JULY 23, 2013

                                                                                                DRAFT

 

THE VERNON PARISH SCHOOL BOARD CONVENED IN A SPECIAL CALLED SESSION AT 5:00 P.M., 201 BELVIEW ROAD, LEESVILLE, LOUISIANA.  PRESIDENT GLEASON CALLED THE MEETING TO ORDER AND ON ROLL CALL THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS WERE PRESENT:

 

RANDI GLEASON, PRESIDENT

VERNON L. TRAVIS JR.

MEL HARRIS

DOUG BRANDON

JERRY L. JEANE

RANDY MARTIN

STEVE WOODS

MICHAEL PERKINS

GERALD COOLEY

 

ABSENT:              COL ROGER SHUCK, JOHN BLANKENBAKER,

                RICHARD SCHWARTZ, ROBERT PYNES

 

There was also present Mr. Jackie D. Self, Secretary of the Board.

 

The meeting was opened in prayer by Steve Woods.

 

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Steve Woods.

 

On motion of Jerry Jeane, seconded by Mel Harris, the Board voted to open discussion of revising the Discipline Policy.  Superintendent Self explained the revisions recommended by principals and Mr. Neubert.  Vernon Travis stated that this was back to what the Board voted against last week and that the point of the whole thing was to reduce down the number of days of suspension and to remove subjectivity.  Randi Gleason asked why a principal would use 7 days for a first offense and Superintendent Self stated that was a severity issue and not all fights are the same.  Dr. Brandon stated that he felt the principals should have discretion in determining the number of days.  Mr. Travis stated that he receives phone calls from parents because some students get a different number of days than others and parents think their children don’t have a fair shake.   Mr. Travis stated that the window should be narrowed down and that the real issue is the different number of days. Superintendent Self stated that most of the time, students get the same number of days and that phone calls would persist.

 

Mr. Travis inquired as to why another offense was only 2 days and yet 7 days for fighting and that he understood it would be the same number of days for each offense.  Superintendent Self disagreed but stated that a decision should be made tonight due to the time frame before school started.  Mr. Woods asked about the different days between the 1st and 3rd offense and Mr. Self stated there was no right answer and that every situation was different.  Mr. Travis asked why the Board has different standards between grade levels across the Board and Superintendent Self stated that grades differ and that discipline issues in third grade are far less than in high school. 

 

President Gleason asked if there were more questions and Mr. Travis stated that they had a motion to approve something they had already voted against.  President Gleason stated that changes could be made now and Mr. Travis suggested it be done by each offense and the principal would still have discretion. Mr. Travis recommended amending the motion as follows and stated that the severity of the fight would be at the principal’s discretion:

 

                                Fighting                  1st Offense                             Up to 3 Days

                                                                2nd Offense                            3 – 5 Days

                                                                3rd Offense                            5 – 7 Days

 

On motion of Mr. Travis, seconded by Mr. Jeane, the Board approved this recommendation.  Randy Martin stated that security cameras have helped with discipline problems and Superintendent Self agreed.  On motion of Doug Brandon, seconded by Vernon Travis, the Board voted to approve the amended motion.  The vote was unanimous.

 

There being no further business, and on motion of Doug Brandon, seconded by the Board, the meeting was adjourned.

 

______________________________

RANDI GLEASON, PRESIDENT

 

ATTEST:

 

_________________________________

JACKIE D. SELF, SUPERINTENDENT