CROWLEY, LOUISIANA

DECEMBER 8, 2014

 

The Acadia Parish School Board met on this the 8th day of December 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. John Suire, Mr. James Higginbotham, Mr. David Lalande, and Secretary-Treasurer, and Superintendent John E. Bourque.  Mr. Israel Syria and Mr. Milton Simar were absent.

 

2)         Mr. Suire led the prayer.

 

3)         Mr. Shamsie 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. Hgginbotham, Routine Item #6 was deleted from the agenda.

 

 5)         Read and approve minutes of the November 3, 2014 board meeting and November 19, 2014.

 

            Reading of the minutes of the November 3, 2014 board meeting and November 19, 2014 were dispensed (copies of minutes were sent to member prior to this meeting) and upon motion by Mr. Higginbotham, seconded by Mr. Lalande, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, minutes of the November 3, 2014 board meeting and November 19, 2014 were approved.

 

            ACTION ITEMS:     

 

1)                      Consider recommendation of the Personnel, Insurance & Curriculum committee regarding School Choice Policy.

 

           Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Shamise, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, School Choice Policy was approved.

 

2)                 Consider recommendation of the Personnel, Insurance, & Curriculum committee regarding field trip policy adjustments.

 

               Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Shamsie, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, field trip policy adjustments were approved.

 

ROUTINE ITEMS:

 

1)               Consider recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee regarding a change order on the Iota Elementary Classroom Project.

 

              Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Shamsie, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved a $26,900 change order for additions to the sewer system on the Iota Elementary Classrooms Project.

 

2)         Consider recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee regarding moving forward with a request for proposals addressing an e-rate grant.

 

            Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved moving forward with a request for proposals specific to an e-rate grant application to enhance technology.

 

3)         Consider recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee regarding Child Nutrition program bids.

 

            Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved bids received for #248 SL can goods and #249 SL meats.

 

4)         Consider recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee regarding Foley and Judell.

            Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Lalande, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved granting the Superintendent or his designee authority to work with Foley and Judell on the renewal of 5th Ward and Iota-Egan millages and other millages as applicable.

 

5)         Consider recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee regarding making the June supplement permanent and funding the November and December supplements for at least an additional three years.

 

            Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Daigle, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved a permanent June supplement using the new MFP special allocation, sales tax funds, and/or general funds, and additionally, to fund the November and December supplements for at least an additional three years, that is, 2014, 2015, and 2016, and in June of 2017 the board will make a decision about future November and December supplements.

6)         Consider the recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee to advertise and seek bids for band uniforms for Iota High school.

 

            Item Deleted

 

7)         Consider the recommendation of the Budget & Finance committee regarding provisions of Act 1 of 2012.

 

            Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Daigle, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved holding in abeyance the payment of the Highly Effective compensation as a result of budget status pursuant to the policy previously adopted and filed with the Act 1 plan.

 

8)         Consider request from Branch Elementary American History class to travel to Washington, DC, Charlottesville, VA, and Birmingham, AL on May 29, 2015 – June 4, 2015.

 

            Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Higginbotham, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board approved request from Branch Elementary American History class to travel to Washington, DC, Charlottesville, VA, and Birmingham, AL on May 29, 2015 – June 4, 2015.

 

9)         Consider dates for next committee and board meetings.

 

            Upon motion by Mr. Higginbotham, seconded by Mr. Suire, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, there will be no committee meetings in December and the board meeting will be January 12, 2015.

 

10)  Correspondence.

   

      NONE

 

DISCUSSION ITEMS:   

 

1)           Consider recommendation of Personnel, Insurance & Committee regarding acknowledgement of Act 359 of 2014 (five-point grading scale for certain TIPS courses).

 

           Item will be referred to discussion at the January 12, 2015 board meeting.

 

CONSENT ITEMS:

 

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

 

3)         Receive Sales Tax Report.

 

            Upon motion by Mr. Higginbotham, seconded by Mr. Lalande and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board received the sales tax report which showed a year to date increase of 1.61%.

 

SUPERINTENDENT COMMENTS:   

 

            Mr. Bourque mentioned St. Tammany parish sent out information on Common Core and would have the information in January.

 

            Mr. LaCombe presented a placque to Mr. Shamsie in recognition of 24 years of service on the board and Mr. Caswell for his dedication of service of 14 years.  The board members and the Superintendent thanked them for their service and wished them well on their future endeavors.

           

            There being no other business to come before the Board, upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Shamsie and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the meeting adjourned at 5:28 p.m.

 ____________________________

Douglas J. LaCombe, President

 

ATTEST:

_____________________________

John E. Bourque, Superintendent