CROWLEY, LOUISIANA

August 4, 2014

The Acadia Parish School Board met on this the 4th day of August at 5:00 p.m., in a regular session at Crowley, Louisiana, with President presiding Mr. Douglas J. LaCombe. Members present were, Mr. Lynn Shamsie, Mr. Gene Daigle, Mr. James Higginbotham, Mr. John Suire, Mr. Israel Syria, Mr. David Lalande, and Secretary-Treasurer, and Superintendent John E. Bourque.  Mr. Milton Simar was absent.

2)          Mr. Syria led the prayer.

3)          Mr. Higginbotham led the pledge of allegiance.

4)          Consider approved of the revised agenda, if there are any changes.

             Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Lalande, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, agenda Item 1A was added to the agenda.

5)          Read and approve minutes of the July 14, 2014 board meeting.

       Reading of the minutes of the July 14, 2014 board meeting were dispensed (copies of minutes were sent to member prior to this meeting) and upon motion by Mr. Higginbotham, seconded by Mr. Syria, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, minutes of the July 14, 2014 board meeting were approved.

6)              Receive comments from David Smith.

Mr. Smith introduced himself to the board, candidate for District Judge Acadia Parish.  He addressed the board regarding the concerns of the students of Acadia Parish and the issues at hand with juvenile offenders and answered questions of the board.

ACTION ITEMS:    

NONE

ROUTINE ITEMS:

1)          Consider a report on Performance –Based Energy Efficiency Contract Proposals.

             Mr. Jones addressed the board regarding contract proposals from IMC Consulting Engineers, Inc.  Three proposals were presented with a recommendation of proposal from Johnson Controls.  Upon motion by Mr. Higginbotham, seconded by Mr. Daigle, and carried by a majority voice vote, the board approved to allow Dr. Chance to seek funding with Mr. Shamsie voting No.

1A         Review activity bus usage.

             Mr. Bourque went over activity bus usage from the schools requesting the schools send an annual report on their activity bus usage.  Mr. Daigle requested that all principals report the odometer reading of each of their activity buses from August 1, 2013 to August 1, 2014 to the Superintendent and that this be done annually so that the Superintendent can report the total travel of each activity bus to the board at the September board meeting annually.  Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved activity bus usage reporting.

2)          Consider recommendation of Personnel, Insurance & Curriculum regarding Head Start’s Annual Report.

             Mrs. Myers presented the Head Start’s annual report.  Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Suire, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved the Head Start Annual Report.

3)          Consider recommendation of the Personnel, Insurance & Curriculum committee regarding Head Start’s Program Involvement Plan for Federal Onsite Visit Report, Head Start’s Personnel Policy changes, and Head Start’s Program Plans.

             Mrs. Myers presented Head Start’s Program Involvement Plan for Federal Onsite Visit Report, Head Start’s Personnel Policy changes and Head Start’s Program Plans.  Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Suire, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved Head Start’s Program Involvement Plan for Federal Onsite Visit Report, Head Start’s Personnel Policy changes, and Head Start’s Program Plans.

4)          Consider recommendation of the Personnel & Insurance committee regarding Head Start’s Community Representatives.

             Mrs. Myers presented the following Head Start Community Representatives for approval:  David Lalande, Aline Hebert, Brandy Mistrot, and Michael Leonards.  Upon motion by Daigle, seconded by Mr. Suire, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved the Head Start’s Community Representatives as follows:  David Lalande, Aline Hebert, Brandy Mistrot, and Michael Leonards.

5)          Consider recommendation of the Personnel & Insurance committee regarding the contract renewal with AMIkids Acadiana.

             Components of the AMIkids Acadiana at Branch were discussed.  Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Syria, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board a one-year contract renewal with a month-to-month cancellation provision contingent upon: (a) AMI student test scores would not be used in Acadia’s accountability calculation; (b) only the state provided MFP funds would be passed through to AMIkids Acadiana; and (c) students served at the AMIkids Acadiana Branch facility must be assigned by Louisiana’s Juvenile Justice System.  Mr. Higginbotham abstained.

6)          Consider recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee regarding CLECO’s request for a right-of-way on a tract of school board property which has been leased to the Acadia Parish Police Jury.

             Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. HIgginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved a right-of-way request from CLECO regarding the property owned by the Acadia Parish Police Jury, for the arena complex and other uses contingent upon Mr. Caswell’s approval.

7)          Consider recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee regarding the renewal of worker’s compensation excess coverage.

             Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Lalande, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved excess worker’s compensation coverage for 2014-2015 for a renewal at $92,670, a 10.1% reduction.

8)          Consider recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee regarding the payment of monthly bills.

             Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved the payment of monthly bills.

(9)         Receive a report on Act 654 of 2014 regarding bus loading and unloading.

             Mr. Bourque briefly went over Act 654 of 2014 regarding bus loading and unloading procedures.  The board briefly discussed Act 654.

10)        Consider dates for next committee and board meetings.

             Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Lalande, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, committee meetings will be August 20, 2014and the board meeting will be September 8, 2014.

11)  Correspondence.   

Mr. LaCombe read a thank you note from Ms. Maxine Trahan, Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office regarding the board’s support of the Choices Program.

DISCUSSION ITEMS:  NONE

CONSENT ITEMS:

             Upon motion by Mr. Shamsie, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, Items Consent Items 1-3 were taken in globo.

1)          Receive assignments and changes of professional employees.

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

2)          Receive retirement notification of employees.

             Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. HIgginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, retirement notification of employees was approved.

3)          Receive Sales Tax Report.

             Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board received the sales tax report which showed a year to date increase of .68%.

SUPERINTENDENT COMMENTS: 

             Mr. Bourque commented on the in-service and the new school year starting next week.  He mentioned the how happy he was with the success of the last school year.

             There being no other business to come before the Board, upon motion by Mr. HIgginbotham, seconded by Mr. Daigle, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the meeting adjourned at 5:53 p.m.

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Douglas J. LaCombe, President

ATTEST:

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John E. Bourque, Superintendent