CROWLEY, LOUISIANA

MAY 2, 2005

            The Acadia Parish School Board met on this the 2^nd day of May 2005, at 5:00 p.m., in a regular session, with President Lyle C. Johnson presiding.  Members present were Mrs. Ezora J. Proctor, Mr. Lynn Shamsie, Mr. John A. Suire, Mr. Roland J. Boudreaux, Mr. Gene Daigle, Dr. Robert L. McManus, and Superintendent John E. Bourque, Secretary-Treasurer.  Mr. Shirley Vige’ was absent.

2)         Mrs. Helen Sinclair, Parental Involvement and Home School liaison at South Crowley Elementary School, led the prayer.

3)         Ms. Lisa Thibodeaux, a second grade teacher at Estherwood Elementary School, led the Pledge of Allegiance.

4)         Consider approval of a revised agenda, if there are any changes.

Upon motion by Dr. McManus, seconded by Mr. Boudreaux, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, Opening Item 6 was deleted and Consent item 6  (CONSIDER REQUEST FROM MS ODENIA WHITTEN, SECRETARY, SPECIAL POPULATIONS, FOR LEAVE WITHOUT PAY FROM APRIL 25, TO JULY 15, 2005, DUE TO FAMILY ILLNESS) was added to the agenda.

5)         Read and approve minutes of the April 11, 2005, meeting.

Reading of the minutes of the April 11, 2005, board meeting was dispensed with (copies of minutes were sent to each member prior to this meeting) and adopted as submitted, upon motion Mr. Boudreaux, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote.

6)         Recognize Poche’ Prouet Associates’ scholarship presentation to Logan Pousson.

This item was deleted from the agenda.        

7)         Recognize Outstanding School Support Employee of the Year.

Mrs. Ellan Baggett recognized Outstanding School Support Employees of the Year.  They were honored by a reception prior to the Board meeting.

ACTION ITEMS:      There were no action items to consider.

ROUTINE ITEMS:

1)         Consider Budget/Finance Committee’s recommendation regarding bids received for teaching and duplicating supplies.

Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, bids received for teaching and duplicating supplies were awarded as recommended by the Budget/Finance Committee.

2)         Consider Budget/Finance Committee’s recommendation regarding buds received for an official journal.

Upon motion by Dr. McManus, seconded by Mr. Boudreaux, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board awarded low bid for official journal to The Rayne-Acadian Tribune as recommended by the Budget/Finance Committee.

BIDDER                               Legal square 1^st insertion      Legal square all other insertions

Rayne Acadia Tribune                            .85                                         N/A

Crowley Post Signal                             6.00                                         4.50

Rayne Independent                               4.00                                         No Charge

3)         Consider Budget/Finance Committee’s recommendation regarding bids received for janitorial supplies.

Upon motion by Mr. Shamsie, seconded by Mr. Suire, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board awarded bids for janitorial supplies as recommended by the Budget/Finance Committee.

4)         Consider Budget/Finance Committee’s recommendation regarding procedures to implement GPS monitoring program.

Mr. Gerard Caswell, attorney, added his comments regarding any potential liability for damage to an employee’s car.  He indicated that it is highly improbable that the Board may be responsible, provided that established guidelines are followed.

Upon motion by Dr. McManus, seconded by Mr. Daigle, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the following procedures for implementation of the GPS monitoring program were adopted.

GPS MONITORING PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES

• The employee has a duty to provide proper care and use of school district assets.  In the event school board property is stolen, the employee must notify their immediate supervisor of the incident and provide a police report detailing the circumstances.

• The GPS device will be stored out of sight. Damages to an employee’s vehicle incidental to the theft of school board property from that vehicle will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

PROCEDURES FOR MONITORING BUS TRANSPORTATION AND EMPLOYEE TRAVEL

• Distribute GPS units to various departments to be used continuously on a rotating basis.

Drivers may be selected randomly or upon request of the supervisor.

Transportation department              -         8 units

Itinerant teachers                            -         3 units

Maintenance and delivery vehicles   -         1 unit

• Provide training and instructions to all employees on how to use the equipment.

• Monitor travel for up to one full workweek on each respective vehicle.

• Collect weekly data.  Analyze and compare to mileage reimbursement requests, itinerant teacher logs, and bus route descriptions.

• Investigate any significant variances, considering input from each respective supervisor and employee.

• Initiate corrective action, routing, or scheduling changes if necessary, and continue monitoring.

5)         Consider Budget/Finance Committee’s recommendation regarding adoption of the textbook budget for 2005-06.

The total estimated cost for textbooks is $527,865.53.  Shipping from Baton Rouge is $15,835.97 (3% of the amount of the purchase) for a total of $543,701.50.

Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Shamsie, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board authorized purchasing the textbooks and asked Mrs. Mary Robbins to look at possible alternatives that would save money on shipping costs.       

6)         Consider Budget/Finance Committee’s recommendation regarding purchase of leased buses.

Upon motion by Mr. Shamsie, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Superintendent was authorized to advertise for the purchase of five used buses.

7)         Receive and award bids for rewiring at Rayne High School.

Upon motion by Dr. McManus, seconded by Mrs. Proctor, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the low bid from Johnny Lyons Electric in the amount of $148,285.00 was accepted.

BIDDER                                  Base Bid           Alt 1                 Alt 2                 Total

Johnny Lyons Electric               124,000           16,750               7,535             148,285

Kaough & Jones                       135,400           33,000             12,400             180,800

Prevost Electric                        105,450           33,500               9,750             148,700

8)         Correspondence

There was no correspondence to report.

DISCUSSION ITEMS:

1)         Discuss recommendation of the Personnel/Insurance Committee regarding policy changes for employee drug testing.

Superintendent Bourque reviewed issues relating to drug testing of employees after a job related injury.  The same policy is being considered in other parishes.  This will be studied further, with additional information provided to the committee later this month.

2)         Discuss Budget/Finance Committee’s recommendation regarding policy to replace buses in the APSB fleet.

Mr. Mike Leonards reviewed proposed policy regarding replacement of buses in the APSB fleet.  The policy proposed by the Budget/Finance Committee may conflict with bus driver tenure laws.  The matter will be reviewed further and sent back to the committee.

CONSENT ITEMS:

Upon motion by Mrs. Proctor, seconded by Mr. Daigle, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the following action was taken:

1)         There were no new assignments and changes of professional employees.

2)         Received notification of retiring employees:       

Upon motion by Dr. McManus, seconded by Mrs. Proctor, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board accepted the retirement of Mr. Donald Amy, principal at Iota Elementary School, who will retire on June 23, 2005.

Upon motion by Dr. McManus, seconded by Mr. Boudreaux, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, an item to advertise for Principal at Iota Elementary School was added to the agenda.

Upon motion by Dr. McManus, seconded by Mr. Daigle, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, Superintendent Bourque was authorized to advertise for Principal at Iota Elementary School.

Upon motion by Mr. Boudreaux, seconded by Mr. Suire, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board accepted the retirement of Mrs. Verelda Girouard, principal at Central Rayne Kindergarten, who will retire on June 16, 2005.

The Board commended Mr. Amy and Mrs. Girouard for their years of service and for completing this school year.

Superintendent Bourque recommended transferring Mrs. Patsy Cart from principal at South Rayne Elementary to principal at Central Rayne Kindergarten.  Upon motion by Mr. Boudreaux, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, an item was added to the agenda to effect this voluntary transfer.  Upon motion by Mr. Boudreaux, seconded by Mrs. Proctor, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board approved the transfer of Mrs. Patsy Cart from South Rayne Elementary to Central Rayne Kindergarten.

Upon motion by Mr. Boudreaux, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, an item to advertise for principal at South Rayne Elementary was added to the agenda.  Upon motion by Mr. Boudreaux, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, Superintendent Bourque was authorized to advertise for Principal at South Rayne Elementary School.  The principal will be named at the June board meeting.

The following consent items were approved, upon motion by Mrs. Proctor and seconded by Mr. Daigle.          

3)         Received the monthly sales tax report showing a year-to-date increase of 34.41 percent.

4)         Granted permission to Brandie Sievers, teacher, South Rayne Elementary School, for sabbatical leave for the 2005-06 school year, for professional development.

5)         Granted permission to Julian Sfenes, teacher, Ross Elementary School, for change of maternity leave from January 14, 2005, to March 14, 2005.

6)         Granted permission to Odenia Whitten, secretary, special populations, for leave without pay from April 25, to July 15, 2005, due to family illness.

SUPERINTENDENT’S COMMENTS:

Superintendent Bourque commented on this week being Teacher Appreciation Week.  He thanked APSB teachers and support staff for their efforts.  He commented on a recent article in the newspaper regarding an interloper to an elementary school campus and indicated that a newspaper article clarifying the recent events is forthcoming.  He thanked the Board for their comments on his recent evaluation.

Mr. Proctor recognized this as School Nutrition Workers Week, as well as Teacher Appreciation Week.

CLOSING:

There being no other business to come before the Board, at 5:50 p.m., upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Shamsie, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the meeting adjourned.

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Mr. Lyle C. Johnson, President

ATTEST:

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Mr. John E. Bourque, Superintendent