LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
Ruston, Louisiana
REGULAR SESSION
Tuesday, May 5, 1998 6:00 p.m.
The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, May 5, 1998 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, Mr. Billy Abrahm, Mr. Otha Anders, Mr. Wayne Barfield, Dr. Marty Beasley, Mr. Curtis Dowling, Mr. Jim Kessler, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Joe Mitcham, Mr. Rob Shadoin, and Mr. Allen Tuten.
Absent was Mr. Calvin Wilkerson.
President Wright called the meeting to order and the invocation was given by Mr. Anders. Mr. Wright led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag and welcomed special guests, members of the press, and official staff.
Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Mr. Kessler, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda with an addendum to personnel.
Upon a motion by Dr. Beasley, seconded by Mr. Mitcham, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Sessions held on April 7 and April 22, 1998 as distributed.
Superintendent Gerald Cobb reported that remarkable growth has taken place in the agriscience program at Ruston High School. Unfortunately that has lead to a lack of space. He asked the principal of the school, Randy Moore, to speak to the Board.
Mr. Moore said in the three years since the re-implementation of the agriscience program, enrollment has grown from 100 to 150 to 209 this school year. He anticipates having 300 register for the 98-99 classes. He has added an additional teacher to work with the students and anticipates hiring another before the fall term begins. At this point, the top candidate is a female. Lack of space has caused safety to become a factor. Since no room exists in the existing school plant and it is not feasible to convert any currently used space to agriscience instruction, he proposed the expansion of the current facility. This proposed expansion is 48 feet by 90 feet and will provide approximately 4300 square feet of instructional space and a sorely needed girls' rest room. The estimated cost is $110,000 which will come from the five mill maintenance fund.
After questions, upon a motion by Mr. Abrahm, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to advertise for the expansion of the shop building at Ruston High School.
Humanitarian Enterprises of Lincoln Parish (HELP) has requested the use of Lincoln Center for their summer feeding program during the months of June and July, Director of Auxiliary Services, Charles Owens, told the Board. He recommended that the Board grant that request.
Upon a motion by Mr. Mack, seconded by Dr. Beasley, the Board unanimously voted to allow HELP to use Lincoln Center as a site for their summer feeding program in June and July, 1998. Mr. Abrahm abstained from the vote as he is a member of the Advisory Board of the HELP organization.
Transportation Supervisor, Mr. Howard Whitlock, told Board members that in order to continue to provide the highest quality of daily bus service to the students of the parish and to better provide buses for extracurricular activities such as athletics and field trips, he feels that it is vitally important for yearly bus purchases to continue. His request for permission to buy 5 used buses (1995-1997) and 1 new bus (1998) is necessitated in part by the need to take 2 board-owned buses out of daily use and replace them with buses that are purchased; the replacement of 3 buses currently owned by contractors that wish to become board drivers; and the ever increasing need to have buses available for use in the event of mechanical problems. Great service has been received from the used buses purchased last year. He indicated that Ms. Juanita Duke, Business Manager, said sufficient funds will be available to budget for this expenditure for the upcoming fiscal year.
Upon a motion by Dr. Beasley, seconded by Mr. Kessler, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to advertise for five used (95-97) school buses and one new (1998) school bus.
Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Mr. Barfield, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to send Letters of Continued Employment to employees as mandated by Act 745 of the 1977 legislature. This request is presented annually by Assistant Superintendent, Mr. Ronnie Suggs.
Upon a motion by Mr. Dowling, seconded by Mr. Mitcham, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to submit a project application for Special Education IDEA-B and Preschool Flow-Through Application for Fiscal Year 1999 as presented by Mr. Suggs.
The Board served as a Committee of the Whole and the following Personnel Committee agenda items were discussed:
Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to approve the following three requests/recommendations presented by Mr. Suggs:
Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to go into executive session at 6:30 p.m.
Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Mitcham, the Board unanimously voted at 7:15 p.m. to return to regular session.
Mr. Barfield moved to uphold the recommendation of the administration of termination of school food service clerk, Nancy Marshall. Mr. Dowling seconded the motion.
Dr. Beasley moved that the motion be amended to uphold the recommendation of the administration of termination of school food service clerk, Nancy Marshall, unless the employee gets a doctor's confirmation to excuse excessive absences within two weeks. Mr. Mack seconded the motion.
The Board voted 4 - 7 by poll vote on the Beasley/Mack motion. Those voting for the motion: Anders, Beasley, Mack, and Wright. Those voting against the motion: Barfield, Abrahm, Kessler, Shadoin, Mitcham, Dowling, and Tuten. The motion failed.
The Board voted 9 - 2 by poll vote on the Barfield/Dowling motion. Those voting for the motion: Barfield, Beasley, Abrahm, Kessler, Shadoin, Mitcham, Dowling, Tuten, and Wright. Those voting against the motion: Anders and Mack. Therefore, Ms. Marshall will be terminated from employment as school food service clerk.
Ms. Duke reported that April, 1998 was another good month with an approximate 10% increase in collections over the same month last year. Collections in the 1967 and 1979 fund were $313,821 and $188,292 was collected in the 1993 fund. These are up about 4.7% for the year. The auditors have recovered $84,791 during the year which is still down from last year, about 66%, because of an unusually large collection last August. This fund should be up for the year if collections stay up, she speculated.
Ms. Duke called attention to the fund balances on the March, 1998 financial statement. She indicated that the general fund looks low for this time of the year mainly because of expenditures in two new programs: K-3 and technology. Reimbursement from the state of approximately $300,000 is expected for these programs.
The Board gave permission to re-advertise for proposals to update the central office telephone system at a previous meeting, Ms. Duke reviewed. During the selection process concern has surfaced regarding keeping up with the changes in technology and future technological needs. Therefore, she feels that it would be best to postpone advertising and accepting proposals until after the end of the school year when the technological staff will be available to assist in determining what the technology needs will be in the future and the direction needed for selecting the future phone system for the central office. Plans are to bring the proposals to the Board for approval this summer with plans to have the new system installed prior to the beginning of the next school year. The cost should remain within the $30,000 amount previously submitted. This was a report only and no action was taken.
Mr. Kessler, Mr. Mack, Dr. Beasley, Mr. Anders, and Mr. Wright discussed the School Boards Association (LSBA) annual convention which was recently held in Lake Charles. They reviewed the highlights of the convention. At the conclusion of the dialogue, Mr. Abrahm suggested that the legislative delegation from this area be invited to the next meeting of the board to discuss legislative issues and their stand on them. Others agreed that this would be beneficial and requested that Dr. Cobb issue the invitation.
The next item on the agenda was a report from Mr. Anders on the National School Boards Association convention held in New Orleans in April. He expressed his thanks for the privilege of attending the costly convention. He said it was very good and extremely motivating. Mr. Anders shared helpful information including booklets he brought back for others.
Mr. Mitcham, chairman of the Lincoln Parish Sales and Use Tax Commission, presented the proposed 98-99 budget which the Commission approved at their April 21, 1998 meeting. He urged the Board's approval of the conservative budget which is actually less than the previous year.
Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Anders, the Board unanimously voted to go on record as supporting the proposed 98-99 Sales and Use Tax budget. Mr. Shadoin abstained from the vote as his law partner represents the Commission.
Bass Partnership currently leases oil, gas and mineral rights on two tracts of land in Hico and Dubach belonging to the Lincoln Parish School Board, Dr. Cobb reported. Bass Partnership desires to assign its rights in those leases to JMI Energy, Inc. Therefore, in accordance with state law, the company has requested the Board's permission to do so. The district attorney prepared a resolution approving the transfer of the leases. Dr. Cobb recommended approval of the resolution.
Upon a motion by Mr. Tuten, seconded by Dr. Beasley, the Board unanimously voted by poll vote to approve the following:
RESOLUTION
RESOLVED that the Lincoln Parish School Board does hereby approve and consent to the transfer and assignment by Bass Partnership to JMI Energy, Inc. of all of the rights, title and interest, which the said Bass Partnership might have in and to the following leases:
State Agency Lease #5053 by and between the Lincoln Parish School Board and T. L. James & Company, Inc., which lease was filed for record on March 1, 1968 and recorded in Conveyance Book 128, Page 118 of the records of the Clerk of Court, Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, said lease covering and affecting approximately 5.0 acres, more or less, located in Section 22, Township 20 North, Range 3 West, Lincoln Parish, Louisiana; and
State Agency Lease #9123 by and between the Lincoln Parish School Board and BRS Oil Company, which lease was filed for record on March 23, 1981 and recorded in Conveyance Book 319, Page 91 of the records of the Clerk of Court, Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, said lease covering and affecting approximately 7.91 acres, more or less located in Sections 6 and 7, Township 20 North, Range 3 West, Lincoln Parish, Louisiana.
Superintendent Cobb proposed to open the application process for the principalships of Cypress Springs Elementary and I. A. Lewis schools on Wednesday, May 6, 1998. The application period would close at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20, 1998. Advertisements for the position would be sent to school systems and newspapers across North Louisiana seeking applicants. Interviews would be held May 22-26 with a recommendation to fill the position to be presented to the Board at its June 2, 1998 meeting. He recommended that the Board grant permission to advertise and interview for these principal positions as previously stated.
Upon a motion by Mr. Anders, seconded by Mr. Mack, the Board unanimously voted to grant permission to advertise May 6-20, 1998 and interview May 22-26, 1998 for the Cypress Springs and I. A. Lewis principal positions.
In the report of the Superintendent, Dr. Cobb said that a graduation schedule was given to Board members and they should feel free to attend any of the ceremonies.
Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Mitcham, the meeting was adjourned by acclamation at 7:55 p.m.
Gerald W. Cobb, Secretary David Wright, President