CROWLEY, LOUISIANA

FEBRUARY 2, 2009

The Acadia Parish School Board met on this the 2nd day of February 2009, at 5:00 p.m., in a regular session at Crowley, Louisiana, with President Mr. Roland Boudreaux presiding.  Members present were Mr. Douglas J. LaCombe, Mr. Lynn Shamsie, Mr. John A. Suire, Mr. Gene I. Daigle Mr. James Higginbotham, Mr. Milton R. Simar, and Secretary-Treasurer, Superintendent John E. Bourque.  Absent, Mr.  Israel Syria

2)         Mr. Syria led the prayer.

3)         Mr. LaCombe led the pledge of allegiance.

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

            Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Boudreaux, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, Routine Item #5a was added to the agenda.

5)         Read and approve minutes of the January 12, 2009 meeting.

      Reading of the minutes of the January 12, 2009 board meeting were dispensed (copies of minutes were sent to member prior to this meeting) and upon motion by Mr. Boudreaux, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the January 12, 2009 minutes were approved.

ACTION ITEMS:      NONE

ROUTINE ITEMS:

1)          Consider recommendation of the Personnel, Insurance, & Curriculum committee regarding changes in the Pupil Progression Plan.

             Mrs. Jones updated the committee on the use of the alternate grading scale for the new reading program.  Based on a survey of the schools, she recommended keeping this grading scale for the remainder of the school year.  Upon motion by Daigle, seconded by Mr. Syria, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, these changes to the Pupil Progression Plan were approved.

2)         Consider recommendation from the Personnel, Insurance, & Curriculum committee regarding changes in policy as the result of state legislation.

            Mrs. Baggett provided a handout showing policy changes as the result of new state legislation.  Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. LaCombe, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, policy changes as the result of state legislation were approved.

3)         Consider recommendation of the Personnel, Insurance, & Curriculum committee regarding changes in job descriptions.

            Mrs. Baggett reviewed the changes in job descriptions, mostly in the area of Special Education.  Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Syria, and carried by a unanimous voice vote,  changes in job descriptions were approved.

4)         Consider recommendation of the Personnel, Insurance, & Curriculum committee regarding non school related bus trips.

            Upon motion by Mr. Syria, seconded by Mr. Suire, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, consider policy regarding non school related bus trips.  Mr. Leonards went over our existing policy allowing non school related bus trips.  He cited increased liability exposure and more frequent requests to make such trips.  Comments from Mr. Caswell and our consultant were offered to discontinue this practice.   Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Simar, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, APSB school owned buses covered under the APSB fleet liability policy would no longer be allowed to continue this practice.  Buses owned by drivers who chose to continue this practice must purchase first dollar coverage and provide evidence of this coverage to the school board.

5)         Consider request of the Budget & Finance committee regarding Head Start funding application for 2009-2010.

            Mrs. Myers went over re-funding application process for Head Start for the upcoming year.  Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board approved Head Start funding application for 2009-2010.

5a)      ADD:  CONSIDER REQUEST FROM BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE REGARDING PURCHASE OF MOWER TO CUT ATHLETIC FIELDS AT CHURCH POINT HIGH.

           The committee considered a request from Church Point High to purchase a new mower to cut their athletic fields. It will be paid with school funds and assistance from the Athletic Boosters.  Upon motion by Suire, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved purchase of mower.

6)         Consider request of the Budget & Finance committee regarding Head Start technology plans and authorizing the Policy Council to receive and act on e-rate bids.

           Mrs. Myers indicated that Head Start will now be eligible for e-rate funding.  She went over her technology plans and asked for authorization for the Policy Council to receive and award e-rate bids.  Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved Mrs. Myers’ request to receive and act on e-rate bids.

7)         Consider recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee regarding e-rate bids.

            Mrs. Doga went over bid tabulations for e-rate internal connections, servers, and filtered email accounts for students.  Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. LaCombe, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved e-rate bids.

8)         Consider recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee regarding designated reserves in the General Fund.

            Mr. Leonards went over existing reserves within the General Fund and suggested designating more reserves.  Mr. Bourque elaborated on the need to increase our reserves.  Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. LaCombe, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Board approved designating reserves in the General Fund.

9)         Consider assignment of standing committees and chairpersons.

            President Shamsie recommended that committee assignments and chairpersons remain the same.  Upon motion by LaCombe, seconded by Mr. Simar, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved assignments of standing committees and chairpersons.

10)      Consider request from Iota High School to purchase pole vault equipment.

            Upon motion by Mr. Simar, seconded by Mr. LaCombe, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved Iota High’s request to purchase of pole vault equipment.

11)      Consider dates for next committee and board meetings.

            Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Syria, the next committee meeting will be on February 18, 2009 and Board meeting will be on March 2, 2009.

12)      Correspondence.    

            Mr. Bourque informed the board of information in their packets regarding the LSBA convention from March 5 – 7, 2009.

DISCUSSION ITEMS:      NONE

CONSENT ITEMS:

            Upon motion by Mr. LaCombe, seconded by Mr. Suire, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, Items 1 – 3 were taken in globo.

1)         Consider assignments and changes of professional employees.

            Upon motion by Mr. LaCombe,  seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved assignments and changes of professional employees

2)           Consider retirement notification of employees.

           Upon motion by Mr. LaCombe, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved retirement notification of employees.

3)                 Receive Sales Tax Report.

            Sales tax report for the month showed an increase of 0.66%.

SUPERINTENDENT COMMENTS: 

            Mr. Bourque informed the board of the May 25, 2009 parish wide inservice day.  He mentioned the proposed stimulus package which would bring over $9 million to the parish over the next few years.  Guidelines will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

CLOSING:

There being no other business to come before the Board, upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. LaCombe, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.

____________________________

Lynn Shamsie, President

ATTEST:

____________________________

John E. Bourque, Superintendent