Bogalusa School Board Office-Media Center
Bogalusa, Louisiana
Regular Board Meeting
July 25, 2013
5:30 P.M.
Proceedings of the Bogalusa School Board, Taken At A Regular Meeting That Was Held On Thursday, July 25, 2013
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 Thursday, July 25, 2013 beginning at 5:30 P.M. The purpose of the meeting was to take action on items presented at the Committee Meeting, on Monday, July 22, 2013, regarding the consolidation, and renovation of schools, focusing on the plans, and preparation for the upcoming 2013-2014 Fiscal School Year.
1.) Call to Order
School Board Member Mr. Adam Kemp called the meeting to order at 5:30 P.M.
2.) Pledge of Allegiance
Superintendent Willie “Toni” Breaux led the Pledge of Allegiance.
3.) Prayer
Mrs. Eleanor Duke delivered the opening prayer.
4.) Roll Call
There were present: Members: Mr. Curtis Creel, Mrs. Eleanor Duke, Mr. Calvin Hymel, & Mr. Adam Kemp
There was absent: President- Mr. Paul Kates, Vice President-Reverend Raymond Mims, and Member- Dr. Brad Williams
5.) Approval of Minutes of Regular Board Meeting-June 27, 2013
It was motioned by Mr. Creel, seconded by Mr. Hymel to approve the minutes. The motion was carried 4-0, with 3 absent.
6.) Board Officers and Committee Reports
Mrs. Deloris Walker-“We had a Sales Tax Commission Meeting on yesterday, I think yesterday. Anyway, I think I brought to the Board last year, or a couple of years ago something to do with Gaylord; it was Gaylord at that time; but it’s Temple Inland; well International Papers now. I’m sorry I didn’t bring copies to you all but; I’ll get a copy in the mail that they gave us at the Committee Meeting. And, Mr. Dale if you need a copy, I’ll get one for you also. So, I just wanted to let you all know that we will be meeting with IP tomorrow.”
At this point, Mr. Kemp, who was sitting in for President Kates and Vice President Mims, asked if there were any more reports. There were none, so he moved forward with the agenda items.
7.) Recess to Public Session
There was no one to come forward to address the Board or public.
8.) New Business
A.) Approval of “Revised/Amended” 2013-2014 Bogalusa City School District Handbook for Students and Parents, regarding hoods to students’ Dress Code Policy (Pages 12-13), and Contact Information to Student Records (pages 4-5).
It was motioned by Mr. Creel, seconded by Mr. Hymel, to approve the line item, with the stipulation that; jackets may have a hood, but only worn outside of the building. Hoodies and sweatshirts with hoods are prohibited. The motion was carried 4-0, with 3 absent.
B.) Approval of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP), former Pleasant Hill; currently Central Elementary, for Fiscal School Year 2013-2014.
It was motioned by Mrs. Duke, seconded by Mr. Creel to approve the line item. The motion was carried 4-0, with 3 absent.
C.) Grant permission to hire an Application Clerk for the first thirty (30) days of school to complete the application process, i.e. Carmen Comans.
It was motioned by Mr. Creel, seconded by Mr. Hymel to approve the line item. The motion was carried 4-0, with 3 absent.
D.) Approval of the Agreement between Nellie Byers and Bogalusa City Schools for contract feeding for FY 2013-2014
It was motioned by Mrs. Duke, seconded by Mr. Creel to approve the line item. The motion was carried 4-0, with 3 absent.
E.) Approval of Financial Statements, and Revised Budgets i.e., General Fund, Food Service, Special Revenue Funds, Capital Improvement Fund and School Activities for June 2013.
It was motioned by Mr. Creel, seconded by Mrs. Duke to approve the line item. The motion was carried 4-0, with 3 absent.
F.) Declare as surplus property, District Wide Fixed Assets, i.e., General Fund, IDEA.
It was motioned by Mrs. Duke, seconded by Mr. Creel to approve the line item. The motion was carried 4-0, with 3 absent.
G.) Grant permission to adjust August 2013 meetings, due to Professional Development workshops. The dates are: August 19, 2013-Committee Meeting; August 21, 2013-Regular Board Meeting. The meetings will convene at 5:30PM, in the School Board Office Media Center, located at 1705 Sullivan Drive, Bogalusa, Louisiana.
It was motioned by Mrs. Duke, seconded by Mr. Hymel to grant permission. The motion was carried 4-0, with 3 absent.
H.) Grant permission to pay all full-time teachers at a daily pay rate of twenty-dollars ($20.00) an hour, to prepare their classrooms for the 2013-2014 Fiscal School Year. The schools are Byrd Avenue, Central Elementary, Bogalusa High (6-8) and Bogalusa High (9-12) Schools.
Prior to any action on this line item, Mrs. Duke voiced a question of concern, stating, “Can I ask a question on that? Do you have a basic minimum and maximum they can make? Superintendent Breaux replied, “This is just for one (1) day; and at twenty ($20.00) dollars an hour, that’s one hundred forty ($140.00) dollars. That’s the total, one hundred forty. Mrs. Walker added that the motion needed to reflect that this if for nine (9) month teachers only. Mr. Creel stated, “Can I ask another question? You know I’m concerned about Central. We have the contractors still there working, saying it’s going to be close. My concern is for that group of five (5) classrooms; it’s not going to be fair to those teachers for those classrooms not be ready, a day before school starts, and they have to be ready to accept students. My thought on the matter is that somehow, we need to put together some type of contingency team to assist wherever means necessary to get those rooms ready for those teachers or in helping those teachers. It’s a situation that I am genuinely concerned about,” said Mr. Creel. Superintendent Breaux stated, “We have a group of men and high school students, and I think their last day is supposed to be next Friday; but what we can do is reserve some of those to come in and help those teachers, help them move or whatever they need. We’ll talk about it,” says Superintendent Breaux. Mr. Creel continued with the discussion.
It was motioned by Mrs. Duke, seconded by Mr. Creel to grant permission to all nine (9) month full-time teachers to receive the pay. The motion was carried 4-0, with 3 absent.
I.) Grant permission for School Board Members and Superintendent Willie “Toni” Breaux to attend the LSBA Trailblazer Legislative Session and Litigation/Legal Updates on August 23-24, 2013, at the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel, in New Orleans, LA
There was a lengthy discussion regarding travel. At the close of the discussion, Mr. Kemp stated, “So we do not need to act on line items I, J, & K, so, we’ll move on to item L.”
No action was required for this line item, because this is an in-state travel.
J.) Grant permission for Superintendent Willie “Toni” Breaux to attend the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) at Work with Richard and Rebecca DuFour Collaboration that has been scheduled for August 27-28, 2013, at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans, Louisiana.
No action was required for this line item, because this is an in-state travel.
K.) Grant permission for School Board Members and Superintendent Willie “Toni” Breaux to attend the Louisiana Tech University School Law Institute on September 26-27, 2013 at the Embassy Suites Conference Center, in Baton Rouge, LA.
No action was required for this line item, because it is an in-state travel.
L.) Grant permission for Gail Barnwell and Karla McGehee to attend the American Association of School Personnel Administrators Conference in San Antonio, Texas, that has been scheduled for October 1-4, 2013.
It was motioned by Mrs. Duke, seconded by Mr. Hymel to grant permission. The motion was carried 4-0, with 3 absent.
M.) Grant permission for Shelley Gill, Deloris Walker and Superintendent Willie “Toni” Breaux to attend the “Understanding the Ten Risks of Federal Education Grants Management” Conference on December 4-6, 2013, in Clark County, Nevada.
Prior to any action, Mrs. Deloris Walker and Superintendent Willie ‘Toni” Breaux stated that they would not go. As the discussion progressed, with input from Mrs. Gill the suggestion was to vote on the line item as is, and if Mrs. Walker and Superintendent Breaux decided they did not choose to go, then they can cancel, but right now the line item is to be voted on as is.
It was motioned by Mrs. Duke, seconded by Mr. Creel to grant permission to accept line item M, as is. The motion was carried 4-0, with 3 absent.
N.) Grant permission for Superintendent Willie “Toni” Breaux and School Board Members to attend the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) National Conference on Education that has been scheduled for February 13-15, 2014, at The Nashville Music City Convention Center, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Prior to any action on this line item, Superintendent Breaux stated, “Just take my name off.” Mr. Kemp stated, “Well, I’m going to make a quick statement. We have not attended this, I know since I’ve been on the Board, this particular conference, so my personal opinion, it’s not necessary. I’m not going to it. So, do we scratch through line item N or do we vote on it,” asked Mr. Kemp?” “You don’t need to scratch or vote on it. Just have someone to motion and second it, then vote no on it, if that’s what you want to do,” says Attorney Branch Okay, can I have a motion and a second,” asked Mr. Kemp?
It was motioned by Mr. Creel, seconded by Mrs. Duke to grant permission to travel. The motion was not carried at this point, and resulted in a Roll Call Vote as follow:
YEAS: None
NAYS: Mr. Creel, Mrs. Duke, Mr. Hymel, and Mr. Kemp
RECUSED: None
ABSENT: President Kates, Vice President Mims, and Board Member, Dr. Williams
The motion failed 4-0, with 3 absent.
9.) Personnel-Karla McGehee
Prior to the review of the Personnel Agenda, Mrs. Karla McGehee stated, “I do want to say, Mr. Kemp asked me before the meeting if I was going to have new personnel ready for tonight; and I won’t because they are still looking at it. What I gave you or that’s sitting up here, is the same thing from Monday night. So, I told Mr. Kemp, maybe within the next week or so, since they wanted to see it, and we won’t be having a board meeting, that maybe we can email it to them, if that’s okay with y’all, that’s what we’ll be doing. We’ve done it already.”
Statement from Superintendent Breaux-“What we’re going to do tomorrow, I’ve asked, and I think April was working maybe at the high school today; I’ve asked principals to submit their teachers; at first they had been giving me, okay, like Ms. Smith, first period twenty; second period; I don’t want that. I want Mrs. Smith first period, and; I want a list of the students; and I want Ms. Smith second period, and a list of the students. Then, if she has a planning period, third period, I want that, because what has happened, and I’ve already caught this, and Mrs. Walker has too; you’re asking for numbers, but numbers don’t match the students. When I started looking at the rolls, I had some classes with five students in a class; I’m not going to approve that. Then you had some classes with fourteen and sixteen and seventeen, when you can get rid of one of those classes, by putting three or four of those kids in a class; but tomorrow we are supposed to have all of them; and when we get that done, I will call and let you know, but that’s why it’s taking so long, because I don’t want us to be overstaffed. I want teachers if we need them, but it’s not just to hire people, just to be hiring. I did put a freeze on hiring, unless there are special circumstances, Karla has to come and check with me, because we were hiring too many people,” said Superintendent Breaux.
ADDITIONAL NEW HIRES
1. Byron Greely-Custodian-Bogalusa High School
2. Matthew Strahan-ELA Classroom Teacher-Bogalusa High School (6th-8th)
3. David Warren-ELA Classroom Teacher-Bogalusa High School (6th-8th)
2013-2014 RESIGNATIONS
1. Meagan Davis-Classroom Teacher-Central Elementary
2. Ron Edminston-Classroom Teacher-Bogalusa High School (6th-8th)
3. Andrew Pennington-Classroom Teacher-Bogalusa High School (6th-8th)
4. Ashley Santangelo-Classroom Teacher-Central Elementary
5. Sharronda Smith-Classroom Teacher-Central Elementary
10.) Superintendent’s Comments-Willie “Toni” Breaux
“No. I just want to say that this summer has been rough. I started last year on the thirty-first (31st). But, it’s good. I love it. I love education. I love the people I’m working with; and it is my prayer, and my hope that this year is really going to be the best year ever. I did have a teacher who had forty-two (42) years and she can testify; stopped me today when I was coming in, and she said, ‘Ooh, my room; I ‘ve been in the system for forty-two (42) years, and I’ve never had anything like this.’ You all may not think it, but environment plays a great part in the student’s achievement,” says Superintendent Breaux. “I’ve said that from the get-go,” added Mr. Creel. Superintendent Breaux continued, “It does; and I am so proud of our schools. And, I do want to say, I don’t know if I should say this in the public; but anyway, I found out today that the Charter School is offering day care before school. And the way it was found, a parent called here thinking this was the Charter School. When asked was it before and after school, Superintendent Breaux stated, “It’s before and after.”
11.) Board Members Comments
Mr. Curtis Creel-Mr. Creel stated that he had visited the Charter School. Next, he voiced a concern regarding the parking issue at Central Elementary. He gave details to a process he had been working on. The school would have a circle drive for drop-off and pick-up of students. “Since they put that circle drive, do you know where the dumpsters are going to go now? They’ve moved the dumpster. They have to be in close proximity of the cafeteria. They were right there where the circle drive is. We just need to know where they’re going to go,” said Mrs. Miller. According to Mrs. Jenkins the purpose of the circle drive was to be able to load several buses, not just one bus at a time. “This would allow the kids to get home earlier,” said Mrs. Jenkins
Mr. Adam Kemp-“I have one or two things. Ms. Jenkins, did you get the summer school results?” “I believe it’s the 6th, but don’t hold me to it. Call me in a couple of days,” says Mrs. Jenkins.
Mr. Curtis Creel-“Just one more thing. I had a talk with the job superintendent for Combs Construction today, and he indicated to me that the air-condition people would be out of there, and his crew would be out of there. Everybody would be done by next Friday.”
At this point, Mr. Kemp, who was sitting in for President Kates and Vice President Mims, asked if there were any more comments. There were none, and he adjourned.
12.) Adjourn
There being no further business to address or comments, Mr. Kemp adjourned at 6:25PM.
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Willie “Toni” Breaux Paul D. Kates
Secretary Board President