AUGUST 5, 2010
DRAFT
THE VERNON PARISH SCHOOL BOARD CONVENED IN REGULAR SESSION AT 10:00 A.M., 201 BELVIEW ROAD, LEESVILLE, LOUISIANA. PRESIDENT PERKINS CALLED THE MEETING TO ORDER AND ON ROLL CALL THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS WERE PRESENT:
MICHAEL PERKINS, PRESIDENT
VERNON TRAVIS, VICE-PRESIDENT
RANDI GLEASON
MEL HARRIS
ROBERT PYNES JR.
MARK SMITH
RICKY REESE
BERYL FORD
RANDY MARTIN
STEVE WOODS
GAYE MCKEE
KAY WILBANKS
COL. FRANCIS B. BURNS
ABSENT: NONE
There was also present Mr. Jackie D. Self, Secretary of the Board.
The meeting was opened in prayer by Reverend Craig Forque.
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mel Harris.
On motion of Mel Harris, seconded by Beryl Ford, the Board voted to approve the minutes of the July 6, 2010 regular meeting and dispense with the reading of the minutes.
Tom Neubert recognized doctors and staff of Byrd Hospital and thanked them for their support. Mr. Neubert presented plaques to Mr. Roger LeDoux and Mr. Sam Fulton for all the doctors that participated in the athletic physicals. These physicals were all provided at no cost to the parents or to the Board.
On motion of Beryl Ford, seconded by Mel Harris, the Board voted to adopt the following policy: JBH
ATTENDANCE REPORTS FOR STUDENT DRIVERS
In accordance with state law, students are obligated to attend school regularly, and be in attendance a minimum number of days during the school year. In order for a minor to obtain or renew a driver’s license or learner’s permit for the operation of a motor vehicle, the minor shall present evidence to the Office of Motor Vehicles that the minor is enrolled and is attending school or a recognized program or has completed the required minimum units of credit for graduation. Such documentation shall be verified by the principal on forms provided by the Louisiana Department of Education.
A student who does not meet the required minimum school attendance provisions may be subject to denial or suspension of his/her driver’s license or learner’s permit. It is the policy of the Vernon Parish School Board to provide written notification of a minor student who has been determined by the principal to be a dropout or habitually absent or tardy to the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles for denial or suspension of driving privileges.
In addition, a minor student’s driver’s license or permit may also be suspended when written notification is received by the Office of Motor Vehicles from the principal that the minor student has been expelled or suspended from school or assigned to an alternative educational setting for ten (10) or more consecutive school days. Such disciplinary action shall be limited to expulsions, suspensions, or alternative educational assignments for infractions involving the sale or possession of drugs, alcohol, or any other illegal substance, the possession of a firearm, or an infraction involving assault or battery of a member of the school faculty or staff.
The School Board, through the principal, shall provide written notification to any minor whom the principal has determined to be a dropout or habitually absent or tardy and his/her parent or guardian that the principal intends to subject the minor to driver’s license denial or suspension. The written notification shall advise the minor of his/her right to seek a hearing of the School Board of such determination or to make a request of the School Board to obtain a hardship waiver within fifteen (15) days of the mailing of the notification. The principal shall send a copy of the notification to the School Board.
If the School Board is notified of a request for a hearing or a request for a hardship license within fifteen (15) days after the date of mailing the written notification, the Board shall hold a hearing to make a determination upon such request. If no such request is received by the Board, or if the Board determines after a hearing that such student is a dropout or is habitually absent or tardy and is not entitled to a hardship waiver, then the School Board shall provide written notification to the Office of Motor Vehicles that the minor’s license should be suspended or denied.
HARDSHIP WAIVER
The School Board may waive the attendance requirements for any minor for whom a personal, family, or economic hardship requires the minor to have a driver’s license for his/her own, or his/her family’s employment or medical care as provided in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:226. The minor or his/her parent or legal guardian may present other evidence that indicates compliance with attendance requirements outlined in state law at the waiver hearing.
The School Board shall notify the Office of Motor Vehicles of the outcome of the minor’s hardship waiver hearing within twenty-four (24) hours after conducting the hearing.
DEFINITIONS
Dropout means a person fifteen (15) years of age or older but less than eighteen (18) years old, who was enrolled in a school and withdrew or who was enrolled at the end of the previous school year and is not enrolled on October first of the following school year or who has more than ten (10) consecutive days of unexcused absences from school or fifteen (15) days total unexcused absences during a single semester.
Dropout does not mean a person who:
a. is temporarily absent due to illness, suspension, or expulsion;
b. is attending or has graduated or completed another educational program approved by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education;
c. transferred to a nonpublic school, a correctional institution, or an approved home school program or moved out of state.
Habitually absent or tardy is when either condition continues to exist after all reasonable efforts by a principal or other appropriate authority have failed to correct the condition after the fifth (5th) unexcused absence or fifth (5th) unexcused occurrence of being tardy within any month or if a pattern of five (5) absences a month is established or as otherwise provided in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:233.
Minor means an unemancipated child who is at least fifteen (15) years of age but less than eighteen (18) years of age.
New policy: June, 2010
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81, 17:221, 17:226, 17:233, 17:416, 32:414, 32:431, 32:431.1.
On motion of Mel Harris, seconded by Gaye McKee, the Board voted to adopt the following policy: JGB
SCHOOL WELLNESS
The Vernon Parish School Board recognizes that schools should play a vital role in promoting student health, preventing childhood obesity, and combating problems associated with poor nutrition and physical inactivity. The School Board shall promote a healthy school environment by supporting and emphasizing student wellness, good nutrition, and regular physical activity and making these an integral part of the total learning environment.
Schools have a responsibility to help students learn, establish, and maintain patterns of nutrition and physical activity that facilitate a healthy environment. Well-planned and effectively implemented school nutrition and fitness programs serve to enhance a student’s overall health, as well as their behavior and academic achievement. The School Board shall require that all foods made available on school campuses should offer children nutritious choices, and physical activity should be incorporated into the school day as often as possible.
The Vernon Parish School Board shall develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive plan to encourage healthy eating and physical activity in all public schools of Vernon Parish. The plan shall make effective use of school and community resources and equitably serve the needs and interests of all schools and staff.
SPECIFIC WELLNESS GOALS
Nutrition Education
The school district will:
1. Promote and implement nutrition education that promotes lifelong healthful eating practices.
2. Use lessons that are age-appropriate, with behaviorally focused content that is developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant.
3. Use lessons that are sequential and are correlated with standards, benchmarks, and grade level expectations.
4. Provide hands-on activities that are fun.
5. Provide repeated opportunities for students to taste foods that are low in fat, sodium and added sugars and high in vitamins, minerals and fiber.
6. Focus on positive aspects of healthful eating behaviors.
7. Promote social learning techniques such as role modeling, providing incentives, developing social resistance skills, overcoming barriers to behavioral changes and goal setting.
Physical Activity
The school district will:
1. Promote and implement quality physical education programs that emphasize and promote participation in lifelong physical activities and reaching a health enhancing level of physical fitness among all students.
2. Provide students in grades K-8 with a minimum of 150 minutes per week of health and physical education.
3. Ensure that students in grades K-8 participate in planned, organized, moderate to vigorous physical activity for a minimum of 30 minutes each school day.
4. Strive toward having qualified, certified physical education teachers guide physical activity instruction in all elementary grades as well as in middle and high school physical education classes.
5. Provide staff development on standards implementation for physical education instructors.
Other School-Based Activities
The school district will:
1. Offer classroom health education that complements physical education by reinforcing the knowledge and self-management skills needed to maintain a physically active lifestyle and to reduce time spent on sedentary activities;
2. Recognize that daily physical activity is essential to student welfare and academic performance.
3. Encourage physical activity during recess for elementary students, intramural programs, integration in the academic curriculum, and clubs, as well as in physical education programs.
4. Encourage parents and guardians to support students’ participation in physical activities, to be physically active role-models, and to include physical activities in family plans.
5. Provide parents a list of foods that meet the Board’s snack standards and ideas for health celebrations/parties, rewards and fundraising activities.
6. Encourage school staff to participate in physical activities to serve as role models.
7. Support community-based physical activity programs.
Nutrition Guidelines
Student’s lifelong eating habits are greatly influenced by the types of foods and beverages available in their daily environment. In addition to ensuring that reimbursable school meals meet all requirements of the Nutritional School Lunch Program outlined in federal and state regulations, the School Board shall develop and maintain specific nutritional guidelines to address all food and beverages sold or served to students, including those items made available to students outside of the school meal programs.
MONITORING AND POLICY REVIEW
Monitoring
The Superintendent or his/her designee shall be responsible for assuring compliance with established district-wide nutrition and physical activity wellness policies. In each school, the principal or designee will ensure compliance with those policies in his/her school and will shall report on the school’s compliance to the Superintendent or his/her designee.
School food service staff, at the school or district level, shall assess compliance with nutrition policies within school food service areas and report on this matter to the Superintendent (or if done at the school level, to the school principal).
The Superintendent or his/her designee shall develop a summary report at least annually on compliance with the district’s established nutrition and physical activity wellness policies, based on input from schools within the district. The report will shall be provided to the School Board, the district’s School Health Advisory Council (SHAC), and also distributed to the schools, parent/teacher organizations, school principals, and school health services personnel throughout the parish.
Policy Review
To help with the initial development of the district’s wellness policies, each public school in Vernon Parish shall conduct a baseline assessment of the school’s existing nutrition and physical activity environments and policies. The results of these school-by-school assessments shall be compiled at the district level to identify and prioritize needs.
Assessments will shall be repeated every three (3) years taken annually to help review policy compliance, assess progress, and determine areas in need of improvement. As part of that review, the School Board and staff shall review all nutrition and physical activity policies; provision of an environment that supports healthy eating and physical activity; and nutrition and physical education policies and program elements using the Louisiana Department of Education Wellness Policy Evaluation tool and share these results with the School Health Advisory Council (SHAC). The School Board and individual schools within the district will shall, as necessary, revise the wellness policies and develop work plans to facilitate their implementation.
New Policy: April, 2006
Revised: December, 2009
Revised: June, 2010
Ref: PL 108-265 (Section 204, Child Nutrition and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Reauthorization Act of 2004); 42 USC 1751 et seq. (Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act); 42 USC 1771 et seq. (Child Nutrition Act of 1966); 7 CFR 210 (National School Lunch Program); 7 CFR 220 (School Breakfast Program); La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:17.1; Board minutes, 6-1-06, 1-12-10.
On motion of Ricky Reese, seconded by Gaye McKee, the Board approved the following resolution for the adoption of the Louisiana Compliance Questionnaire for the Vernon Parish School Board and the Vernon Parish School Board Sales Tax Agency:
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, the Vernon Parish School Board has yearly audits to assess our systems internal control and to review our compliance with applicable laws and regulations; and
WHEREAS, to the best of our knowledge and beliefs, we are in compliance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America; and
THEREFORE, the Vernon Parish School Board adopts the Louisiana Compliance Questionnaire for the 2010-2011 school year.
On motion of Vernon Travis, seconded by Randi Gleason, the Board voted to adopt a resolution providing for the tabulation of the bids received for the purchase of Twenty-One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($21,500,000) of General Obligation School Bonds, Series, 2010, of Leesville School District No. 16 of Vernon Parish, Louisiana, approving the Official Notice of Bond Sale and the Official Statement in connection therewith, and authorizing the President and/or Secretary of the Vernon Parish School Board to sign copies thereof as evidence of the approval thereof. Mr. Steve Woods and Mrs. Kay Wilbanks abstained from voting and discussion on this matter.
Bidder Name TIC
Morgan Keegan & Co 3.590205
Duncan-Williams, Inc. 3.608358
First Southwest 3.686262
Crews & Associates, Inc. 3.688494
Robert W. Baird & Co, Inc. 3.746823
Morgan Stanley & Co, Inc. 3.829723
J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. 3.865285
On motion of Vernon Travis, seconded by Mel Harris, the Board voted to adopt a resolution accepting the best bid from Morgan Keegan & Company (3.590205) for the purchase of Twenty One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($21,500,000) of General Obligation School Bonds, Series 2010, of Leesville School District No. 16 of Vernon Parish, Louisiana. Mr. Steve Woods and Mrs. Kay Wilbanks abstained from voting and discussion on this matter.
On motion of Mark Smith, seconded by Vernon Travis, the Board voted to adopt a resolution authorizing the incurring debt and issuance of Twenty One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($21,500,000) of General Obligation School Bonds, Series 2010, of Leesville School District No. 16 of Vernon Parish, Louisiana, prescribing the form, terms and conditions of said Bonds; designating the date, denomination and place of payment of said Bonds; providing for the payment thereof in principal and interest; and providing for other matters in connection therewith. Mr. Steve Woods and Mrs. Kay Wilbanks abstained from voting and discussion on this matter.
On motion of Kay Wilbanks, seconded by Gaye McKee, the Board voted to advertise for five hundred (500) used Dell Optiplex 745 desktop computers.
On motion of Randy Martin, seconded by Ricky Reese, the Board voted to adopt a resolution to accept the offer of twelve hundred dollars for the sale of land parcel 8409180000 located in Ward 4.
On recommendation of Superintendent Self and on motion of Ricky Reese, seconded by Robert Pynes, the Board voted to name Cecil Richmond as principal at Hornbeck High School replacing Joey Whiddon.
Mark Smith reported that the Salary/Personnel Committee had met and reviewed the personnel changes for August and would make its recommendation to the Board on Tuesday, August 10, 2010. Mr. Smith reported that on recommendation of Superintendent Self that the transfer of Cindy Teasley be voted on today and on motion of Randy Martin, seconded by Randi Gleason, the Board voted to transfer Mrs. Teasley to Pickering Elementary School as assistant principal.
Superintendent Self called a special Board meeting for August 17, 2010 at 5:00PM to name assistant principals at East Leesville and Hornbeck High. Applications for these positions will be available this afternoon and are due back on August 13th by noon.
Superintendent Self also recommended two new positions due to increased workload: computer technician and maintenance (carpenter). On motion of Mark Smith, seconded by Randy Martin, the Board voted to advertise for these positions.
In other business, Superintendent Self stated that the Louisiana Legislature recently passed legislation making the sale or possession of “spice” illegal. This was discussed at the Principal’s meeting. Superintendent Self also stated that the Military Family Life Consultants assignments have been made and that the principals are aware of this.
Mrs. Beryl Ford called a Curriculum Committee meeting for Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 9:15AM. Colonel Burns reported on the deploying and returning troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
On motion of Mark Smith, seconded by the Board, the Board adopted the following memorial resolution:
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, the members of the Vernon Parish School Board take this means to express their sympathy to the family of Kathy McClellan who recently passed away; and
WHEREAS, Ms. McClellan was a former employee of the Vernon Parish School System; and
WHEREAS, Ms. McClellan was a lifelong resident of Vernon Parish, a graduate of Leesville High School and she will be greatly missed by her family and friends; now
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Vernon Parish School Board requests a copy of this memorial resolution be sent to her family at this time of sadness.
On motion of Steve Woods, seconded by the Board, the Board adopted the following memorial resolution:
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, the members of the Vernon Parish School Board records with grief and sadness the recent death of Wanda Hoffpauir; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Hoffpauir was the librarian at East Leesville Elementary School for twenty five years; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Hoffpauir was the mother-in-law of Donna Hoffpauir, secretary at East Leesville Elementary School; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Hoffpauir was a longtime resident of Leesville and she will be greatly missed by her family and friends; now
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Vernon Parish School Board requests a copy of this memorial resolution be sent to her family at this time of sadness.
On motion of Randy Martin, seconded by the Board, the Board adopted the following memorial resolution:
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, the members of the Vernon Parish School Board take this means to express their sympathy to the family of James McManus who recently passed away; and
WHEREAS, Mr. McManus was the father of Carmen Holder and Sandra Davis, and the grandfather of Shonda Berzins, Ernesto Montiel, and Gregory Olson; and
WHEREAS, Mr. McManus was a resident of Leesville and he will be greatly missed by his family and friends; now
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Vernon Parish School Board requests a copy of this memorial resolution be sent to his family at this time of sadness.
On motion of Vernon Travis, seconded by the Board, the Board adopted the following memorial resolution:
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, the members of the Vernon Parish School Board wish to express their condolences to the family of Reverend E. B. Clay who recently passed away; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Clay was the uncle of Curtis and Elsie Clay; and
WHEREAS, Reverend Clay was a resident of Dallas, Texas and he will be greatly missed by his family and friends; now
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Vernon Parish School Board requests a copy of this memorial resolution be sent to his family at this time of sadness.
On motion of Vernon Travis, seconded by the Board, the Board adopted the following memorial resolution:
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, the members of the Vernon Parish School Board take this means to express their sympathy to the family of Mr. Elmo Elliott who recently passed away; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Elliott was the grandfather of Amber Shade, custodian at North Polk Elementary; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Elliott will be greatly missed by his family and friends; now
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Vernon Parish School Board requests a copy of this memorial resolution be sent to his family at this time of sadness.
There being no further business, and on motion of Gaye McKee, seconded by the Board, the meeting was adjourned.
______________________________
MICHAEL PERKINS, PRESIDENT
ATTEST:
_____________________________________
JACKIE D. SELF, SUPERINTENDENT