Bogalusa School Board
Bogalusa, Louisiana
Regular Board Meeting
April 16, 2014
5:30 P.M.
Proceedings Of The Bogalusa School Board, Taken AT A Regular Board Meeting That Was Held On Wednesday, April 16, 2014
The Bogalusa School Board met in a Regular Board Meeting at the Bogalusa School Board Office Media Center, located at 1705 Sullivan Drive, Bogalusa, Louisiana, on Wednesday, April 16, 2014, beginning at 5:30 P.M., for the purpose of addressing matters presented by the supervisors on Monday, April 14, 2014, during the Committee Meeting, from updates, and in view of other matters that might impact the operation of the district, for the remainder of the 2013-2014 Academic School Year, and the continuation of making plans for the upcoming 2014-2015 Academic School Year. The agenda included presentations.
1.) Call to Order
President 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
Rev. Raymond Mims delivered the opening prayer.
4.) Roll Call
There were present: President, Mr. Adam Kemp; Vice President, Mr. Curtis Creel; Members: Mrs. Eleanor Duke, Mr. Calvin Hymel, Mr. Paul Kates and Rev. Raymond Mims.
There was absent: Board Member-Dr. Brad Williams
Prior to the presentations, President Kemp stated, “First thing on the agenda tonight are presentations. With the Board’s permission, we will add first Mrs. Katherine Farbe of the LSU Ag Center Research Extension, presenting Body Quest for Central Elementary School. It was stated that the first presentation would be Byrd Avenue Primary School, with Principal Sheila Lawrence.
5.) Presentations:
Ø Byrd Avenue Primary School-Sheila Lawrence, Principal
Prior to the PowerPoint presentation, Mrs. Lawrence stated, “Good evening everyone; community, Superintendent Breaux, President Kemp, and Board Members. First of all, I want to say, I am very proud of the Byrd Avenue Faculty and Staff. We all work so hard as a team, for student achievement. And, I have to admit, Debbie Jenkins, has always provided Professional Development for the elementary teachers at the beginning of the school year. This year they attended the Teachers Institute, and they were given a choice between three (3) curriculums. It was the Basal, the State or Core Knowledge. So, the teachers chose Core Knowledge; and I want to say it was a very good choice, because it is recognized by the state now as number one (1) in the skills strand. So, we’re doing what we need to. And because of this; we give a DIBLES test at the beginning, middle and end of the year, and our children; right now, mid-year has scored some of the highest that there’s ever been. We’re even trying to reach higher than we’ve ever reached; and I can say that now, we’re very high; and hopefully we’ll get even higher. I want to show you what’s going on at Byrd Avenue. This is a showcase.” At this point Mrs. Lawrence by way of Mrs. Chaisson presented a PowerPoint of the activities at Byrd Avenue Primary School. “Thank you Mrs. Lawrence; and your faculty as well,” says President Kemp.
Ø Recognition Of the 2013 Students of the Year-April Nobles, Secondary C & I Supervisor
Prior to the recognitions, Mrs. Nobles stated, “Good evening. Tonight we’re going to begin by honoring our fifth (5th) grade student. I am looking around trying to find Ms. Greely; there she is. So, I’m going to turn this over to Ms. Greely, so she can tell us a little bit about Miss Miracle Natavia Unique Jefferson.”
ü Miracle-Natavia Unique Jefferson-5th Grade-Central Elementary School
Ms. Barbara Greely, Principal at Central Elementary School, came forward stating, “It is an honor and a privilege to present to you Miss Miracle Jefferson. Miracle is a Banner Roll fifth grade student at Central Elementary School. She is our Student of the Year. She’s in Mrs. Pigott’s class. It was no surprise to me, when I found out that this young lady was selected as Student of the Year. She’s very bright, very intelligent, friendly, and beautiful inside and out. I’ve known Miracle since she was a very small child, and her sweet personality has always been the same. Although she wants to be a nurse in the future, she has many other talents; in many other areas. She enjoys playing the piano, dancing, playing basketball, soccer and baseball. Her favorite subjects are math and reading, and she said she enjoys being in Mrs. Pigott’s class because she’s a good teacher, and she makes learning fun. I was also told that Miracle was a Banner Roll student at Byrd Avenue School.” Ms. Greely recognized her parents that were present, Mrs. Carolina and Mr. Gary Jefferson.
ü De’Auvia Gabrielle Brown-8th Grade-Bogalusa Middle School (Located on the Bogalusa High School Campus)
Mrs. Tonyah Jefferson, Associate Principal, accompanied by Mrs. Jennifer Beninato, Assistant Principal at Bogalusa Middle School, which is located on the Bogalusa High School campus, came forward. Mrs. Jefferson stated, “De’Auvia Brown is BHS 6th-8th grade Student of the Year. She is the proud daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Darius Moses. She’s an eighth grade honor student, and attends the fabulous BHS. She is in Mrs. Clayton’s homeroom. She has the pleasure of being loved by all of her wonderful principals, including these two (2), right here. She attends Greater Ebenezer Baptist Church, under the leadership of Dr. Raymond Mims, which she attends faithfully. De’Auvia is a very friendly student. She cares a lot about her classmates.
She along with her friend Deon Brown was even selected to be on our Bogalusa High School Yearbook Staff. De’Auvia, this year made the Dance Team of the Paper Dolls under the leadership of Mr. Chad Harry. She also likes being with her friends, with her family, and she enjoys having a good time. When De’Auvia leaves Bogalusa High School, she plans on attending college and becoming a Pediatrician. I would like to present to you, the wonderful; the fabulous Miss De’Auvia Brown.” Her mother and grandparents were present, and they were recognized.
ü Daphne Arnell Owens-12th Grade-Bogalusa High School
Mr. Lesley McKinley, Principal, accompanied by Mrs. Linda Pittman, Assistant Principal came forward. Mr. McKinley stated, “We have the pleasure of introducing to you tonight Miss Daphne Owens. I’m not going to talk about what I say about Daphne, I’m going to tell you what others have said about her. Her father states that, Daphne is the epitome of what all students should strive to emulate; being successful, being committed to excellence, staying focused and love of family. ‘Daphne is a very dedicated student with drive and determination to succeed not only at high school, but also at the next level of higher learning. Her commitment to succeed is only matched with her willingness to gain unlimited knowledge and to pass it on to others. She would definitely make her family and school proud once she embarks from her journey to college, upon completion of high school; her father Gregory White.’ ‘She is a well-rounded student who has demonstrated her ability to effectively use technology to learn how to read, write, and speak a foreign language. Those are the words of Susan Pittman, her Spanish II Teacher.’ ‘Daphne Owens is a lovely young lady. She is a mature, poised, self–possessed, dedicated student; and her grades are exemplary. She is joy to have in the classroom; the words of Ms. Ann Johnson, her Chemistry Teacher.’ ‘Daphne Owens has a pure thirst for knowledge; and I like how he says she has a pure thirst for knowledge. She’s determined and motivated in her studies; will not rest until she has found a solution to every question in class. Her consistency to strive for excellence is apparent in her college goals, as well as her course work. This was Stradford Goins, her Math Teacher.’ ‘Daphne is an excellent student, who is always willing to go the extra mile to complete the work to the highest standard. She’s humble and so willing to accept help, and advice. She’s a thinker; and organizer, and an analyzer. Those are the words of Mrs. Geri Gunulfsen, her English 101 and 102 Teacher.’ Finally, I wanted to know what does Miss Daphne thinks of herself. ‘I will define myself as being ambitious; this is because I am someone who has high expectation for myself. I am confident in my abilities to produce. While I do prepare for the worse, I do work the necessary things to tilt the odds so that the best will happen.’ And, this is what Miss Daphne feels about herself. Mr. McKinley continued, “We at Bogalusa High School feel that Miss Daphne is the model of so many other students on our campus. We do appreciate the type of person she is. She’s a quite person. She’s a person that will get the job done; you don’t have to beg; she asks what is needed, and we say what; and she completes it. We do feel as her father feels, that at the next level, Daphne will achieve, and she will make Bogalusa High School; the City of Bogalusa, and all of us proud of her. Our Student of the Year, grades 9-12, Miss Daphne Owens,” concluded Principal McKinley. “And Daphne is a familiar face, for those of you who are frequent at Board Meetings, because she’s also our Honorary School Board Member. She also holds a job, and all these other extra-curricular things, that we have to call, sometimes to get her out of, to come to the Board Meetings. We’re very, very proud of you, and all of your accomplishments,” says Mrs. Nobles. “She’s also on her way to Howard University,” added Principal McKinley.
All of the recipients received a plaque certificate from the School Board, signed by Superintendent Breaux and President Adam Kemp, along with a gift from their school.
At this point pictures were taken by the media.
Next, President Kemp called for the school news reports from the 2013-2014 Honorary School Board Members
Ø 2013-2014 Honorary School Board Members Report-Elementary, Middle & High School Students
ü Central Elementary School-Asiah Tyrone- 5th Grade
Asiah’s PowerPoint was entitled “A Look Inside Spartan Life.” She started the PowerPoint with a statement, saying, “We are the Central Elementary School; Home of the Spartans; Blue and Gold all the way, at 1420 Spartan’s Drive Bogalusa, La; 985.281.2232; We are all in this together. We have a great student body, teachers and staff. At Central, we work very hard to become productive citizens in life. Not only is our library beautiful, but it is informative as well. Ms. Jill Evans is Central’s Library Clerk. She is there to help us check in and check out books, and set us up on the computers for the AR tests. Children have access to resources, Accelerated Resources and AR test on the computers in the Library. Central promotes parental Involvement.” Referring to several slides, Asiah stated, ‘Here the fourth grade teachers and instructional coaches were inservicing parents on tips, on reading and responding, writing prompts, and overall test preparation. We work hard, but we love to play hard too. These are pictures from the October Fall Festival. This is Central’s Mardi Gras Parade. Students were picked by classmates to participate in our School Mardi Gras parade. Throw me something mister. We also had the pleasure of having the 2014 Mardi Gras Queen, Mrs. Charmaine Reeves, at our school. Yes, that’s right, she’s a Spartan too. Central is packed with talented students. We have singers, dancers, and poets. We also had special guests. We had Bogalusa’s Fire Fighters, Senator Ben Nevers, and Deputy Kendrick. They are pictured here with MCCA’s Queen Charmaine Reeves, and Central’s Student of the Year, Miracle Jefferson,” said Asiah. She concluded her PowerPoint with a slide, showing how Central is preparing students to become different things in life.
ü Bogalusa Middle School-Diamond Sampson-8th Grade (Located on the Bogalusa High School Campus)
NOTE: In the absence of Diamond Sampson, Destiny Roberts, and Destiny Richardson presented the PowerPoint for Bogalusa Middle School, located on Bogalusa High School campus.
Destiny Roberts and Destiny Richardson’s PowerPoint was centered on the students who scored eighteen (18) or higher on the ACT Explore Test. They were: Broderick Curney-18; Elizabeth Davis-18; Hannah Penton-18; Gabrielle Sylve-18; Destiny Richardson-19; Destiny Roberts-19; and William Blake Grant-21. Also, the PowerPoint showed Mr. Williams’s House of Excellence students that participated in the Fuel Up to Play 60 Obstacle Course; and Testing Cheer Off Winners. Our Student of the Year is D’Auvia Brown. Her favorite hobby is dancing. The most important thing to D’Auvia is her grades and her family. She is kind, bright and helpful. That’s why she is Student of the Year. On May 16th, at 6:00p.m., the eighth graders are having their Eighth Grade Celebration. Please join us on May 16th, for our Eighth Grade Celebration, at 6:00PM.
ü Bogalusa High School-Daphne Owens-12th Grade
“Hello everyone. Welcome to Bogalusa High School, Home of the Mighty Lumberjacks.” Daphne then presented the PowerPoint regarding the positive things that were going on at Bogalusa High School. She continued. “Here we have the Explores planning a program in the Bogalusa High School auditorium, for six o’clock. This is where parents have the opportunity to see what the scores actually mean, and where they can go from there.” Still referring to some of the score data, she mentioned that there was a 17.2% increase in the Junior Class this year, which according to her was a very large improvement from last year. She continued, “Also, we have the ACT Booth Camp Trip. The ones who participated, and went every Saturday, went on the trip to New Orleans, as an educational trip. Here we have the National Beta Club Induction Ceremony. I’m in Beta Club. Here we have a banner that was presented to us that recognized us as a School of Distinction, because we had a high percentage of students in our club that has maintained a 3.2 grade point average. Everyone is doing well academically. Here we have the “Fuel Up To Play Sixty Pep Rally, where Saints Football player Curtis Lofton, came to motivate everybody to fuel up and play sixty. Here we have all of the students that have been accepted to a college in Louisiana as well as out-of-state colleges. Also, we have the State Literary Rally, at Louisiana State University. For our upcoming events, we have; Prom on May 3rh; the Military Ball on May 10th, Bogalusa High School Honors’ Night on May 13th, and lastly, Graduation, on May 15th, 2014. Thank you, and this concludes my presentation,” says Daphne.
At this point, Mrs. Linda Pittman, Assistant Principal at Bogalusa High School rose stating, “I don’t want to steal her thunder. She did an excellent job, but this is the banner that we received last night at the Beta Club New Members Induction. We received a banner from the National Headquarters recognizing our local chapter. The other thing was; we didn’t put the names of our students who scored eighteen and above on the Plan, Explore and ACT tests. We had a total of forty-seven (47). We had four (4) in the ninth grade for the Explore Test; fifteen (15) for the Plan Test; and twenty-eight (28) for the ACT Test,” says Mrs. Pittman.
At this point, President Kemp paused to allow any students and parents to exit if they did not desire to remain for the Board Meeting. “I want to thank our Honorary Board Members. That’s one of my favorite things about Thursday night Board Meetings, to hear from the students, as we’re getting to hear straight from them what’s happening in their school; and it’s always positive, so we appreciate it,” says President Kemp.
Statement from Mr. Hymel- “I’d like to thank everybody for coming. Please come every month. We need all the help we can get. We appreciate y’all coming.”
Ø Recognition Of Certified Louisiana School Business Specialist (LASBO)-Deloris Walker, Director of Finance
ü Janet Doreen Hollis, Administrative Assistant-School Board Office-Special Education Department
“I’d like to say good evening. Will Mrs. Doreen Hollis please come up? As you know every year we go to our LASBO Conference. The state requires us, if you’re business personnel, working in the Business Department, in Finance, to get certified. This year Mrs. Doreen, received her certification, and her plaque was presented to her at the convention we just attended a couple of weeks ago; and it says; Certificate of Achievement, The Louisiana Association of School Business Officials (LASBO) certifies that Janet Doreen Hollis have duly qualified under the standards, as prescribed, and having fulfilled all the personal, ethical, and professional requirements as established by LASBO is hereby awarded the designation of Certifies Louisiana School Business Specialist (CLSBS), with all the rights, privileges and obligations appertained thereto. This was presented; it says January 1st, 2014, but it was given to her a couple weeks ago by our President, Deborah Finlay; and our Certification Chair, Anya Randle. We would like to present her with this beautiful plaque. And, also she received a plaque of Louisiana. We are so proud of Doreen. You have to get so many hours, and we have to stay certified, so we’re proud. She’s worked hard to get her hours,” says Mrs. Walker.
Ø LSU Medical Center Interns-Kenneth Martin, Bogalusa City Schools Athletic Director
“Good evening President Kemp, Vice President Creel, Superintendent Breaux, Board Members and the general public. I am just excited to stand here before you tonight to tell you about, there is people in the community that reach out to our school district. Mr. McKinley and I were standing one day; and three young men were walking up with these long coats on, and we didn’t quite know what was going on. They walked up to us; and they reached out to us. I’d like to introduce to you tonight the LSU Rural Medical Family Practice Residency Program, from Our Lady of the Angels Hospital. The Program Director is Dr. Amelia Russo; he’s not here tonight. One of the two residents, Dr. Steven Ogden, also could not be here tonight, but Dr. Jay Umarvadia, is here to present some of the things that we talked about. We’ve had some great meetings, and I just want to introduce him to the public. We’re excited about having him come support us tonight. Dr. Umarvadia came forward stating, “Good evening public, Superintendent Breaux, Mr. Kemp, distinguished guest tonight. As of March 17th we have partnered with Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge. And, LSU Bogalusa Medical Center is no longer operating, it’s now known as Our Lady of the Angels Hospital, and we will be fully functioning at this institution. So, with that said, why do we want to have a Sports Medicine initiative here in Bogalusa? We’ve come to know Coach Martin, and Mr. McKinley; and they were gracious enough to welcome us into their offices, and they learned about why we want to come into Bogalusa High School, and take care of your student athletes. Sports Medicine is a very important component in our curriculum, in fact, if you want to specialize in Sports Medicine; you do a year of fellowship beyond family medicine. We want to take care of your athletes. Speaking to Coach Martin and Mr. McKinley, they told me that they needed to go to Covington, thirty (30) miles away, just to get a participating clinic. I think that’s unacceptable. We are within walking distance of the high school, and we can take care of our own; and we can reach out to the community, and take care of them. You may be thinking, hey these are doctors, there must be cost involved. Absolutely not; your cost, and I told this to Mrs. Breaux as well, it’s a win-win situation for us, and you guys. We’re going to take care of your student athletes. This is a learning type process for us. Dr. Russo is very sorry he could not make it. He is our Program Director, and under his leadership we would like to take care of your students. When I say take care of them, it’s not on them it’s on us. They don’t have to go to Covington. They can get their physical done; football, basketball, softball, baseball; any sports that’s incumbent to Bogalusa High School. Obviously with the new emphasis on concussions, we would like to facilitate an open dialog with the students; their parents and coaches as well. In the very near future, myself, Coach Martin and Mr. McKinley would like set up an open forum for parents, so we can come and talk to them about concussions, physical education physicals, as well as sideline coverage. What we’d like to offer Bogalusa High School in the sideline coverage at the football games. As much as we are involved in the training of Our Lady of the Angels Hospital, there are some limitations, but we’d like to start with football first. Once again with that situation, we’d like to reach out to the community. We appreciate you guys welcoming us here tonight,” concluded Dr. Umarvadia."
Ø LSU Ag Center Research Extension-Body Quest-Katherine Farbe
“Thank you for asking me you all. As he said, I’m Katherine Farbe from the LSU Ag Center Research Education. I had the pleasure of being able to work with Central Elementary this year, and one of my students happens to be here,” said Ms. Farbe. The student present came forward stating, “My name is D’Michael Richardson-Ward. The thing I liked about Body Quest was doing the exercises,” says D’Michael. “What did you learn about the food,” asked Mrs. Farbe. “You’re supposed to eat fruit and vegetables and other thing like whole grain and dairy, says D’Michael. Ms. Farbe continued, “D’Michael was one of my best students this year. The basic of the program is to present positive eating in a fun interacting manner while also utilizing technology. So, we actually used iPads to teach the kids about nutrition. There are six (6) different applications that we used; that were developed to introduce nutrition. The program was twenty-one (21) weeks long, and each of our lessons were between thirty (30) and forty-five (45) minutes. Third grade was our target classes, and we worked with Mrs. Menard’s class, says Ms. Farbe.” She continued the PowerPoint presentation, giving detailed information regarding the Body Quest program. At the end of the presentation, she thanked the Superintendent and Board Members.
6.) Approval of Minutes of Regular Board Meeting-March 27, 2014
It was motioned by Rev. Mims, seconded by Mrs. Duke to approve the minutes. The motion was not carried at this point.
Question from Mr. Kates-“I have a question. I know the minutes are right now different. I’d just like to ask a question. Why were they changed at this point? I wasn’t informed. I know I’ve been working in the Paper Mill. I’ve been working for sixteen (16) hours for the past thirty (30) days.”
Response from President Kemp-“I think there was some discussion as to, there was a portion left out; and I know that in order to help Ms. Adams out, I do think that we need to just start summarizing the minutes, other than word-for-word, unless a Board Member request that it be typed word-for-word; but up to this point we had always had pretty much word-for-word, to the letter. As far as what was said with the section that was left out, I requested it. If we are going to do this, let’s start doing it from this point on. But, that has to be put back into the minutes, because it was missing. It was the only section that was missing.” “So that wasn’t requested to be written like it was told in the meeting at the beginning? It was told to be left out. What was it?” asked Mr. Kates. I do not know that. I just know that it was left out, and I requested that it be put back into the minutes. I would request after the Board, uh, I think it’s hard to hear when we’re speaking because there are no microphones.
So, if we can, to lessen your load Ms. Adams’ as well, do a summary, I don’t think we have to have word-for-word in your minutes every time, and if any Board Member would like that information see Ms. Adams for word-for-word,” added President Kemp. I only ask because I wasn’t present at the meeting. I read some things in the newspaper, but I… (Pausing and not completing this statement), says Mr. Kates. “I think with that, it was difficult to hear, and she tried to the best of her ability, so I ask her to put that back into the minutes. And again, I don’t always think it’s necessary to have word-for-word, I think we can just summarize what occurred in each department and each uh… (Pausing and not completing this statement). And, with the Board’s permission, I’d like from here on out to just do a summary,” said President Kemp. “I think it was pretty important,” says Mr. Hymel. “Like I said, I requested that information, because it was left out. This was the first time, to my knowledge that this occurred. We want to start from this point on, from this day, here on out, let’s do a summary of the minutes, so we won’t have so much to get through; and there’s not so much preparation presenting the minutes,” concluded President Kemp.
Statement from Mr. Creel-“I have a comment to that. I was asked by President Kemp to come and listen to recording concerning that particular section, and I would tell you that what I heard was almost impossible to understand. Some of the voices who had a lower decimal range, you could understand what they were saying, but some of the other voices sounded like Donald Duck. I listened to it back and forward, probably a dozen times, trying to come to a common ground of what needed to be added back into the minutes; and I did the best that I could do; and just so that everybody knows, Ms. Adams also , when she thinks there’s is a question, she also does handwritten notes. So, we compared her handwritten notes to the information that I could decipher from the tape; and this is another issue that we need to address, because I went all over town today trying to find another micro-cassette player to see if that would help me understand what was on that tape; apparently that is an antiquated piece of equipment. So, I would recommend to our Financial Officer that we move forward into the 21st Century, with some digital recording, so that we can be precise in the information that was given during these public meetings. And, if I was wearing Ms. Adams shoes, I would pull all my hair out trying to understand what was there. So, I commend her for doing what she does, and what she has been doing, apparently for an extended period of time; you know, having to play it forward; back it up; play it forward; which is very time consuming. And, just for the record, I’m confident that what you see in the minutes, is what was on the tape, and what was derived from her handwritten notes,” says Mr. Creel.
Statement from President Kemp-“We have a motion and a second. All in favor of accepting the minutes as presented say aye; all opposing say nay. With a “nay” response from Mr. Hymel, President Kemp proceeded with a Roll Call Vote as follow:
YEAS: Mrs. Duke, Rev. Mims, Vice President Creel and President Kemp
NAYS: Mr. Hymel
ABSTAIN: Mr. Kates (I abstain, because I wasn’t here. I don’t know.)
ABSENT: Dr. Williams
The motion was carried at this point, 4-2, with (1) absent.
7.) Board Officers and Committee Reports
Mrs. Deloris Walker-“I just want to say that I am still working on that van, with the state, hopefully to get some quotes.”
8.) Recess to Public Session
Mrs. Marie Ishman-Mrs. Ishman stated her address as 1012 South Royal Street, Bogalusa. Mrs. Ishman stated, “Good evening. I come on behalf of the students at Bogalusa High School, and Bogalusa Middle School.” She then read letters of voiced concerns that had been submitted to her from the students at Bogalusa High and Bogalusa Middle Schools. During the reading of several letters, President Kemp stopped her, and asked that she give that information to the Superintendent.
Mr. Fate Farrell-Mr. Farrell stated his address as 1931 Dewitt Place, Bogalusa. Mr. Farrell’s voiced several concerns. He went back to the time of Mr. Payne’s terms as Superintendent, as well as previous and past Board Members, also included the state representative. “The problems in Bogalusa haven’t just started. I’ve been watching it when Payne was Superintendent here. You’ve got people in this system, on the board, on the previous board, in the school system that wants these schools to fail, because it’s public schools.” President Kemp advised Mr. Farrell that he was out of order with some of his voiced concerns. Mr. Farrell then brought his concerns to a close.
Mr. Tommy Brumfield-Mr. Brumfield did not indicate his address. He stated, “I appreciate you guys inviting me. It’s my first time. I want to say I’m Tommy Brumfield, Class of 1969. This is my first time being here among you guys. I appreciate you inviting me. I see a lot of improvement since I’ve been back from California. I love the program that you guys got going on at Central Elementary. I just want to say that I hope everything is improving, in the future. I’m glad to be here.”
Mrs. April Bruns-Mrs. Bruns stated her address as 723 North Border Drive, Bogalusa, Louisiana. She stated, “I got this letter here, from one of the students. But, as with Mrs. Ishman, as she read, I don’t know how much of a difference it’s going to make for us to read the kids words to you.” She began to read the letter. After reading the letter, she stated, “I’m here more on behalf of the parents and the ones that needs the help. So, I’m just appealing to the Board first, regarding the programming that’s supporting the school system.” She mentioned such programs as the STEM Program; and the ACT and SAT, saying that the SAT is just as important as the ACT. “I feel that we’re failing the kids statistically as a whole, and this goes to the parents here; the community; the Board; and the education personnel, because I’m a parent, and I haven’t been asked to volunteer one time this school year. I have a problem with that. We have no active PTO, and it seems to be okay. I don’t know why that is; but that’s the case.” As Ms. Bruns continued, President Kemp stated, “I need to stop you. I do appreciate your concerns; and I would ask that you come to the Superintendent to be heard; to express the rest of your letters; to express your concerns there. We do appreciate you coming forward” Ms. Bruns asked, “Is the Superintendent accountable to the Board?” “That’s the only employee we govern,” replied President Kemp. “That’s fine. The Board is accountable to…. (Pausing at that point), President Kemp picked up the conversation…, “Accountable to the public. “Right; okay, and in saying that I think you all need to have a separate meeting for academia, because in no way could someone get in three (3) minutes what they have to say, or in this one meeting, where we shared about nutrition and everything else. I’m sure that does not prepare academia for those kids,” says Ms. Bruns. “And, I would ask that if you would like to address the Board, we do have Executive Session, and you would be more than welcome to come into the Executive Session,” said President Kemp. The conversation between President Kemp and Ms. Bruns continued, with President Kemp expression to Ms. Bruns that if she needed more than three (3) minutes, Executive Session is where it could be done.
9.) New Business
A.) Approval of March 2014 Financial Statements, i.e., General Fund, Sinking Fund, Capital Projects, School Food Service, Special Revenue Funds, School Activities, and Revised Budgets.
Prior to action on this line item, Mrs. Deloris stated, “Mr. Kemp, we’re going to exclude School Food Service and Byrd Avenue from School Activities, because they were working on their reports, and didn’t get a chance to finish.” “Okay, exclude School Food Service, and Byrd Avenue,” repeated President Kemp. “Correct,” replied Mrs. Walker.
It was motion by Rev. Mims, seconded by Mr. Creel, to approve the line items, with the exceptions of School Food Service and Byrd Avenue under School Activities financial statements. The motion was carried 6-0, with one (1) Board Member absent.
B.) Grant permission to distribute Sales Tax checks to all Bogalusa City School District full-time employees, on Friday, May 2, 2014.
It was motioned by Mr. Hymel, seconded by Mrs. Duke to grant permission. The motion was carried 6-0, with one (1) Board Member absent.
C.) Approval of The Daily News as the Official School Board Journal, as required by R.S. 43:150 and R.S. 43:174.
Prior to any action, Mrs. Deloris Walker stated, “Mr. Kemp that’s the one we’re going to “Table.” At this point, President Kemp stated, “At this time, with the permission of the Board I’d like to table this until we get further information; but I’ll need a vote to table it, until the next meeting.
It was motioned by Mr. Creel, seconded by Mrs. Duke, to “Table” this line item until the next meeting. The motion was carried 6-0, with one (1) Board Member absent.
D.) Grant permission to adjust the May 2014 meetings due to the Memorial Day Holiday. The dates are: May 19, 2014-Committee Meeting; May 22, 2014-Regular Board Meeting. All meetings will convene at 5:30PM, in the School Board Office Media Center, located at 1705 Sullivan Drive, Bogalusa, LA.
It was motioned by Mrs. Duke, seconded by Mr. Creel, to grant permission. The motion was carried 6-0, with one (1) Board Member absent.
E.) Adoption of Resolution of Bogalusa City School Board, a member of The Louisiana High School Athletic Association, Inc., (LHSAA) regarding Senate Bill 633 and House Bill 1174.
It was motioned by Rev. Mims, seconded by Mr. Hymel, to grant permission. The motion was not carried 6-0, with one (1) Board Member absent, at this point.
Statement from Attorney Brad Lewis-“Mr. Kemp I’m here if you all have any questions.”
Question from Mr. Kates-“I still want to know if you’ve contacted anybody in Baton Rouge about this issue? I’d hate to be the first person that addresses this, when this problem is in Baton Rouge.”
Response from Attorney Brad Lewis- “I’ve contacted people all over the state. I’ve contacted the LHSAA, and they suggested that we send a certain Resolution to the representative from the School Boards Association, and a representative from the Superintendent’s Association.” “You haven’t gotten any information back,” asked Mr. Kates?” “No, not yet. It’s alright. That’s what the Legislative asked. And, it’s something I thought that I would bring to the Board’s attention,” replied Attorney Lewis. “I’m not worried about the Covington and Bogalusa Football game loss. That’s in the past. What you’re talking about now is something that doesn’t affect us, in Bogalusa. I don’t want to be voting on something that’s happening in Baton Rouge right now. It wasn’t brought to us back then when that happened. If you were the representative for the LHSAA, you didn’t come and support Bogalusa at that time when that was happening, so why should I support that now,” asked Mr. Kates? “Well, I think I did, I think I did,” said Attorney Lewis.
The conversation continued, with President Kemp stating, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but usually when there is a Resolution, we generally get that from our School Board Attorney, Bob Hammonds and Company. They usually send it through them.” Mr. Hymel stated, “We are a member of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association. This is in the paper today, what he’s talking about. The trouble is, you’ve got to follow rules, and that’s part of our problem here, we don’t follow rules.”
The in-depth conversation continued, regarding the Resolution at hand. At the end of the discussion Attorney Lewis asked that the resolution be passed so this won’t occur again. Different concerns were voiced to include one of Principal Lesley McKinley, of Bogalusa High School. “The bottom line with the LHSAA right now, is everybody is trying to stack the deck to win championship. It’s not about academics. It’s got Charter verses Public Schools. It’s got Select verses Non-Select. You know, you can talk about ineligible players; we can talk about the local championship around here a few years ago. Nobody said a word about all of those players outside of the district; across to the west over there. Nobody is really about education. Everybody; just as the Charter Schools plays to a different set of rules, as do the public schools. That’s where you’re going with these championships in sports. It’s not about education. Regardless to what you guys do, the powerful will prevail in this thing. We vote on the rules; and that’s the big fight right now, is recruitment. Unfortunately those private schools; those with the boosters with the money, regardless of what we vote on in Baton Rouge; again it’s not about education. It’s about the trophy cases in your schools. Now, the test of the coach is not the number of trophy cases at the schools; but it’s where your athletes are ten (10) or fifteen (15) years down the line. That’s what you’re dealing with. When we go to LHSAA, it’s not about education. We want to talk about sportsmanship. We want to talk about playing by the rules. Ain’t nobody playing by the rules; nobody. When it comes to; like I said, it’s the same thing with the Charter Schools; Charter Schools have students that get MFP, but we’ve got to produce the certified teachers; we have to produce the highly qualified; but poor Bogalusa, we can’t go recruit Franklinton, Covington, or wherever; and Poplarville, but everybody else gets to do that. And, it is unfair. This travel thing we had to go to the other side of Lake Charles, and about thirty miles north of Lake Charles to a game; that’s out of our hands. But the bottom line is, regardless to what you guys do, it’s already been done. It’s not about education, and that’s the problem. The problem ain’t Bogalusa High School; the problem ain’t Bogalusa Middle School. The problem is we disguise rules, and you only want certain people to abide by them. Now if we are for the children, then we sit down at the table, we don’t put us on blast in the public; we sit down at the table, and we discuss these things. At LHSAA, there are class leaders; A, 1A, 2A, 3A, all the way up to 5A; and then there is Select verses Non-Select leaders, whereas that’s the problem, these small public schools are tired of being beat up by these John Curtis’s and all of these folks, you know, who get to recruit around the nation; and, that’s your problem there. I just feel strongly that regardless of what you guys do, that’s a LHSAA problem that we will have to deal with when we get back over there in January ,” said Mr. McKinley. “I’m trying to make sure they follow the rules. That’s why I want you to pass this Resolution,” said Attorney Lewis.
At this point President Kemp asked for comments from the Board. There were no further comments, and President Kemp called for a Roll Call Vote as follow:
YEAS: Mr. Hymel, Rev. Mims, Vice President Creel and President Kemp
NAYS: Mrs. Duke and Mr. Kates
ABSENT: Dr. Williams
There were additional comments regarding this issue of how this was going to help us; when this is happening in another parish and another city, and we’re the first ones that are going to do it. Mr. McKinley asked if he could say one more thing that the Board could be aware of. President Kemp granted him the opportunity. Mr. McKinley stated, “There’s also a rule out thee that’s opening up where eighth (8th) graders will have School Choice when it comes to athletics. They will have School Choice, so therefore we don’t need to support everything that LHSAA is doing, because then, we will be fighting even more. These guys are going to have excuses now, to go play somewhere else, because that’s also out there; and that’s going to prove that if you’re an eighth (8th) grader, you can enroll and be eligible. Used to, if you went out of district, you were ineligible that first year, but now you are eligible for your ninth (9th) grade year,” says Mr. McKinley.
The motion to adopt the Resolution was carried 4-2, with 1 absent.
10.) Personnel-Karla McGehee
Mrs. McGehee came forward stating, “I didn’t add anything since Monday night. I just uh; I don’t really know how I’m supposed to do this. This is my first time. I just want you to vote on the Job Description of the Title I Highly Qualified Coordinator.
It was motioned by Mrs. Duke. After President Kemp asked for a second, there was none.
Statement from Mr. Kates-“Well, I know what you’re trying to do Mrs. McGehee; but it probably should have been on the agenda; because I thought the Superintendent had the power to do this. If you wanted to change the Job Description, it should have been posted as an item. That’s the way I feel.” Mrs. McGehee stated, “Well, I introduced it to you Monday night. Mr. Kates continued, “See, I know that, but it’s not, but it’s not present on here, it just have what you want to do.” Mrs. Walker stated, “It’s in the Monday night’s folder.” “I know it’s on the Monday night. I saw that. I’m just saying it should have been item F, F,” repeated Mr. Kates. “It’s in the folder from Monday night; the Job Description,” said Mrs. Walker. “I know the Job Description is in there, but the Job Description is not on the agenda,” said Mr. Kates. Mrs. Walker and Ms. Adams stated, “It’s part of Personnel.” “I know Personnel, but we don’t act on Personnel, the Superintendent acts on Personnel” continued Mr. Kates. “Not to approve Job Descriptions,” says Mrs. McGehee. “We have to approve Job Descriptions that has change,” added President Kemp. “I don’t see a Job Description on here. It’s not item F. If you want my vote, you’ve got to add it to the agenda,” says Mr. Kates.
At this point President Kemp asked, “So, we need to amend the agenda to include personnel Job Description for … (Pausing and not completing this statement). “Correct,” says Mr. Kates.
Alright, I have a motion to amend the agenda to include Line item F under Personnel to include the new Job Description for the Title I and Highly Qualified Coordinator position.
It was motioned by Mr. Kates, seconded by Mr. Creel to amend the agenda to list as Line item F.) Approval of Title I and Highly Qualified Coordinator Job Description. The motion was not carried at this point, and resulted in a Roll Call Vote as follow:
YEAS: Mrs. Duke, Mr. Kates, Rev. Mims, Vice President Creel and President Kemp
NAYS: Mr. Hymel
ABSENT: Dr. Williams
The motion was carried 5-1, with 1 absent, to amend the agenda to add Line item F.
Statement from President Kemp-“So, the agenda has been amended to include Line item F, which would be the approval of the Title I and Highly Qualified Coordinator position. That information was given to us on Monday night. It’s a position that was already in existence. The person in that position has retired; but the Job Description is what we have to approve. It’s not about appointment to that position, that done by the Superintendent. We’re strictly approving the Job Description because of the retirement,” “Has somebody been appointed to that position,” asked Mr. Hymel? “Not at this time. Well, I’m speaking out of turn”, replied President Kemp. “Yes sir. Yes,” said Mrs. McGehee. “There has been someone, okay,” said President Kemp.
F.) Approval of Title I and Highly Qualified Coordinator Job Description
It was motioned by Mr. Creel, seconded by Mrs. Duke to approve the line item. The motion was not carried 6-0, at this point with 1 absent.
When returning to the Board for discussion, President Kemp stated, “The Superintendent would like to make a statement.”
Statement from Superintendent Breaux-“I don’t know, but I just want it understood that this is the same title, and it has some of the same duties, but there has been some additional duties added to this same title, that we already had in the school district. Well, it’s just some added duties. Thank you,” said Superintendent Breaux.
The motion was carried at this point 6-0, with 1 Board Member absent.
Statement from President Kemp-“I would like to state, we will have to approve new Job Descriptions. The Personnel Committee; Rev. Mims, Mrs. Duke, and I will get together between now and the next Board Meeting to set a date to meet with Mrs. McGehee, and the supervisors of their department in which they govern over those Job Descriptions. We’ll have a roundtable discussion, so we can look at the old; and compare to the new, and Mrs. McGehee will present that to the Board for approval at the next meeting.
ADDITIONAL RETIREMENT-2014-2015 SCHOOL YEAR
1) Mary Frances Jenkins-Central Office Accounts Payable Clerk-Effective, June 30, 2014
Approval of Job Description:
1) Approval of Title I and Highly Qualified Coordinator (Job Description was in the Board Members folder)
NOTE: This line item is listed, per the request of Mr. Kates, as Line item F, as indicated above after the in-depth discussion.
11.) Superintendent Comments-(Mrs.) Willie “Toni” Breaux
Superintendent Breaux stated that she no comments at this time.
12.) Board Members Comments
Mr. Calvin Hymel-“I’d like to know how much it cost us to have this Job Description, and this person appointed there because they left this other job. How much did this cost us,” asked Mr. Hymel? “Isn’t that’s a question to the Superintendent to get your information,” replied President Kemp?
President Adam Kemp-“I’d just like to thank the young people again. That’s what we’re here for. Sometimes it gets tense. Sometimes we have difference of opinions. It’s our jobs as well as everybody sitting out there; it’s all of our jobs here in Bogalusa, and we have to take responsibility for our children’s education. And, those who are in the classrooms, who are working hard to better our students, I commend them. As a teacher, it’s not easy teaching. Those teachers face a lot of problems. Students come with a lot of problems, but every child can learn. I do appreciate your help.”
At this point, President Kemp asked if there were any more comments. There were none, and he adjourned.
13.) Adjourn
There being no further comments or business to address, President Kemp adjourned at 7:05PM.
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(Mrs.) Willie “Toni” Breaux
Secretary
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Adam B. Kemp
Board President