Bogalusa School Board Office-Media Center
Bogalusa, Louisiana
Regular Board Meeting
November 14, 2012
5:30 P.M.
Proceedings of the Bogalusa School Board, Taken At A Regular Meeting That Was Held On Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The Bogalusa School Board met in a Regular Board Meeting at the Bogalusa City School Board Office Media Center located at 1705 Sullivan Drive, Bogalusa, Louisiana, on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 beginning at 5:35 P.M. The purpose of the meeting was to continue addressing matters of operation of the district, to include all schools. The agenda included an Executive Session.
1.) Call to Order
President Paul Kates called the meeting to order at 5:35 P.M.
2.) Pledge of Allegiance
Acting Superintendent Willie “Toni” Breaux led the Pledge of Allegiance.
3.) Prayer
Reverend Raymond Mims delivered the opening prayer.
4.) Roll Call
There were present: President, Mr. Paul Kates; Vice President Mr. Adam Kemp; Members: Mr. Curtis Creel (5:40PM), Mrs. Eleanor Duke, Mr. Calvin Hymel, Reverend Raymond Mims and Dr. Brad Williams
There was absent: None
5.) Approval of Minutes of Regular Board Meeting-October 25, 2012
It was motioned by Vice President Kemp, seconded by Reverend Mims to approve the minutes. The motion was carried unanimously.
6.) Board Officers and Committee Reports
7.) Recess to Public Session
Angelo Pepe-Mr. Pepe did not state his address, but listed it as 1600 Avenue F, Bogalusa, Louisiana on his “Request for Recognition as a Speaker” card. He addressed the Board concerning a sign in honor of past coach, Coach Gary Dildy. He was seeking approval for a placement on the Bogalusa High School’s Baseball Field for the sign. “I came to you all before about putting up this sign for Coach Dildy, and I never did get any response from the past superintendent. I just came before the Board tonight to let you know; we don’t want or we don’t need any financial help from the Board. We have the money. All we need from the Board is the approval to put the sign up; and for you all to tell us where we can put it up. Like I said, we’ve got the money, and we have someone who is going to put the sign up for us. So, what I need is for the School Board to give us the approval to put the sign up. It was up there, for years, and the storm took it down, so we just want the sign put back up there,” says Mr. Pepe. For clarity, President Kates asked if he wanted the sign on the baseball field. Mr. Pepe’s reply was “Yes. Well, you see when we had it in memory of him, it was a football field; but now it’s a baseball field. He coached baseball also. He was an Athletic Director for years, until he died. We would like to get that sign put back up, as soon as possible,” says Mr. Pepe. “We’ll talk about it,” says President Kates.” Mr. Pepe stated that he wanted the Board to tell them, where to put it, so it won’t have to be moved. “Then we’ll have a rededication, and have young Gary Dildy here,” says Mr. Pepe. When asked what size was the sign, Mr. Pepe stated at least six feet wide, four foot high, with a plaque.
Following the in-depth discussion, President Kates asked that this item be placed on the agenda for approval during the December 14, 2012 Regular Board Meeting. In addition, President Kates stated that Building and Grounds Committee for the district will get with Mr. Pepe at the site and select a place for the sign. According to Mr. Pepe, Tony Gambino of Bino’s Seafood Restaurant of Bogalusa will make a monetary donation to this project. ”It’s going to be something real nice. It’s going to run between three and five ($3,000 & $5,000) thousand dollars,” says Mr. Pepe. The discussion continued.
Statement from Acting Superintendent Breaux-“Mr. Pepe, I’d like to thank you for coming and I really love to thank you for the interest in Bogalusa City School System, because the community and the school system is like a marriage. Sometime we have some problems, but I am trying to get them back on the right road. We need you, and you need us. I really appreciate you more than you’ll ever know,” says Acting Superintendent Breaux. “Well, I’ve always been loyal to the School Board and the Lumberjacks over the years,” concluded Mr. Pepe.
There being no one else to come forward, President Kates proceeded with the agenda items.
8.) New Business
A.) Grant permission to bid for commodity processing items through the St. Charles Parish Co-Op i.e. Ascension, Baker, City of Bogalusa, Central Community, Livingston, Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Charles, Tangipahoa, Washington and Zachary.
It was motioned by Reverend Mims, seconded by Mrs. Duke to grant permission. The motion was carried unanimously.
B.) Grant permission for Lesley McKinley, Leslie Raborn, April Nobles and Jennifer Beninato to travel to the ACT College Readiness Symposium in Dallas, Texas scheduled for January 9-10, 2013.
Prior to any action on this line item, President Kates stated, “There will be some changes. I would like to get a motion that we make the changes in this item. Before any motion, Acting Superintendent Breaux interrupted stating, “I would like to, and I understand the large number of those people going away, but if we could, I’d like to send Mrs. Leslie Raborn, and I’d also like to send the ACT teacher. We just hired an ACT teacher, so I think she needs to go. Mrs. Raborn can come back and in turn relay to both the Middle School and Northside Tech.”
Statement from President Kates-“So what I’ll do is say, “Grant permission for Leslie Raborn and ACT teacher Mrs. Paula Fortenberry to travel to the ACT College Readiness Symposium in Dallas Texas scheduled for January 9-10, 2013.”
It was motioned by Vice President Kemp, seconded by Reverend Mims to accept the revised/changed agenda item, (NOTE: Please refer to the statement from President Kates on the bottom of Page 1), The motion was carried unanimously.
It was motioned by Reverend Mims, seconded by Vice President Kemp to grant the travel. The motion was carried unanimously.
C.) Approval of Financial Statements for October, 2012, i.e. General Fund, Food Service, Special Revenue, Sinking Debt Service Fund, Capital Project Fund and School Activities.
It was motioned by Dr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Hymel to approve the statements and other line items. The motion was carried unanimously.
D.) Grant permission to offer a Retirement Incentive pay for all current employees who will retire by June 30, 2013. A letter stating the effective date of retirement MUST be received not later than January 31, 2013. There are NO exceptions.
It was motioned by Dr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Hymel to grant permission. The motion was unanimously carried.
E.) Approval of The Daily News as the Official School Board Journal according to statue R.S. 43:150 and R.S. 43:174
It was motioned by Mrs. Duke, seconded by Mr. Hymel to approve The Daily News as the Official School Board Journal. The motion was carried unanimously.
At this point President Kates asked for a motion to enter into an Executive Session.
It was motioned by Reverend Mims, seconded by Dr. Williams to enter into an Executive Session. The motion was carried unanimously.
9.) Executive Session-Personnel
Returning to the Media Center, President Kates asked for a motion to resume the regular session.
It was motioned by Reverend Mims, seconded by Vice President Kemp to resume the regular session. The motion was carried unanimously.
Statement from President Kates-“We went into an Executive Session to deal with some security issues within our school system. Our superintendent will take care of all these issues.
10.) Acting Superintendent Comments and Personnel Report-Willie “Toni” Breaux
“I believe in giving credit where credit is due. Ms. Debbie Jenkins has worked diligently with her schools. I can’t help it; she’s doing it. I had Mrs. Sloan from the state department working with us. She came out, and we visited some schools together, and I mean they had it going on. Common Core was being implemented. Routines and procedures were being implemented. I am very proud; and I can say that I think we are going to see some results in the elementary schools. So, I want to say congratulations to Debbie. We had a conference, and she wanted to meet with all the third and fourth grade teachers on Saturday. She did that, and everyone attended. They were so pleased. The teachers themselves want to continue that type of thing, so she’ll be doing that. I also want to thank Mrs. Walker. Mrs. Walker has really been a big help to me in this position. Mrs. Walker is an excellent bookkeeper. She is not going to do anything illegal for Jesus Christ, so, I want to thank you. And, my Administrative Assistant, who keeps me in line. I want to thank you. She just hands me my stuff, and all I have to do is go. You can’t have it any better than that. I want to thank my community; the people that are here. I need you; and I’m the type of person that says what I want. I need you; this school system needs you. Continue to send out good praises and positive things about us. We are trying, and I can tell you, you are going to see the results. You are going to make a difference in this school system. We’re out there working very hard, every day, and we’re doing it to make a difference. I think if you work hard, good work will pay off; and I think you’re going to see the proof of our hard work. I just want to thank everybody for everything that they are doing and try to live up to it. The consolidation thing is making me sweat now; but I promised you December; I’m still going to try for December. I want to thank Mr. Vic. Mr. Vic is kind of shy, but I want to thank him because he gave me some insight into some things I was not aware of. I know how to plan things, how to get things in order, but I don’t know the minute details like architectural things and this type of stuff. He has really helped me. He is going to be going around to the schools with us from now on. We’re going to visit Middle School, and I will give a report back to the Board. Board, I thank you for your faith and confidence. I am going to continue to be honest in what I do, and try to live up to your expectation. Thank you.”
ACTING SUPERINTENDENT’S PERSONNEL REPORT
NOTE: There was no Personnel Report submitted for this meeting, i.e., Teachers, Substitutes, Transfers, Reassignments, Retirements, etc.
11.) Board Members Comments
Mrs. Eleanor Duke-“I’d just like to say we’re very proud of Mrs. Breaux and all she is doing.”
Vice President Adam Kemp-“I think we’re used of seeing or saying two steps forward; and four steps back; now we’re sort of doing two steps forward and trying to get that third step. We’re not going back anymore; and I think it’s because of our supervisors, and our instructional leaders in the schools that we now have in place.”
President Paul Kates-“I would like to say, this Board has worked together, and we’re doing our best to move this system forward, because we want our community back involved with us. Mr. Angelo, Mr. Taylor, we appreciate you all coming tonight. I know we dropped the ball with Mr. Dildy sign, when we had our last superintendent, but we are going to work with you all, and we’re going to make sure that we take care of this issue in December. We need the community back with us. We want Bogalusa Schools to be like it used to be. I can say, in our extra-curricular, our band has grown. We had a football run this year. Now, we want to focus on bringing our academics back where they need to be. We want to move this system forward; and I know this Board wants to move it forward. Everybody, with the superintendent working, the supervisors, principals, and teachers, we need everybody on the same team; and if everybody can be on the same team, thinking about the children, we can educate them. We need everybody on the same team.”
Statement from Mr. Pepe-“I’d like to comment. Over the years that I’ve grown up in Bogalusa, we had superintendents that were Bogalusa people. We had Mr. Bickham, Mr. Holcomb, Mr. Cothern, and Mr. Genco. Our school system always worked great, then we hired two out-of-towners, and our school system went down. I’m glad to see that we’ve got another Bogalusa native sitting in that superintendent seat.”
President Paul Kates-“Thank you Mr. Pepe, we appreciate you. It is our goal to move this school system forward, and to focus on children. We have that sign out there that says Children First; it is our duty to put the children first. Thank you.”
At this point, President Kates asked if there were any more comments. There were none. He adjourned.
12.) Adjourn
There being no further comments or business to address, President Kates adjourned at 6:45PM.
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Willie “Toni” Breaux Paul D. Kates
Secretary Board President