CROWLEY, LOUISIANA
SEPTEMBER 8, 1998
1) The Acadia Parish School Board met on this the 8th day of September 8, 1998, at 5:00 p.m., in regular session, with President Myron Clark Hoffpauir presiding. Members present were Lyle C. Johnson, Kitty M. Valdetero, Wadie H. Bias, Woody M. Marceaux, John A. Suire, Lynn Shamsie, John H. Quebodeaux, Sr., Nolton J. Senegal, Sr., Roland J. Boudreaux,
Rodney J. Trahan, Johnnie L. Smith, Charles F. Daigle, Shirley F. Vige', Dr. Robert McManus, and Secretary-Treasurer Dr. Marietta W. James. Lynn Miller was absent.
2&3) Ms. Bias delivered the prayer and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
4) The agenda was revised by adding to Consent Item # 1 (Joyce Baker, Crowley Middle School; Charles Young, Crowley Middle School; and Jean McManus, Crowley Kindergarten; all retired teachers) and combining Routine Items 2 and 12, upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Trahan, and carried by a unanimous voice vote.
5) Reading of the minutes of the August 3 and 17, 1998, meetings was dispensed with (copies of minutes were sent to each member prior to this meeting) and approved as submitted, upon motion by Mr. Senegal, seconded by Mr. Shamsie, and carried by a unanimous voice vote.
6) Acadia 4-H leaders and state winners were recognized. Lance Gauthier and Sally Gray discussed the 4-H program in Acadia schools, then introduced winners in state competition.
7) Sondra Myers introduced Ms. Regina Nepveux, Louisiana Head Start Association State Parent of the Year and state nominee for Region VI Parent of the Year. Ms. Nepveux addressed the board briefly, sharing her experiences with the Head Start program.
8) Margaret Jones introduced recipients of Cajun Heartland School-To-Work mini-grants. Dr. Gibson Miller received $2,500, Paula Cutrer received $2,500 and $500, and Pamela Domingues received $500. Each winner addressed the board, providing details of each grant.
9) Margaret Jones introduced Bradley Leger, 1998 Louisiana Vocational-Agricultural Service Award winner. He will go on to national competition in December.
ACTION ITEMS:
1) Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Vige', and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Acadia Parish School Board Five-Year Educational Plan was approved.
ROUTINE ITEMS:
1) Superintendent James reported that nine applicants were interviewed for the Adult Education Coordinator position. She recommended Ms. Dianna Guidry for the position. Mr. Trahan expressed concern about another applicant with administrative experience at the state level who did not receive points for this experience. Dr. James explained the policy adopted by the Board does not provide for administrative experience acquired at the state department of education. Mr. Smith felt that the job was not properly advertised. Mr. Boudreaux offered a substitute motion to name Ms. Yvette Lavergne to the position of Adult Education Coordinator, and Mr. Quebodeaux seconded the motion. Discussion followed. Question was called and
failed by a roll call vote of 9 to 5.
YEA: Bias, Senegal, Boudreaux, Daigle, Vige'
NAY: Johnson, Valdetero, Marceaux, Suire, Shamsie, Quebodeaux, Trahan, Smith, McManus ABSENT: Miller
The substitute motion failed by a 9 to 5 roll call vote.
YEA: Johnson, Quebodeaux, Boudreaux, Trahan, Smith
NAY: Valdetero, Bias, Marceaux, Suire, Shamsie, Senegal, Daigle, Vige', McManus ABSENT: Miller
The main motion passed by a unanimous voice vote, and the board appointed Ms. Dianna Guidry to the position of Adult Education Coordinator. Ms. Guidry thanked the board for their vote of confidence. She stated that she has worked with the adult education program for fifteen years and looks forward to filling obligations in her new position.
Upon motion by Mr. Shamsie, seconded by Mr. Senegal, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the Superintendent was authorized to advertise for a principal at Estherwood Elementary School.
2) Ms. Mary Robbins indicated that the Technology/Instructional/Federal Programs Committee recommended concentrating State Technology Funds ($281,000 for equipment; $91,000 for training) to middle school math classes for 1998-99. She distributed the list of desired items submitted by the schools, and asked for additional funds for math textbooks to bring APSB curriculum into alignment with the testing format which will be used in future years. The estimated cost to implement this is $36,000 to $67,000. Questions were raised about how the funds will be distributed among schools. Mr. Marceaux suggested that $67,000 be added to the budget at this time.
Mr. Boudreaux motioned and Mr. Johnson seconded that the sum of $186,000 plus $7,000 be budgeted to furnish math textbooks parish-wide and allocate the technology funds on a per-student basis. Superintendent James suggested awarding $40,000 now and consider implementing the rest later.
Upon motion by Mr. Quebodeaux, seconded by Mr. Senegal, and passed by a majority voice vote, this item was tabled (until more information is available) and referred to the Budget/Finance Committee for their consideration, prior to next month's board meeting. Mr. Boudreaux motioned and Mr. Johnson seconded to allocate technology funds on a per pupil basis. After some discussion, question was called and passed by a majority voice vote. The main motion passed by a majority voice vote.
Upon motion by Mr. Boudreaux, seconded by Mr. Quebodeaux, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board recessed for 5 minutes at 6:23 p.m.
Upon motion by Mr. Quebodeaux, seconded by Mr. Smith, and carried by a unanimous
voice vote, the board reconvened at 6:30 p.m.
3) Ms. Brenda Savoie presented a list of equipment needs for the alternative school, which would cost an estimated $119,800. Meanwhile, she has received a grant of $76,000 which will cover much of this cost.
Another $10,000 will be provided from Special Education funds. Discussion followed concerning the total cost of $1,614,380 to acquire, renovate, and furnish the alternative school and school food service warehouse. Re-roofing costs of $97,500, based on proposals received, are included in this figure.
Upon motion by Mr. Shamsie, seconded by Dr, McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the report concerning alternative school needs was accepted.
4) Mr. Daigle motioned and Dr. McManus seconded to accept policy updates as recommended by Forethought, Inc. Board member, Lyle Johnson asked for more time to study the changes. Upon motion by Mr.'Johnson, seconded by Mr. Trahan, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, this item was tabled until next month's meeting.
5) Mr. Johnson expressed concern about undersized, inefficient, A/C units in some classrooms. Mr. Steve Jones indicated the need for additional funds to upgrade marginal units. Mr. Johnson motioned and Mr. Shamsie seconded that an additional $151,000 be budgeted to improve the quality of A/C units. Questions were raised about the need for related wiring needs.
A substitute motion to allocate $25,000 at this time to begin A/C upgrades, until a parish-wide assessment could be made was offered by Mr. Quebodeaux and seconded by Mr. Boudreaux. Discussion followed.
Mr. Daigle motioned to amend the substitute motion to include having Mr. Steve Jones report to the Transportation/Facilities Committee with a parish-wide assessment. The motion to amend the substitute motion was seconded by Dr. McManus and passed by a majority voice vote.
6) Upon motion by Ms. Valdetero, seconded by Mr. Boudreaux and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the recommendation of Ms. Myers was approved and Father Francis Butler, Mrs. Lois Andrus, Mr. Nolton Senegal, Mr. Kenneth Richard, and Dr. Cason De la Houssaye were appointed to serve as Head Start Policy Council community representatives for 1998-99.
7) Mr. Carl LeJeune presented information on the teacher mentoring program, a new mandate for new teachers. He outlined the qualifications for mentors, including necessary training. APSB will have approximately 60 mentors. Mentors are paid $400 for this work. Additionally, external assessors will be needed, and will receive $200 per teacher assessed.
8) Upon motion by Mr. Johnson, seconded by Ms. Valdetero, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the APSB attorney was authorized to obtain an Attorney General's opinion regarding the definition of a "committee" as referred to in R.S. 42:4.2.
Specifically, would a meeting of several Board members, not a quorum, from a particular district in the parish to consider issues common to that district constitute a committee? (Mr. Johnson asked if Mr. Privat would contact the Attorney General's office on behalf of the Board to ask if, to be specific, if the six Crowley board members representing a particular bonding district, would have a meeting, are they considered a committee for the purposes of the public meetings law, and/or should that meeting be opened to the public".) (Corrected at the Oct. 5 meeting to reflect Mr. Johnson's motion as stated.)
9) A report of counselor staffing was previously distributed and reviewed by Superintendent James. Questions were raised about trends in Title I funding. Ms. Valdetero suggested that this matter be studied further before reaching a decision. Upon motion by Ms. Valdetero, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, this matter was referred to the Technology/Instructional/Federal Programs Committee for a report at the October board meeting.
10) Upon motion by Mr. Quebodeaux, seconded by Mr. Daigle, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board reconvened the Objective Criteria Committee.
(Mr. Johnson asked if Mr. Privat would contact the Attorney General's office on behalf of the Board to ask if, to be specific, if the six Crowley board members representing a particular bonding district, would have a meeting, are they considered a committee for the purposes of the public meetings law, and/or should that meeting be opened to the public.')
11) Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Quebodeaux, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board reconvened the School Uniform Committee to clarify policy in some areas. Several board members commented that the new uniform policy seems to be working well.
12) This item was combined with item 2 and addressed earlier in this meeting.
13) Mr. Daigle motioned and Mr. Trahan seconded to reconsider installation of an electronic voting device for board meetings. Discussion followed.
Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Trahan, and carried by a unanimous
voice vote, Routine Item 13a (DISCUSS INSTALLATION OF AN ELECTRONIC VOTING
MACHINE) was added to the agenda.
13a) Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Trahan, and carried by a roll call vote of 10 to 4, the board rescinded the decision to install an electronic voting machine for board meetings, due to excessive cost.
YEA: Bias, Marceaux, Suire, Shamsie, Quebodeaux, Senegal, Trahan, Daigle, Vige', McManus
NAY: Johnson, Valdetero, Boudreaux, Smith ABSENT: Miller
14) This item was removed from the agenda.
15) There was no correspondence.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
Upon motion by Mr. Suire, seconded by Mr. Senegal, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board recessed for 5 minutes at 7:32 p.m.
Upon motion by Mr. Senegal, seconded by Mr. Boudreaux, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the board reconvened at 7:40 p.m.
1) Questions were raised about whether the Management Study and Classification and Salary System for non-certified personnel was now public record. Upon motion by Mr. Daigle, seconded by Mr. Quebodeaux, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, this document was declared a public record. Discussion followed.
Mr. Boudreaux asked for more details, including names and prospective salaries. He motioned to table this item until the information could be obtained. The motion to table was seconded by Mr. Johnson and failed by a roll call vote of 10 to 4.
YEA: Johnson, Valdetero, Senegal, Boudreaux
NAY: Bias, Marceaux, Suire, Shamsie, Quebodeaux, Trahan, Smith, Daigle, Vige', McManus ABSENT: Miller
Discussion continued regarding secretarial workloads and classifications. Dr. James suggested to first consider re-organization of the administration. Mr. Marceaux indicated that this would involve the hiring of three additional positions. Concern was expressed pertaining to additional administrative positions and pay, before considering the needs of support staff. Mr.Senegal suggested that this matter be addressed in a special forum.
Mr. Marceaux motioned and Mr. Suire seconded to authorize the Superintendent to convene a special board meeting for the sole purpose of considering this study, and having Dr. Wayne Bingham present to answer any questions. Discussion followed. Question was called and passed by a majority voice vote.
Superintendent James asked all board members to submit questions in writing so that they could be forwarded to Dr. Bingham ahead of time.
2) Mr. Leonards provided information regarding state teacher pay for non-certified teachers. He confirmed that all teachers (fully certified, TTA-temporary teaching assignment, and board waivered) are included in the state teacher pay raise.
CONSENT ITEMS:
Upon motion by Ms. Valdetero, seconded by Mr. Senegal, and carried by a unanimous voice vote, the following action was taken by the Board:
1 Approved personnel assignments and changes since the last meeting.
2 Received Sales Tax Report showing a year-to-date decrease of 11.53 % .
3 Approved request from Donna M. Guidry, Central Office receptionist, for maternity leave from noon 7-16-98 through 11-10-98.
4 Approved request for leave without pay from Raymond Payne, routeman, from 6-30-98 to 9-15-98, for medical reasons.
5 Approved request from LEAP class at South Crowley to travel to Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, PA from April 6-10, 1999.
CLOSING:
There being no other business to come before the Board, upon motion by Mr. Trahan, seconded by Dr. McManus, and carried, the meeting adjourned at 8:16 p.m.
Myron Clark Hoffpauir, President
ATTEST: