Bogalusa School Board Office-Media Center
Bogalusa, Louisiana
Regular Board Meeting
October 30, 2013 (REVISED- November 22, 2013- (Line Item 10-D)
5:30 P.M.
Proceedings of the Bogalusa School Board, Taken At A Regular Meeting That Was Held On Wednesday, October 30, 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 Wednesday, October 30, 2013 beginning at 5:35 P.M. The purpose of the meeting was to address all matters that were presented on Monday night, October 28, 2013, at the Committee Meeting, regarding any updates or new developments concerning schools, and other matters that may impact the School District. The agenda included a presentation.
1.) Call to Order
President Mr. Paul Kates called the meeting to order at 5:35 P.M.
2.) Pledge of Allegiance
Superintendent Willie “Toni” Breaux led the Pledge of Allegiance.
3.) Prayer
Dr. Brad Williams delivered the opening prayer.
4.) Roll Call
There were present: President: Mr. Paul Kates; Members: Mr. Curtis Creel, Mrs. Eleanor Duke, Mr. Calvin Hymel, Mr. Adam Kemp and Dr. Brad Williams
There was absent: Vice President-Rev. Raymond Mims
5.) Presentation: -Mrs. Willie “Toni” Breaux-Superintendent
School Board members 2013 La Tech University Law Day Institute Certificates
Ø Mr. Paul D. Kates-School Board President
Ø Mr. Curtis Creel-School Board Member
Ø Mrs. Eleanor W. Duke-School Board Member
Ø Mr. Calvin F. Hymel-School Board Member
Ø Mr. Adam B. Kemp-School Board Member
Ø Dr. Hubert “Brad” Williams-School Board Member
*Note: Rev. Raymond E. Mims-School Board Vice President was unable to attend.
“Thank you, President Kates; it gives me great pleasure to present these Certificates of Attendance to our School Board Members. I am going to read one. They all say the exact same thing.” Superintendent Breaux proceeded to read the certificate, saying; ‘Louisiana Tech University College of Education Certificate of Attendance-This certificate certifies the attendance of Paul D. Kates at the 17th Annual Louisiana Tech University School Law Institute held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on September 26-27, 2013. The Institute value for Educators and other Professionals of 9.0 Clock Hours or 9.0 Continuing education Units (CLU); certified by David E. Gullatt, Ph.D. Law Institute Facilitator.’ Other Board Members receiving the Certificate of Attendance are listed above. Superintendent Breaux congratulated each Board Member, as she presented them with their Certificate of Attendance. “And, as you all know Reverend Mims has been ill a lot during this time, but we’re working on that. Thank you,” concluded Superintendent Breaux.
At this point President Kates continued with the agenda items.
6.) Approval of Minutes of Regular Board Meeting-September 12, 2013
It was motioned by Dr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Kemp, to approve the minutes. The motion was carried 6-0 with Vice President Mims absent.
7.) Approval of Minutes of Public Meeting-September 30, 2013
It was motioned by Dr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Kemp, to approve the minutes. The motion was carried 6-0 with Vice President Mims absent.
8.) Board Officers and Committee Reports
Superintendent Willie “Toni” Breaux-“I have this, just one announcement. Reading form as reading from a flyer, Superintendent Breaux stated, “Northside Parent and Family Resource Center: Please join us for our upcoming workshops from 4:00PM to 6:00PM; November 5th - Story Night; November 7th- Online Math Games; November 12th- Keyboarding Skills; November 14th- Computer Basics; November 19th- Internet Safety/Identity Theft; and November 21st- Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Extravaganza; 517 Mississippi Avenue. Shelly will you just give them a couple of sentences on the participation for yesterday,” said Superintendent Breaux.
Shelley Gill-Referring to the PowerPoint, Mrs. Gill stated, “They did have sixty-seven (67) children show up last night in costumes along with their parents that stayed. They read them some Dr. Seuss and The Grinch, Halloween, and many different Halloween stories, and did some events with them there. They gave them some little prizes, and drink, and cupcakes and food as well. And, then on the twenty-first (21st), it’s going to be our big Thanksgiving one. That’s going to be the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Extravaganza. They’ve got some decorations. They are going to make pilgrim hats with their parents; and Indian hats; and the little handprint things; and they’ll have souvenirs there, as well as read them some stories, and doing some other things with them. There is something every Tuesday and Thursday; and I know you probably can’t come, but if you can come on the twenty-first (21st), that would be a great one to attend. We have a lot of activities planned for that night.”
9.) Recess to Public Session
There was no one to come forward to address the Board or public.
10.) New Business
A.) Approval of Financial Statements for September 2013, i.e., General Fund, Food Service, Capital Improvement Fund, Special Revenue Funds and School Activities.
It was motioned by Mr. Kemp, seconded by Mr. Hymel, to approve the line item. The motion was carried 6-0 with Vice President Mims absent.
B.) Approval of the 2013 Audit, as presented on Monday, October 28, 2013 at the Committee Meeting, by Philip Rebowe, of Carr, Riggs and Ingram Auditors Firm.
It was motioned by Dr. Williams, seconded by Mrs. Duke, to approve the audit. The motion was carried 6-0 with Vice President Mims absent.
C.) Grant permission to discard additional District Wide Fixed Assets, i.e., General Fund, Food Service, Title Programs and IDEA.
It was motioned by Mrs. Duke, seconded by Dr. Williams, to grant permission for General Fund. Food Service, Title Programs and IDEA did not submit any Fixed Assets to discard. The motion was carried 6-0 with Vice President Mims absent.
D.) Grant permission to adjust November 2013 and December 2013 meetings, due to workshops, Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. The dates are as follows: Tuesday, November 12, 2013-Committee Meeting; Thursday, November 14, 2013-Regular Board Meeting; Monday, December 16, 2013-Committee Meeting; Wednesday, December 18, 2013-Regular Board Meeting. All meetings will convene at 5:30PM, at the School Board Office Media Center, located at 1705 Sullivan Drive, Bogalusa, LA 70427.
It was motioned by Mr. Creel, seconded by Mr. Kemp and Mr. Hymel, to grant permission. The motion was carried 6-0 with Vice President Mims absent.
NOTE: This line item was revised to reflect the date change of Regular Board Meeting, to be held Wednesday, December 18, 2013, instead of Thursday, December 19, 2013, as originally stated, due to school programs.
11.) Personnel-Karla McGehee
“I know by now that you are aware that I have passed out Job Descriptions for each employee, and you requested a copy of those. I am working on that. I am going to include the PEP Report in it, and the Job Descriptions in back. I tried to have it ready for tonight but there were corrections that needed to be made. So, Mrs. Breaux said we would probably put it the mail to you by Friday.” At this point, Mrs. Breaux echoed “Friday, I’ll have it Friday.” Mrs. McGehee continued, “So be expecting that. If you have any concerns you can let Mrs. Breaux know, or let me know, and we’ll work on those, okay. Thank you,” concluded Mrs. McGehee. *No Personnel Agenda was submitted at the Committee Meeting, on Monday night-October 28, 2013, nor at the Regular Board Meeting held on Wednesday night, October 30, 2013.
12.) Superintendent Comments-(Mrs.) Willie “Toni” Breaux
“I just would like to say that I don’t know if you all read the paper today; the Editorial, but I did, and I was very dismayed at it. I just really don’t like the way our scores came in, but it’s neither here nor there now, because if you noticed they did not have a score for Pleasant Hill; they did not have a score for Superior. Last year Pleasant Hill had a B. Raymond went up to a C; and it was a high C. I know those scores probably would have been better this year, but they used this years’ configurations for last year. I have met with Principals, and Supervisors. This week I had each Principal to bring a teacher as a representative; and I’ve decided that I am going to do that every now-and-then, because I want feedback from my teachers. What we did, April took notes for me, and I’ll probably send you those notes Friday, with this Friday’s Digest too. Anyway, I want to address some of their concerns, because they are the catalyst for those children, and to be sure to try and get those views. Also, I am asking for suggestions. I am going to meet with them again in November, for things that we can do to improve the schools, because you know it is a competitive thing. I know we have some good teachers. We have some weak teachers too, but we have some good teachers just like every other profession. We are working hard, and I have to see that we make some type of progress. I am going to demand that. I’m going to try and get out into the schools a lot more. I have made some observations and I’ve discussed some of those with you all. I think you are born to be teachers, or you’re not born to be teachers. It’s a field that doesn’t pay what your worth is; it really doesn’t, so it does call for dedication, and you have to have a love for children. You have to love children, and you have to be considerate. I told them in the Principal’s Meeting, the children are not responsible for where they come from. It’s not where you come from, but it’s where you’re going. It’s our responsibility as educators, to help these kids to get to where they need to be. I am hurt. I am disappointed, but I am not going to give up. I’m not going to give up. I’m trying some different things, but if you don’t have people that are dedicated, and willing, it’s not a whole lot you can do. Yes, they’ll do it while you’re in there, but you’ve got to do it when you’re not in there; so don’t think it hasn’t hurt my heart; it really has; but I’m still not going to give up. Anyway, that’s what I did this week that was a little bit different. I love Bogalusa City Schools so much, and I want to see us get to where we need to be. I am going to do everything in my heart and soul, in the next year-and-a-half (1-1/2) to make that possible. Thank you,” concluded Superintendent Breaux.
13.) Board Members Comments
Dr. Brad Williams- “It grieves me to see this school system doing so poorly. I am a graduate of Bogalusa High School. Most all of the Board Members here are graduates of Bogalusa. So, what are the differences from when I graduated, and now? We didn’t have Smartboards. The facilities are nicer. We didn’t have Common Core. We didn’t have so many of this government mandated teacher evaluation templates. We wouldn’t have had D’s and F’s for School Performance Scores, back when I was going; so why are we having these D’s and F’s for School Performance Scores? It’s not Mrs. Breaux. It’s not our supervisors. It’s not our teachers. We need some improvements. Mr. Kemp said one time, ‘You know, we need to improve, and teachers that are not doing good, show them the door, and let them know they can get into something else.’ But that’s not our problem. I’ll take some of the blame. What we have in Bogalusa by far, is a lack of parenting problem; and often times a negligent parenting. I see it as a Board Member, and as a part-time sheriff deputy. And, until this parenting problem is fully intensely addressed our children will continue to have an uphill climb. I have suggested several times in the past several years that we need to have some Love Coordinators, for the lack of a better word, starting in PreK through 2nd, and 3rd grade. Show Social Workers, train to inspire these kids, to give them some love they’re not getting at home. If a teacher schedules an appointment with a parent, and the parent don’t come, hold the parent accountable. Judge Black told me there are legal avenues to do this. Until this is done; parent’s accountability, then we will continue to have an uphill battle educating our children in Bogalusa City Schools. I want to encourage our staff, our teachers, and Mrs. Breaux who are being highly scrutinized right now for these School Performance Scores. I want them to stay positive; don’t give up; do the best that you can. What more can we ask of you,” says Dr. Williams.
President Paul Kates-“I just want to say one thing before we close. You know, like Dr. Williams said, and I have always said it too; we know it all starts at home, and if parents don’t do their duties at home, we have problems in the school system. We can’t blame all the parents, but you can blame the majority, because of the situation that we’re in. Bogalusa City School System has suffered for many years. I know I’ve been on this Board for a little while now; and we have been trying to overcome this problem for a while. So, we do need parent input; we need parents to get involved; we need parents to train their children at home; we need some accountability from parents. But also, we need to work together in this system thoroughly, from our superintendent to our supervisors, principals, teachers and all. We can’t sit here and say we don’t have inward fighting in this system, because we know we do. We all have to realize what we’re here for. We are here for the children. Until we realize this, we cannot move forward. This Board that I sit on now, this is the first Board that I have sit on; and pretty much since I’ve been here these three (3) years, we all have agreed on things; we all have tried to work together. We have renovated these schools. We have invested money to try and make these schools better. We have done everything in our power to make it better for you, employees; even though we are still suffering with our test scores; with discipline problems; with inward fighting. We have to do better. We have to realize that we come here for the children. We come here to better our children; and educate our children. We must realize this, and put our feelings to the side when it’s time to deal with our children, to make sure that our children get the best education. Right now, we are failing; but I know that we all are working hard. I know you all are working hard, but we have to work together. We have to put everything aside, because we have to focus on the children, and I hope we realize this. We can do better; and I hope everybody pull together; work together, for the betterment of the Bogalusa City Schools and our children. I thank you,” concluded President Kates.
At this point President Kates asked if any other Board Members had anything to say. They did not have any comments, but Mrs. Walker asked President Kates if she could say something before he dismissed. He replied, “Yes ma’am you may.”
Deloris Walker-“The Sales Tax percentage for the November 1st check, will be one hundred and nineteen (119%) percent,” says Mrs. Walker.
14.) Adjourn
There being no further business to address or comments, President Kates adjourned at 6:00PM.
________________________________ ______________________________
(Mrs.) Willie E. Breaux, Superintendent Mr. Paul D. Kates
Secretary Board President
Revised - November 22, 2013