Leave to Hillcrest Elementary School, effective September 13, 1993.
4. Upon a motion by Ms. Ann M. Boyd, seconded by Mr. Andy Shealy, the board voted to approve the following teacher-aide recommendations:
a. Elizabeth Hood as teacher at Ruston Elementary, effective September 20, to replace Pam Willis who is on Sabbatical Leave
Dr. Marty Beasley indicated that she would abstain from voting on the employment of Elizabeth Hood. The vote on this was 11 for and 1 abstention.
b. Angela Turner as preschool aide at Lincoln Center, effective September 7, replacing Marsha Davis who is on leave-without-pay.
5. As a point of reference, Brenda Theodos told the board that Charlesetta Young had moved from clerk to clerk/technician at I. A. School due to increased participation, effective October 1, 1993.
6. Upon a motion by Mr. Andy Shealy, seconded by Mr. George Mack, the board voted unanimously to employ Patrick Pierce as SFS technician at Lincoln Center in a new position, effective October 1, 1993.
A report on Sales Tax collections for the month of September, 1993 was presented by Pam Roy. She told the board that collections for this month were up $9,327.74 or 4.9%. Totals for the year reflect at this point an increase of 12.46% as compared to last years totals at this point. She indicated that collections in the new '93 sales tax were at $394,013.28. This figure includes collections for July, August, and September.
A brief report on the Academic Awards Banquet to be held on Monday, October 18, 1993 at the Ruston Civic Center was given by Dr. Charles Scriber.
Board members attending the MFP meeting held on Wednesday, September 29, 1993 responded to the board on their feelings and interpretations regarding the items addressed at this meeting. Mr. Jim Kessler spoke first and in summary indicated that he felt Lincoln Parish was not being treated fairly and he was glad we were among the states involved in litigation against the MFP.
Dr. Beasley told the board that it was obvious to her after attending the meeting was that the things for which we get points are not the things which the state considers valuable.
Dr. Cobb indicated that the unanswered question was how did we become a "hold harmless system" or why we do get no more money from the state than we got the prior year. The first projection for Lincoln Parish was that we would receive $1.2 million over and above what we had received in the past. However, we have gone from that projection down to zero additional funds. No answer or explanation was given for this. Dr. Cobb told the board that the new MFP does not do what it first said it was going to do. The formula does not bring about equity, fairness, justice nor does it address the plight of the poorer parishes in our state. Lincoln Parish does not want extra money; we just want the state to pay the money that they have been paying in order that we can hire the best qualified teacher, not the cheapest teacher and then if there is money left over, distribute it to the poorer parishes in order to give them additional assistance.
At this point in the meeting, David Wolf came back before the board with the results or tally of the five (5) bids received for refunding the Choudrant and Simsboro bonds. He reviewed the amount of each bid and the average interest rate of each bid. The bid is awarded on the basis of the lowest average interest rate. The low bidder was a group consisting of three banks: First National Bank of Commerce in New Orleans, Commercial National Bank in Shreveport and Deposit Guaranty Bank in Jackson, MS. Their average interest rate was 4.259937% on the Choudrant issue and 4.292268% on the Simsboro issue. This represents a savings to the tax payers of Choudrant in the amount of $184,329, and $226,106 to tax payers in Simsboro.
Upon a motion by Mr. Andy Shealy, seconded by Ms. Ann M. Boyd, the board voted unanimously to adopt a resolution providing for the issuance and sale of (i) One Million Six Hundred Seventy Thousand Dollars ($1,670,000) of General Obligation School Refunding Bonds, Series 1993, of Simsboro School District No. 3 of the Parish of Lincoln, State of Louisiana, and (4) One Million Two Hundred Fifty-Five Thousand Dollars ($1,255,000) of General Obligation School Refunding Bonds, Series 1993, of Choudrant School District No. 6 of the Parish of Lincoln, State of Louisiana; prescribing the form, fixing the details and providing for the rights of the owners thereof; providing for the payment of the principal of and interest on such bonds and the application of the proceeds thereof to the refunding of certain bonds of said respective Districts; and providing for other matters in connection therewith.
Upon a motion by Dr. Marty Beasley, seconded by Ms. Ann M. Boyd, the board voted unanimously to accept the low bid that met specifications submitted by Baker and Taylor Book Company for the purchase of library books with state and local funds for the 1993-94 with an option for the 1994-95 school year.
In the Superintendent's Report, Dr. Cobb told board members that the 1993-94 General Fund Budget adopted by the Lincoln Parish School Board was approved by the Department of Education, as indicated in correspondence from Mr. Raymond Arveson, State Superintendent of Education.
Concerns were expressed by several members of the board regarding correspondence sent home by students concerning unpaid school debts. It was felt that interpretation of the correspondence was threatening to some parents and students and that the form letter should be modified. Dr. Cobb told the board that this had been addressed and the letter had been modified to a more suitable form. A lengthy discussion followed and the board heard from a concerned parent who received this correspondence before it was modified. Again, Dr. Cobb reiterated that the problem had been addressed and corrected.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m.
Gerald W. Cobb, Secretary David Wright, President