CROWLEY, LOUISIANA
MARCH 13, 2000
1) The Acadia Parish School Board met on this the 13th day of March 2000, at 5:00 p.m., in a regular session, with President John H. Quebodeaux presiding. Members present were Mr.Lyle C. Johnson, Mr. Bill Pinac, Ms. Kitty M. Valdetero, Ms. Wadie H. Bias, Mr. Woody M.Marceaux, Mr. John A. Suire, Mr. Lynn Shamsie, Mr. Nolton J. Senegal, Sr., Mr. Roland J.Boudreaux, Mr. Rodney J. Trahan, Mr. Johnnie L. Smith, Mr. Charles F. Daigle, Mr. ShirleyVige', Dr. Robert McManus, Mr. Paul K. Bellon, and Secretary-Treasurer Dr. Marietta W.James.
2&3) Holly Kebodeaux, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Larry Kebodeaux, a seventh grade student at Morse Elementary School, led in the prayer and Pledge of Allegiance. Holly is a member of the Library Club, French Club, Beta Club, Student Council, 4-H Club, Year Book Staff, Pep Squad, and Cheerleaders. Academically she received a 4.0 trophy, was selected as Student of The Year, Top French Student, and received the Presidents's Award. She has maintained perfect attendance, her D.A.R.E. essay was ranked as best, her poetry entry for Title I Young Authors received first place, and she placed third and second in the science and social studies fairs.
4) Upon motion by Mr. Senegal, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a majority voice vote (Ms. Valdetero opposed), the agenda was revised by adding Routine la (CONSIDER A PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MARCH AS CAREER MONTH), Routine 1b (CONSIDER SUBSTANTIAL COMPLETION OF CROWLEY HIGH SCHOOL PERMANENT WALLS - PHASE 1), Routine lc (CONSIDER REVISION IN PUPIL PROGRESSION PLAN), Routine ld (CONSIDER RETAINING AN ATTORNEY TO HANDLE A SALES TAX COLLECTION MATTER), Consent 9 (CONSIDER REQUEST FOR LEAVE WITHOUT PAY FROM DESIREE COLE, CAFETERIA WORKER, SOUTH RAYNE ELEMENTARY, FROM MARCH 24 TO JUNE 1, 2000), and Consent 8 was modified by adding (IOTA HIGH SCHOOL).
5) Reading of the minutes of the February 7, 2000, meeting was dispensed with (copies of minutes were sent to each member prior to this meeting) and approved as amended to reflect Mr. Smith's comments regarding the possibility of reducing costs by eliminating an assistant principal at Rayne High School(Page 16), upon motion by Mr. Senegal, seconded by Mr. Shamsie, and carried by a majority voice vote (Mr. Daigle opposed).
6) Mrs. Lee Ethel Dupont announced the upcoming Acadia Parish Career Expo which will be handled by Mrs. Ezora Proctor. Mrs. Proctor addressed the Board and described the "reality store" which educates students on the real cost of living expenses and how this relates to education and career choices.
7) Ms. Rosalyn Baty from the Louisiana Technical College - Acadia Campus addressed the Board regarding the CNA program, which Acadia Parish students have participated in for the past several years. Several students were recognized. Mr. Smith added favorable comments about this program. He reported that many of these students were now employed in the healthcare field.
8) The Crowley High School Teacher Cadet class was recognized. Cadets thanked the Board for allowing them to attend a training seminar recently held at Milsaps College.
9) Mr. Stacy Bertrand, coach of the Midland High School Lady Rebel basketball team, talked about their recent participation in the Sweet 16 Basketball Tournament and thanked the Board for their support. President Quebodeaux commended the team on their accomplishment. Mr. Shamsie commended them for their sportsmanship.
ACTION ITEMS:
1.) Upon motion by Mr. Pinac, seconded by Mr. Trahan, and carried by a majority voice vote (Mr Daigle opposed), consideration of employee compensation projections was tabled.
2 &3) Upon motion by Ms. Valdetero, seconded by Mr. Pinac, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, Item 2 (Consider implementing a Reduction-in-Force plan.) and Item 3 (Consider reducing budget deficit by reorganization.) were tabled.
4) A motion by Mr. Senegal to require architects to be present at Board meetings whenever any board action is required on their projects was seconded by Mr. Bellon. Mr. Shamsie asked if this applied to minor change orders, if so, this delay could hold up projects. Discussion followed. Mr. Senegal withdrew his motion. Mr. Johnson embraced the motion to require architects to be present at Board meetings whenever any board action is required on their projects and Mr. Trahan seconded the motion. Discussion continued regarding time needed for prior approval of relatively minor change orders. Mr. Privat suggested that this matter be tabled until the existing policy could be clarified. A substitute motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Ms. Bias, to table this matter until next month's meeting, carried by a majority voice vote (Mr. Johnson and Ms. Valdetero opposed).
A discussion item at next month's meeting will be to consider changing current policy regarding change orders and substantial completions.
ROUTINE ITEMS:
1) Superintendent James reported that there were two applicants for the assistant principal position at Crowley High School and she recommended Mrs. Linda Stemplewski for the position. Upon motion by Dr. McManus, seconded by Mr. Bellon, and carried by a majority voice vote (Mr. Johnson opposed), the superintendent's recommendation was approved and Mrs. Stemplewski was appointed assistant principal at Crowley High School. She was recognized and commended by the Board.
la) Upon motion by Mr. Senegal, seconded by Mr. Bellon, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, a proclamation designating March as Career Month was adopted.
PROCLAMATION
Whereas, trends in the workplace will cause Louisianians in and entering the workplace to change jobs and careers several times in a lifetime; and
Whereas, resources to lessen the impact of such change are available in the state through guidance, education, training, work exploration, and job opportunities, all aimed at preparing for job and career changes; and
whereas, a merging of academic, state, and private sector resources can make services more accessible to people who need them; and
whereas, a strong partnership of universities, community colleges, technical colleges, schools, state agencies, business, and industry has been formed to educate the citizens of the state about the changing workplace and the changing work skills; and
whereas, the partnership will continue efforts to provide career-related opportunities for students through part-time jobs and full-time jobs for graduates to remain in Louisiana;
Now Therefore, the Acadia Parish School Board does hereby proclaim March, as CAREER MONTH in the state of Louisiana, and encourages all citizens to assist the sponsoring organizations in this vital endeavor for a more prosperous people.
lb) Mr. Don Breaux reported that permanent wall construction, Phase 1, at Crowley High School has been successfully completed and this part of the building is being occupied. Upon motion by Mr. Shamsie, seconded by Mr. Suire, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, substantial completion of Crowley High School permanent walls - Phase I was approved.
lc) Mr. Cal Simar recommended a revision in the Pupil Progression Plan to eliminate grades 3 and 7 from summer school, due to excessive costs. He reported that concentration should be on grades 4 and 8, because these are required and partly funded by the State. Mr. Vige' motioned and Dr. McManus seconded to approve Mr. Simar's recommendation. Mr. Simar reminded the Board that 3rd and 7th grade students who do not pass the LEAP test will be provided remediation during the school day. Mr. Mike Leonards explained that summer school is funded from three sources; State funds, general fund, and Title VI fund. Ms. Adele Carr reported that the State projected that 808 units of remediation will be needed this summer in Acadia Parish. She reminded the Board that these are only estimates and actual programs will depend on spring testing and student participation. Mr. Shamsie suggested charging a fee, if grades 3 and 7 are considered.
Discussion followed, until the question was called and carried by a unanimous voice vote. The motion to accept revision to the Pupil Progress Plan to eliminate grades 3 and 7 from summer school carried by a majority voice vote (Mr. Boudreaux opposed).
1.) Because of a conflict of interest for him, Mr. Privat asked the Board to retain another attorney, Mr. Glen Howie, to handle a routine sales tax collection matter, and bill at the same rate of pay. This should take only a few hours. Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Smith, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, Mr. Glen Howie will be hired for this matter.
2) Upon motion by Mr. Trahan, seconded by Mr. Suire, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board approved a policy change regarding agricultural contracts (APSB) Policy Manual, page 202 #4 and 4a)..
4. The Acadia Parish School Board shall receive as rental on-sixth (1/6) of all crops produced on each tract of land. The rice acreage will be planted according to the allotted acreage permitted by A.S.C.S. each year.
a. The tenant farmer will have the option to decide annually whether or not to plant soybeans or other crops in rotation with rice. In the event no crop is planted in a given year, the farmer shall keep the acreage in condition suitable for planting crops the following year.
3) Upon motion by Mr. Senegal, seconded by Mr. Shamsie, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Superintendent was authorized to advertise for paper and cleaning products, food items, juice and dairy products.
4) Mr. Suire recommended that a consultant be contracted to provide "Straight Talk", a program for high school students. The estimated cost of $3,500 per day for two days could be paid for with drug free schools funds and would be scheduled for next year in the spring. Parental approval would be required for students to participate in this presentation. Mr. Boudreaux suggested that more parental input be gathered before making a decision. Upon motion by Ms. Bias, seconded by Mr. Bellon, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the program "Straight Talk" was approved for grades 8-12.
5) Mr. Suire reported that he is seeking funding for a rural development grant for the Crowley Middle School Gymnasium. He asked the Board to sponsor this request. Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Smith, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board agreed to sponsor a letter of recommendation for a rural development grant for Crowley Middle School.
6) Dr. James reported that proposals have been sent out for group health insurance renewals. She further stated that State Group Health Insurance Benefits require $5,000 to review the APSB specifications and prepare a proposal. She asked the Board whether or not they wanted to incur this cost for them to look at APSB specifications. Mr. Simeon Marcotte, retiree, addressed the Board and asked them to not consider State Group Benefits, due to differences in medical coverage and life insurance. The consensus of the Board was to not pay this fee.
7) President Quebodeaux addressed the Board regarding questions raised about the Superintendent's contract and her rights under the contract. He and the board attorney sought an opinion regarding these matters, but the attorney general would not respond without a board resolution seeking such an opinion. He indicated that he had tendered an offer to the Superintendent and she responded. He indicated that at this point, there were three options; seek an attorney general's opinion regarding validity of the contract; buy out the Superintendent's contract (which he did not recommend); or discontinue negotiations with the Superintendent and allow her to continue under the terms of her existing contract.
Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, Routine 7a (CONSIDER OPTION 3 OF THE BOARD PRESIDENT'S NEGOTIATION WITH THE SUPERINTENDENT FOR EARLY TERMINATION OF CONTRACT) was added to the agenda.
7a) Mr. Bellon motioned and Mr. Senegal seconded to discontinue negotiations with the Superintendent and allow her to continue under the terms of her contract until the year 2002.
Ms. Valdetero asked about past evaluations of the Superintendent. President Quebodeaux stated that only three of the most recent evaluations were returned. He further stated that the matter of superintendent evaluations will be discussed in more detail later in this meeting.
Point of order was called. A substitute motion to submit a request to the attorney general regarding the validity of the Superintendent's contract was offered by Mr. Johnson and seconded by Mr. Trahan. Point of order was called.
Mr. Jeff Kology, LAE representative, asked for clarification of the original and substitute motions. Mr. Suire asked Mr. Privat if his opinion that the Superintendent's contract is valid still stands. Mr. Privat restated his opinion that the Superintendent's contract is valid.
He reminded the Board that the only thing that the President was authorized to do was to negotiate.
Question was called to end debate and passed by a roll call vote of 15 to 0.
YEA: Johnson, Pinac, Valdetero, Bias, Marceaux, Suire, Shamsie, Senegal, Boudreaux, Trahan, Smith, Daigle, Vige', McManus, Bellon
NAY: None
The substitute motion to consider a resolution to the Attorney General for two opinions concerning the validity of the Superintendent's contract, tenure and right to hearings failed by a roll call vote of 9 to 6.
YEA: Johnson, Pinac, Valdetero, Marceaux, Boudreaux, Trahan
NAY: Bias, Suire, Shamsie, Senegal, Smith, Daigle, Vige', McManus, Bellon
Mr. Boudreaux asked about the possibility of actions against the Superintendent, in the future, if there is a serious breach of contract, if the Superintendent's contract is ratified until the year 2002 with Board action, tonight, Mr. Privat responded that the Board has the right to review and evaluate the Superintendent's performance in the future. He stated that anything before this date could not be brought up at a later date, but any breach of contract that takes place March 13, 2000, and after, could be dealt with.
The main motion to discontinue negotiations with the Superintendent and allow her to continue under the terms of her contract until the year 2002 passed by a roll call vote of 9 to 6.
YEA: Bias, Suire, Shamsie, Senegal, Smith, Daigle, Vige', McManus, Bellon
Nay: Johnson, Pinac, Valdetero, Marceaux, Boudreaux, Trahan
8) Mr. John Doughty reported that he contacted both state representatives who forwarded to the Department of Transportation the requests for traffic control caution lights at Crowley High and Martin Petitjean Elementary Schools. No definitive responses have been received.
9) Upon motion by Mr. Senegal, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board approved the Personnel/Insurance and Budget/Finance Committees' recommendation that principals at each school be authorized to designate a head custodian beginning with the 2000-2001 fiscal year.
10) Upon motion by Mr. Senegal, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board approved the Personnel/Insurance and Budget/Finance Committees' recommendation to hire a replacement for the retiring Pupil Appraisal Facilitator with special education funds.
11) Neither the Budget/Finance nor the Transportation/Facilities Committees recommended any action regarding replacement of gym floors at Rayne High and Armstrong Middle Schools. Pictures of the Rayne High and Armstrong Middle Schools gym floors were distributed to Board members. It was suggested that rural development grants be considered for these projects. The matter of liability was considered, but no action was taken by the Board on this item.
12) Upon motion by Mr. Senegal, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a majority voice vote (Mr. Trahan opposed), the Board accepted the Transportation/Facilities and Budget/Finance Committees' recommendation to approve wiring on the Child Nutrition freezer/cooler unit at the cost of $5,000.
13) Upon motion by Mr. Pinac, seconded by Mr. Smith, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board approved the technology/Instruction/Federal Programs Committees' recommendation to adopt a locally initiated elective, one-half credit, ACT preparatory course.
14) President Quebodeaux voiced concerns about the need to review existing APSB policies and procedures regarding the Superintendent's evaluation method and procedures. He recommended that Mr. Bellon be appointed as chairman of a committee to study the matter, allow him to pick three other Board members to serve on the committee, and report to the Board.
Upon motion by Dr. McManus, seconded by Mr. Daigle, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, President Quebodeaux's recommendation was approved and Mr. Bellon was appointed as chairman of the Superintendent's Evaluation Study Committee and authorized to select three other Board members to serve with him.
15) Upon motion by Mr. Trahan, seconded by Mr. Senegal, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, at 6:47 p.m., the Board went into executive session to consider grievance of a parent. Upon motion by Ms. Valdetero, seconded by Mr. Trahan, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, at 7:14 p.m., the Board reconvened.
Upon motion by Mr. Vige', seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a majority voice vote (Mr. Johnson and Mr. Boudreaux opposed), the parent's grievance was dismissed. Upon motion by Mr. Suite, seconded by Mr. Senegal, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board recessed at 7:15 p.m.
Upon motion by Mr. Senegal, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board reconvened at 7:20 p.m.
16) Superintendent James reported that correspondence was received from Mr. Kenneth Sills. He contacted Wal-Mart regarding the ongoing declaratory judgement and there was no new progress to report.
Disclosure statements for board members were received from the Board of Ethics and distributed to all board members.
Superintendent James recognized Mr. Nolton Senegal for his service to Louisiana School Board Association. She also recognized Mr. Johnnie Smith who has served on the board of LSBA.
Mr. Quebodeaux stated that the first training session for school bomb and terrorism threats has been scheduled for the Rayne area, another will be scheduled later for the rest of the parish.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
Superintendent James indicated that items 1 through 8 resulted from changes in State laws. This information was distributed last month and is available for discussion tonight. The items were not discussed, tonight, but will be acted upon next month, when formal policies will
be developed.
CONSENT ITEMS:
Upon motion by Mr. Senegal, seconded by Mr. Bellon, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the following consent items were approved:
1) Approved personnel assignments and changes, since the last meeting.
Recommended Appointments: Dorothy Morrison, Mire Elementary School, kindergarten, effective 2-18-2000; Alice Watts Francie, Alternative School, English/Science/PE, effective 2-25-2000
Resignations: Carrie Begnaud, Mire Elementary, 1st grade, effective 2-17-2000
2) Received Sales Tax report showing a year-to-date increase of 1.28%.
3) Granted request for release of contract to Jeanne L. Smith, teacher, Alternative School, effective February 29, 2000.
4) Granted request for release of contract to Karen Arceneaux, instructional assistant, Martin Petitjean Elementary, effective March 17, 2000.
5) Granted request for leave without pay to Heidi C. Miro, teacher, Richard Elementary, from February 15, to march 31, 2000.
6) Granted request to Dr. Gibson Miller, principal for Morse Elementary 6th and 7th grade students to travel to the Houston Space Center, May 12, 2000.
7) Granted request to Mr. Richard Lavergne, principal, for Rayne High School physics students to attend the annual Astroworld Physics Day, April 14, 2000.
8) Granted request to Mr. Richard Lavergne, principal for Rayne High School cheerleading squad to compete in the 2000 Astroworld Cheerfest, April 1, 2000.
CLOSING:
There being no other business to come before the Board, upon motion by Mr. Trahan, seconded by Mr. Shamsie, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m.
ATTEST:
John H. Quebodeaux, President