PROCEEDINGS OF THE SCHOOL BOARD OF THE PARISH OF CONCORDIA, STATE OF LOUISIANA, TAKEN AT A REGULAR MEETING HELD ON THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2024

The School Board of the Parish of Concordia, State of Louisiana, met in Regular Session at the Vidalia City Hall meeting room in Vidalia, Louisiana, on Thursday, March 14, 2024, at 6:00 p.m.  The meeting was called to order by Mrs. Lisette Forman.  After prayer and the Pledge, Mrs. Forman declared that the Board was ready for the transaction of business.

Board members present were Mr. Wayne Wilson, Mrs. Dorothy Parker, Mr. Fred Marsalis, Sr., Mr. Derrick Carson, Mrs. Lisette Forman, Mr. Matt Taunton, Mrs. Angela Hayes, and Mr. Fred Butcher.  Mrs. Vanessa Houck arrived at 6:35 PM.

Superintendent Toyua Bachus recognized board member Dorothy Parker and presented her with a certificate from LSBA naming Mrs. Parker as a certified board member.  Mrs. Parker was not acknowledged last month with the other certified board members because of an error in the recording of her hours at LSBA.

Superintendent Bachus then recognized Madison Jackson, a student at CPA, for placing 2^nd at the Louisiana State Track Meet in Baton Rouge recently.

Superintendent Bachus along with assistance from LSU AgCenter Assistant Extension Agent, 4-H, Paige Pirkey recognized recent 4-H Livestock Show winners.

Northeast District Livestock Show Delhi, La. (2024)

LSU State 4-H Livestock Show, Baton Rouge

Superintendent Bachus and Mrs. Hayes recognized the recipients of the Sidney A. Murray, Jr., Citizenship Awards in Grades Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1^st, and 2^nd and gave each student a gift bag:

Anthony Morace, who requested to be added to the agenda, was not present.

Keith Bridgham with Volkert, Inc., gave an update on the ESSER projects, windows and HVAC systems being replaced in Ferriday, Monterey and Vidalia. 

·         In the Vidalia schools, Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Junior High, the HVAC units replacements are substantially complete, or swapped out. 

·         At the Vidalia High School, they’ve got all the units swapped out that they had on hand. There are five furnaces that they are still waiting to be delivered.  They were expecting them this week, but they haven’t shown up yet.  They expect to have all the HVACs at the high school swapped out by the end of this month. 

·         We met with the principal at Monterey High School last week, and they should start on the 25^th of this month.  By the time school is back from spring break, the first two buildings should be swapped out, and they’ll continue with the rest of the buildings. 

·         They should be finished with Monterey and Vidalia swapping out those units by the end of April well before the ESSER deadline. 

·         The Ferriday HVAC units – the plan is to start those as soon as the Vidalia equipment is finished.  The heat pumps for Ferriday are in stock.  The furnaces have got to be ordered.  They are not looking for any issues in Ferriday.  The HVAC units should be swapped out by the end of August.  The windows in Ferriday should be delivered by mid-July, and giving them 2 ½ months to swap them out, and they should be finished before the deadline.

·         The windows for the Vidalia High School project are expected in by the end of May, and they should be able to swap them out in a couple of months, by August. 

The committee reports were presented. 

It was moved by Mr. Butcher, seconded by Mrs. Parker, and unanimously carried to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting held on February 8, 2024

Mr. Fred Marsalis, Jr., presented the financial report.  It was moved by Mrs. Parker, seconded by Mrs. Hayes and unanimously carried to approve invoices in the amount of $4,379,435 for the month of February 2024.

The personnel report was available in the board members’ binders.  Mrs. Rhonda Moore presented the report noting that nothing had changed since the committee meeting last Friday.

Concordia Parish School Board

Personnel Announcements

Regular Board Meeting

March 8, 2024

Leaves:

Audrey Davis, Teacher, Ferriday High School, return from FMLA / extended medical leave, effective March 4, 2024.

Doris Malone, Teacher, Ferriday Junior High School, FMLA/extended medical leave, effective February 7, 2024 through March 12, 2024.

Appointments:

Reagan Fraze, Theatre Teacher, Ferriday High School and Vidalia High School, effective February 19, 2024.

Resignations:

Ponchella Lee, Paraprofessional, Ferriday Lower Elementary School, effective February 22, 2024.

Gerri Lipsey, Speech Pathologist, Special Populations, effective March 15, 2024.

Marcisha Johnson, Teacher, Vidalia Lower Elementary School, effective February 29, 2024.

Correction:

Shirley Perkins, 10 Month Janitor, Vidalia Junior High School, to 10 Month Janitor, Ferriday High School, effective December 4, 2023.

Paula Fuqua, testing coordinator, presented an update on the 4-day work week the board has been considering.  Based on the responses, Calendar A, a 4-day week, is the favorite option at 53.5% of the votes.  Superintendent Bachus stated that three town hall meetings had been held to discuss and answer any questions from the public. She said that she was able to clear up some of the misconceptions that people had regarding the 4-day week.  It was moved by Mr. Carson, seconded by Mrs. Parker, and carried by a vote of 8-1, to accept Calendar A with a 4-day week, with Mr. Butcher voting nay because of two things:  (1) we need to look at the possibility of working something out with our contract drivers, and (2)  the superintendent alluded to the fact that the teachers will be coming back on the second Mondays – will they be compensated for that time?  Superintendent Bachus stated that those Mondays were some of their contracted days.

Superintendent Bachus presented and read a “Resolution of Concordia Parish School Board Regarding Continued Employment of Counsel,” said counsel being the law firm of Hammond, Sills, Adkins, Guice, Noah & Perkins, LLP.  Section II addresses payment to counsel and reads:

Said law firm shall be paid for their services at hourly rates published by the Attorney General of the State of Louisiana for special counsel in effect at the time of the services except that the paralegal rate shall be $75.00 per hour and the rate for law clerk shall be $45.00 per hour.  In addition, the firm shall be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses such as long-distance telephone calls, document duplication, expert witness fees, court reporter fees, printing costs, automobile travel, and other expenses as a result of the legal services to and for the Concordia Parish School Board.

It was moved by Mr. Carson and seconded by Mr. Marsalis, Sr., to approve the resolution of Concordia Parish School Board Regarding Continued Employment of Counsel. A roll call vote was requested by Mrs. Forman.  The vote was as follows:

            Mr. Wilson – Yea

            Mrs. Parker – Yea

            Mr. Marsalis, Sr. – Yea

            Mr. Carson – Yea

            Mr. Taunton – Yea

            Mrs. Hayes – Yea

            Mrs. Forman -- Yea

            Mrs. Houck – Yea

            Mr. Butcher – Yea

The vote count was 9 yeas, 0 nays, and 0 absent.

Rhonda Moore, Human Resources Director, and Darla Johnston, Teacher Incentive Fund Director presented a Differentiated Compensation Plan.  This was as application sent to us by the State, and the State told us how we could spend the money.  What the State requires is that you approve the plan and include it as an amendment to our 23-24 salary schedule. It only affects the 23-24 salary schedule.  This is only for teachers who meet the criteria set forth by the State.  Fred Marsalis, Jr., noted that the plan is stipend-based and criteria-based and does not adjust any base salaries.  Mrs. Moore agreed, explaining that it was a stipend-based plan just like we paid the $2,000 we got from the State earlier this year.  Mrs. Houck asked if the criteria was set by the State, and Mrs. Moore confirmed that it was set by the State, not the District.  It was moved by Mrs. Parker and seconded by Mr. Butcher to approve the stipend-based Differentiated Compensation Plan and include it as an amendment to our 23-24 salary schedule.  Mrs. Forman requested a roll call vote.  The vote was as follows:

            Mr. Wilson – Yea

            Mrs. Parker – Yea

            Mr. Marsalis, Sr. – Yea

            Mr. Carson – Yea

            Mr. Taunton – Yea

            Mrs. Hayes – Yea

            Mrs. Forman -- Yea

            Mrs. Houck – Yea

            Mr. Butcher – Yea

The vote count was 9 yeas, 0 nays, and 0 absent.

Superintendent Bachus presented the next item, Supporting Visas for International Teachers.  She explained that this is something the board has done in the past, and that the school district is very fortunate to have international teachers.  We have two international teachers who are nearing the end of the program who have expressed their interest to continue working in our district after the program ends.  Both teachers have numerous certifications. One of them has seven certifications and was our Middle School Teacher of the Year, and the other has four certifications.  The cost of retaining these teachers is $5,460 each.  This process takes 4-5 years as you saw in the information from our attorney.  This is really a small investment to assure we will have these teachers for 4-5 years.  We already do tuition reimbursement, and we don’t get to keep those teachers longer than when they graduate and get another job.  Whereas, in this case, we are guaranteed to keep two super stars in our district for a minimum of five years.  It was moved by Mr. Butcher, seconded by Mrs. Parker, and unanimously carried to approve the cost of extending the visas of two of our international teachers.

It was moved by Mr. Carson, seconded by Ms. Parker and unanimously carried to give Superintendent Bachus the authority to seek out a grant writing and management company for a contract not to exceed $40,000 in a year.

Superintendent Bachus suggested the following dates for budget meetings for the 24-25 school year as well as the drafted capital outlay plan:  April 4, April 18, and April 25 at 6:00 PM.  All board members agreed tentatively until some have checked their calendars.  They will let Superintendent Bachus know the following week.

Superintendent Bachus gave an update on the Southern Designs building.  She asked Mr. Tance Hughes to put some things in writing because everything has been verbal conversation up to now, and he met with his attorney and had a draft drawn up.  Superintendent Bachus has sent his draft to our attorneys and is waiting to hear back from them.

It was moved by Mr. Marsalis, seconded by Mrs. Hayes and unanimously carried to enter into executive session for a strategy session and/or action, as necessary, regarding litigation entitled Smith, et. al.  v. Concordia Parish School Board, et. al., Civil Action No. 65-11577 on the docket of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.  The time was 7:07 PM.

It was moved by Mr. Butcher, seconded by Mr. Marsalis, Sr., and unanimously carried to return to regular session.  The time was 8:01 PM.

Superintendent Bachus announced that the school district is holding a job fair on April 24 at the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center from 8:30 AM to 12:00 noon.

There being no further business, it was moved by Mrs. Houck, seconded by Mrs. Hayes and unanimously carried to adjourn at 8:02 PM.