001It's okay. You want to second this? I'll second it. Second. And second by Ms. Williams. Okay. I'm sorry, Mr. Stewart. Yes, ma'am. Good evening, everybody. As of February end, we had received $74.8 million in revenues total for the general fund and had expense $44 million. District-wide, as it relates to all the funds, we have received, as of end of February, $120.4 million and expense $113 million. As for sales tax and ad valorem, last month, we received right at $3 million for each. Okay, any questions for it? Comments? Okay, we're good. All in favor? Thank you. Approved unanimously. Thank you. The second item is not an action item for discussion only, so we do not need a motion. Update in relation to progress related to audit findings according to the management's corrective action plan. Mr. Stewart?
002Yes, ma'am. We are still on pace within our reconciliations. We are reconciling timely. We are planning in relation to budget and posting of the public posting related to the budget in the Post South or whichever company wins that particular bid. And we are... We're working across departments to ensure that we have no procurement issues, and that's really it. Okay, board, any questions, comments? Okay, let's move on to item number three. Discuss and approve awarding RFP for E-rate, wide area network, and internet access to Cox Louisiana Telcom LLC. May I have a motion, please? Motion by Ms. Williams, second by Ms. George. Does anybody, Mr. Stewart, anybody? No? Dr. Farrow? Ian is up here. I don't know if he has a comment. This is the first one for the internet access. Oh, okay. Ian? Okay. The
003only proposal. The only proposal. Okay. All right. Any comments, questions? Yes. Okay. All in favor? Ms. George? All in favor? Yes. Yes. Thank you. Passes unanimously. Okay. Item number four, discuss and approve awarding RFP for E-rate Category 2 FY26 products and services to Lockstep Technology Group. May I have a motion, please? Votion by Ms. Williams, second by Ms. George. Yes, ma'am. And I'll defer to Mr. Simon again. Second RFP. Okay, so that was for network equipment. Okay. We had four proposals on that one. Okay. And this came back the cheapest when we averaged out the cost of different items that we purchased. All right. Sounds good. Any questions? Any comments? Sure, Ms. Williams. Oh, okay. Any other questions or comments? All right. All in favor? Aye. Passes unanimously. All right, let's move to item number
004five. discuss and approve awarding RFP for occupational therapy, OT, and physical therapy, PT, services to first choice therapy. May I have a motion, please? A motion. Motion by Ms. Williams. Second? Second. By Ms. George. Okay. And this is the one we put out for RFP a couple of months ago. If there's any technical questions, Ms. Moore is here. We ended up with three proposals, one of which was not responsive. The other one was. Just very inconsistent and not clear. And so we're recommending the one that was, which is also currently the vendor who provides physical and occupational therapy services for our school district. I think this was Ms. Moore's first run at an RFP. So we certainly thank her for all the work in the finance department for assisting as needed. It takes a lot
005of work to do this, so we're recommending the highest score first therapy. Great. Thank you. Any comments, questions? Amen. All in favor? Passes unanimously. Item number six, discuss and approve seeking bids for the official journal for fiscal year 2026 to 2027. May I have a motion, please? Motion by Ms. George, second by Ms. Williams. Again, this is an annual. Currently, we do have to select an official journal. We have to put it out for bid. And if there's a local presence of that journal, then you have to take them before going out somewhere else. I will tell you that I've just recently learned there is legislation in this legislative session. That may change this requirement and allow you to use your website as your official job Whether or not that actually, you know makes it
006through the legislature. I don't know But that bill is in Has been pre-fired. Well, so many small-town newspapers are no longer available Maybe that maybe that's the reason this one is in in Wisconsin So when you send in your stuff, you send it to Wisconsin. Yeah, it's not the same. Right. Certainly not the same. And it could save entities a lot of money. I will say that for ours, it's really relatively inexpensive compared to some other bigger outlets that are nearby us. But I think that our somebody, at least that pre filed this bill realizes that kind of out of touch right now, because pretty much most of these newspapers are even being read. Online, you know, and you have the ability at no cost. To post all of what you obligated to post on
007the website. So we'll track that bill and see where it lands. But for now, we've got to comply with with this for another year. Any comments, questions? Okay, may I have all in favor? Aye. Passes unanimously. Last item, number seven, discuss and approve procurement of all goods and services needed for the operations of the Child Nutrition Program for July 2026 through June 2027 school year, including but not limited to food, paper goods, chemicals, materials. supplies, equipment vehicles, services for repair and maintenance of equipment, leases, rentals, and other professional services, as well as other necessary items. Motion, please. Motion by Ms. George, second by Ms. Williams. Who would like to speak? I would. Okay. Ms. Miller. Thank you, Ms. Higdon. This is standard practice that we started a few years back when we asked the board
008to allow us to go to bed throughout the school year. And these are all the necessities that are needed for the school food service department. And so we just ask that you please grant us permission to do so. Okay. Any questions, comments? Okay. All in favor? Passes unanimously. Motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Ms. Williams and Ms. George and me, we're ready to go to the next thing. March 9, 2026. Building and Grounds Committee meeting. Mr. Abayer? Yeah. Ms. Laws? Here. Mr. Touye? Here. You have a quorum, Mr. Touye. Our committee meetings are broadcasted live. To access the live stream, there is a video icon located in the online meeting agenda, and also there is a link located on our district website, Facebook, and X, formerly Twitter. First item,
009monthly work order status report for February. Mr. Cagnoletti? All right. Good evening, everybody. One minute. All right. So work order submitted work orders. They the campuses altogether submitted about 150. We closed out 145 and outstanding of actually this morning. It was about a 31. But as a time report, it was 39. And at the bottom, I changed it up a little bit because I kind of wanted y'all to see the comparisons. of the month before, right? So now you can kind of see where our bigger issues started hitting. More electrical this month, more heating in AC this month, which is correct because January, February started heating up, started using some more powers and stuff, and things started tripping out. And then you have carpentries right there with it, but then you had your pest control.
010So as the weather gets, you know, different, it changes, spring's happening, now you got more pests coming out, you got more ants, you got more wasps. So that arose a little bit. And then we go back to the glass and windows. Well, contractors may accidentally break a window or two, you know, so we're having some issues that arose in doing so. And that's it. That's the report. And every month you'll see it, I'll have, you know, February compared to March. So you'll kind of see a comparison for a while. Evan, the broken windows, does that come from the grass crews from the contract? Yeah, majority of them. We had one of them that cracked, and we don't know how it cracked. We don't know if, because we checked the cameras, and we're kind of investigating
011it, but it's like a small crack. We don't know if it was part of that contract or was that they replaced it. They do, yep, and they have been. We send it to them. We send them a picture. They come look at it. They get our local guy. They take care of it. That's correct. Sounds good. And the issue with at Dorsetville from them cutting the cane field and the mice and stuff, that's all been taken care of? Haven't heard anything. Pest Control Company for Irrigation Pest Control came out. They did their thing, put more traps out. They cleared the students and staff, and our members cleared a bunch of clutter out. And we're going to plan on doing that campus-wide over the summertime. We're going to go through and do a good cleaning. and
012get some dumpsters and really take some of this old stuff out. We found some stuff whenever I was in school. It went back a ways. So it's time to start getting this stuff out. A lot of cardboard needs to go. This paper, that's what they use to make nests. So we're getting everything out that can be used to make nests. All right, thank you. So Mr. Touye, just to follow up, I think Mr. Cagnoletti, the maintenance crew, and the folks at Dorseyville, The biggest culprit there was the clutter with things that had been in closets for an extremely long time. So a lot of work went in between our maintenance department, the custodians, the teachers there, the other staff there. We got ABS to come do a thorough cleaning as well and also had the
013pest company come and do more things. We had a long discussion about this. We have to get this cleaned out at every school. For whatever reason, I was a teacher as well, and you never want to get rid of anything because you think you just might need it at some point in the future. They had stuff there 50 years out in some of these closets. So we've got to do a purging like that district-wide. Otherwise, this problem will happen somewhere else as well. All right. Thank you. Next item up, project planning list for March. Mr. Cagnoletti. All right. All right. So we're going to start off with East Debraville Fieldhouse. Everybody knows we're still in talks with it. The welding and pipe fitting shop, I talked to the contractor this morning, and we are going
014to start on that. He's going to start. Inside that building next week next Monday. He's coming in. He's gonna start doing his thing We will have he's trying to give me a the best case scenario for the electrical switchboard That's gonna be the longest lead item and it's a long one. They did order it today's just it's just a long lead item and he's trying to get us Narrowed down to where we can know when to expect it's gonna be a while. So I'm gonna just let y'all know It will be a while. All right. Next is the baseball softball field. I don't know if y'all have seen it in a while, but we got the turf on. They started rocking and rolling. And then just when they do it, we get six inches of
015rain, right? So we're all working on draining the field and getting all that slop cleaned up. We're going to bring in some limestone, whatever we need to do to continue. They were on site today, not so much on the field where it's muddy and stuff, but they were in the building and doing their electrical stuff. They all move them. So no matter we had some bad weather, they still finding ways to move. Yes, ma'am. Let me ask you a question. Do you think that our seniors are going to be able to have at least one game on it? Don't you mean no? Don't be shaking your head at me. Don't shake your head no. No, ma'am. I don't think so. No, ma'am. Don't make me bust that bubble. All right, all right. So we'll go
016now to Iberville, the installation of the new ball. They are going to finish up the one that they're on now, which is MSA West, which we'll talk about here in a little bit. But they're going to finish that one up before they start the Iberville Elementary one. Everything's here. We're just ready to just coordinate a good time to do it because once we do Iberville, we have to shut the water down completely, and we don't want to do that right now. So our goal is to do it during Easter when nobody's here. Hopefully we get that. We're just waiting on a couple things to be finished up at MSA West. All right, so now we can jump to MSA West, and I'll go ahead and get the boiler out of the way, which we talked
017about. It's going to be in some minutes. It's already installed. We're just waiting for some things to be finished. To finish up, we've got a new hot water heater that's coming in. They're just hooking up everything. I think we're waiting on a... It's a control panel that we're waiting on, and then everything else will be following that. All right, and the pre-K classroom area, painting was done. It looks fantastic. We are waiting on the fire marshal walk-through, which is, Dave, when is that, the fire marshal walk-through? Next Monday on the 16th. So once he gives us the go-ahead, we're rocking and rolling, okay? So it does look fantastic, by the way. If y'all haven't seen it, please go see it. North Hipperville. We got the Classroom G. We're finishing up on installation of the elevator.
018We had some hiccups there. We're working through them. That should be finished up here pretty soon. And then the locker room renovations, that should be pretty much finished as soon as possible. Two right here, we don't have the athletic flooring and the epoxy flooring at the time of report, but that is almost, it's working on now and it will be completed fairly soon. Mr. Kangley, Ms. George has a question. Where is that flooring? Is that in the old field house? So that's in the old field house. It used to be that it's the same flooring that we put down like two years ago underneath the weight equipment. It's that rubber flooring. They're going to do an extension of it into the locker rooms. All right, what about the concession stand football? Concession stand football? I
019thought they were repainting or something in there. Oh, that was done before the football season. I worked in there this past football season. It wasn't done. It was done. It was beautiful. It was bad. Yes, ma'am. We had new countertops. Everything's in there. New countertop. We had new cabinets and all of that. New cabinets, countertops. We repainted everything. We got a – yes, ma'am. It was a full – new lights. What else? New flooring. We put new flooring in everything. What about the softball baseball concession stand? Softball baseball, we – We don't think we're waiting on now is the keys but everything else is good to go. Is there gonna be any coolers or anything in there? Oh Okay Okay, they were selling out of a night shift the other day. Yes, ma'am. We were
020just waiting on the coolers to come in. All right Thank you. Yes, ma'am. All right, blackman high parking lot improvements Waiting on the fence. I just talked to the guy today everything submittals are done He should start the fence probably during the Easter holidays. They're gonna get all the material in stage it and start it It's not it's not gonna take them long once they get started Kitchen renovations, they're installing a wall signs. Everything's ordered and hopefully we are going to do that over the holiday break as well. If it comes in in time, if it gets made in time, we just finalized everything. We has a couple of changes we needed to make on it to make sure it fit right and make sure it is the. Original. Double with the with the with
021the eyes and make sure the prints all right before we just put it in there Because we wanted to look right all right and in the batting pages. That's that's gonna start Today yeah, and it starts today, so you start moving on that one We had our pre-con walk with him last week, and he's gonna start moving under today all right mouth the campus greenhouses Everything has been delivered. They have all the stuff. We're going to start with MSA West fairly soon. We're going to try to start today, but again, weather kind of got us. We don't want to cut anything up right now. So as soon as it dries out enough, we're going to start. But MSA West will be the first one we start at. The deliver and stockpile pea gravel, the pea
022gravel is used for the floor in there? Yes. Yes. We're going to look at some drainage stuff as well. MSA West we might have to do a little drainage stuff in there because it kind of kind of got like a little swell to it But it's it's very minor. Yeah, so I said, uh, I'm just happy to see it getting done. Oh, yeah And that's it Everything's going pretty well All right, is there any other questions? Dr. V? I don't have a question. I just want to make a comment to you. We did ask Evan for this month to condense this to what we have ongoing. There were a lot of things that were not happening or finished. So you see a more condensed report basically for the things that are ongoing. And as you
023approve things like the next agenda item, if you approve, then that will be added to this list. Sounds good. All right, next item up, discuss and approve granting permission to advertise for Project 2610M02, Plaquette High School Football Stadium renovations, which include the turf and track replacement, perimeter fencing, and stadium lighting budget, $2.8 million. Do I have a motion? Motion. Motion by Ms. Law, second by Ms. Deaver. Mr. Cagney-Levy? Yeah, if y'all got any questions, I can answer anything y'all need to know. Mr. Chia. Ms. Polly. I just wanted to know who is responsible for the design of the football field? The design? That would be us partnering with Fusion. Is there a problem? I mean, we're going to have a problem. Kind of got me worried here now. No, I mean the striping of the
024turf and how, you know, some fields have the striping, some fields have one solid color. Who decides that? We do as a team, as the project team. Yes, ma'am. You don't want any input? We open the input all you want. Come on with it. Okay, sounds good. And just to clarify, also, Ms. Polly, all three of our turf fields are green turf. Yeah. And then there are stripings that are white, which are standard on a football field. And then you may have some design in the end zones that are specific to the particular school. when the turf was done at Plaquemine High, which is now 2017 or so. And I do want to clarify that out for the public. I know you all know this, but that turf, you know, was like an eight-year warranty,
025kind of like turf, and we played on it for nine years for sure. And after having it inspected, you know, it's time for it to change. It's past its lifespan, and that one doesn't have the concrete subsurface like the other ones have. When the other ones were done, White Castle and East Iberville, I think it was 2022, those have the concrete base. And then the latest one was at North Iberville, which has the concrete base. And they all were put with the same green turf, the striping of the numbers and the lines and the hash marks. But then each school has a school logo that may be on. the 50R line and then their end zones. When we put out for bid the one at North, they had requested there that they have multicolor in
026between the turf. And that came back way higher, like a tremendously higher price on that project. And that's when we said, look, they're going to be the same as they are at the other schools. So the intent would be for that part to be the same, and then you have customization of your 50R line and your end zones. Standardization is the kind of thing we're going to across the board. No, I'm talking about the green turf. Okay, green, then light green, and dark green, and light green, and dark green. Yes, ma'am. That's what I'm talking about. Mm-hmm. The alternating greens. Is that like that at all the campuses? Yeah, it's the same one at all the campuses. Yeah, it wasn't like that at Plaquemine High. The old one is one color. No, ma'am. But as
027we go into the new type of turf, it's the same format, right? Yeah, it's the same format. So it's going to look just like North Hipperville, but Plaquemine High. It is alternating light, lighter green. Okay, that's what I was wondering. Yes, ma'am. How do you decide that? It's just Project Team gets together with Fusion, and they have an interior designer, not an interior designer, but a, what is that? A consultant. We use, as well with them, we use Simpson. Simpson Consulting Group, and they specialize in fields, baseball fields, softball fields, football fields. That's their specialized. But we all come together as a team with the administration and go from there with it. Good. Thank you. Thank you. And as long as it don't cost, you know, any more than $2.8 million, you can make suggestions.
028I have none. There you go. Yes, ma'am. Any other comments from the board? Comments from the audience? Dr. V? I'll just say this because you don't always also see some of that variation when you look in that turf standing on it. The area was where you really see some of that different color variation or at least from a higher elevation, but you don't always see that necessarily when you're standing on the field. Any other comments from the audience? Comments from the board? All in favor? Aye. Passes unanimously. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Motion by Mr. Abrahams. Second by Ms. Laws. We are adjourned. Thank you. Mr. Touye. Good evening. I call to order the March 9th, 2026 Gibbleville Parish regular school board meeting. Our meetings are broadcasting live. To access the stream, there's
029a video icon located in the online meeting agenda, and the link is located on our district website, Facebook, and X. Also, the meeting can be viewed on Cox Channel 21 every Saturday at 7 p.m. following the scheduled school board meeting. The school board agenda can be found on our district website every Wednesday afternoon. prior to the monthly board meeting. The public participation policy is posted on our district website and at the front entrance next to the elevator. Thank you for following our policy. Roll call please, Ms. Suraj. Ms. George. Here. Mr. Hebert. Here. Ms. Higdon. Here. Ms. Holmes. Here. Ms. Laws? Here. Mr. McGlashaw? Here. Ms. Roy? Here. Mr. Thuye? Here. Ms. Williams? Here. You have a quorum, Mr. McGlashaw. Thank you. We will have a reflection by Mrs. Pam George following a moment of
030silence. Please stand and remain standing until after the pledge. Heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us together today. Grant us wisdom, patience, and understanding as we seek to serve our students and community. Guide our decisions with your light and love, and may all of our actions reflect grace. Amen. Amen. Tonight's Pledge of Allegiance presented by North Ibleville Elementary students. From the third grade, Carrie Vosberg. From fourth grade, Bryson Ross. Fifth grade, Hunter Wessinger. Fifth grade, Germany Northern. Sixth grade, Chloe Banks. And also sixth grade, Jamiah Turner. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Mrs. George, and thank you to our very own North Iberville Elementary students. And now,
031the Iberville Parish School Board Vision Statement by Mrs. Yolanda Laws. Thank you. With our families as partners, the Iberville Parish School System will provide an equitable... will provide equitable opportunities, academic excellence, and positive school environments so that every student strives in the path that they choose. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Laws. Okay, next up we will have recognitions, presentations, and reports. First up is recognition of Iberville Parish School Board's March Senior Spotlight, Christopher Armster. a student at North Iberville High School. Mr. Robert Promise, please. Good evening. It's my honor to introduce this month's senior spotlight, Mr. Christopher Armster. Christopher Armster is a proud senior at North Iberville High School who has demonstrated excellence both academically and in his community. Christopher currently has a 4.1 GPA and has earned a 20 on the ACT. a goal
032level on the WorkKeys assessment, reflecting his strong academic ability and career readiness. Christopher is actively involved in several extracurricular activities at school. He's a member of the baseball and football teams, participates in the event prep club, and plays the flute, demonstrating his commitment to both athletics and the arts. Outside of school, Christopher works at a Garden of Angels Learning Center where he assists younger students with homework, reads to toddlers, monitors children on the playground and in the classroom, and also helps maintain the play yard and equipment. His work reflects his patience, his responsibility, and dedication to helping others. Christopher is also deeply involved in serving his community. He is an altar server at Immaculate Heart of Mary, participate in his town's annual cleanup day, assist elderly neighbors by pulling their trash cans each week, and
033helps remove debris from yards after storms. Christopher is the son of LaCheryl Anderson and the late Christopher Armster. He is the grandson of Stanley and Xavier Anderson and Donna Armster and the brother of Chaz and Chance Armster. In his free time, Christopher enjoys traveling and trying new foods, always looking for new experiences and opportunities to learn about the world around here. Christopher represents the spirit of North Dipperville High School through his hard work, leadership, and commitment to serving others. The future is bright for this outstanding bear, our March Senior Spotlight student from North Dipperville, Mr. Christopher Armster. It is truly an honor to be here today as the Senior Spotlight. Mr. Superintendent and members of the school board, thank you. To my administration and my family, thank you for running alongside me and supporting me
034every step of the way. Ms. Dyson, thank you for instilling in me, not only in me, but my classmates too, the mindset of don't settle and to own every outcome. Making our choices count. We are grateful. The race doesn't end in May. It's only the beginning. And because of all of you, I am ready for the road ahead. Thank you all. Congratulations, Christopher. Okay, next up is a performance of the Little Mermaid Junior by MSA West students. Good evening. My name is Serenity Molden. I am a junior and the assistant stage manager of the production. On behalf of the Emberville Parish K-12 Talented Theater Program, thank you for inviting us tonight. This performance represents months of work by the students. Designing sets, working lights and sound, managing costumes, and leading crews. Everything you'll see today
035was created by the students. Your support shows us that the arts matter in our community and that our hard work is valued. Thank you for believing in us and for supporting the arts in Emberville Parish. looking for The lilies on the street just shout like an alphabet. If you sing a start and a start, they know where it's at. And all that fluff is flow. In the past I've been a nasty. They weren't kidding when they called me buff and posh. But you'll find that nowadays I've mended all my ways. Repentance ain't a lie, you made a switch. True? Yes. And I fortunately know a little magic. It's a talent that I always have possessed. In here lately, please don't laugh I use it on behalf of the miserable, lonely, and depressed pathetic poor I'm
036playing so And do I help? Yes indeed Those poor I'm flocking to my cauldron Christ I do Now it's happened once or twice Someone couldn't pay the price And afraid I had to rake across the co- You've got to get to your place here to get to your- If you do, then you'll stay a human for- And if I don't? You will turn back into a mermaid and your soul will be mine forever! Life's full of tough choices, isn't it? Of course there's- My feet. But I- I'm not asking for much. Only your voice. But I can't play my voice. How can I ever? You have your voice. Your pretty face! And don't underestimate- A butt! Come on, you poor- Your voice! I'm a very busy woman and I haven't got all day. It won't
037cost much. Just your voice. You part time. If you want to cross the bridge, my sweet, you've got to pay the toll. Take a boat and take a breath and go ahead. Achieve your goal. Cloth some jets and now I got a voice. The bus is on the road. You part time. Wonderful thing. He's so bad. Look at this. Isn't it neat? Why don't you think my collection's complete? What did you think? I'm a girl, girl who has. I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty. You want thing on the bobs? I've got twin. But who cares? I'm dancing, walking around. Call me afternoon. introduce myself I am Maya Canes I am the student acting representative for our beautiful class I just wanted to take a moment to dedicate this to you guys and just give you
038a moment of thanks for all of the effort in your support that you've given us this is a poster for our program that's signed by all of our cast members and I just wanted to give this to you guys as a token of our appreciation I did want to put one little caveat. If you took any videos or photos today, please don't post them. It's against the Disney regulations. People will hopefully forget to mention that. You can post photos, just not videos. And tag us. We're taking a group photo over there. Mason, you're part of the group. Thank you guys. Thank you again to our MSA West students. That was great. Great performance. Next up is the consent agenda, which will be enacted with one motion. Discuss and approve the February 9th, 2026 regular school
039board meeting minutes. Discuss and approve the February 27th, 2026 board retreat minutes. and discuss and approve the March 9th, 2026 consent agenda as presented. Do I have a motion? Motion by Ms. George, second by Ms. Roy. Any comments from the audience? Any comments from the board? Ms. Soraj, machine, please. Voting is now open. Ms. Williams just stated on the record, you vote, please. Thank you. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Next up is the superintendent's report. Dr. Yes. Good evening. It's hard to believe we're already in March. Third, nine weeks is going to end this week and then we'll be moving into that fourth quarter for yet another school year. Bailey, if you move to the next slide. Our enrollment is pretty steady since December. We saw a little bit of increase in our adjusted count with
040some of the ins and outs. We've got students that drop an ad every day, and I can tell you, we pulled this in time for March 2nd. Today, on March 9th, these numbers are different. But just to give you that month by month snapshot, we are really about where we were when we started the school year off in September. Next slide. As you know, we had our academy and early childhood registration period that took place February 23rd, I think, to the beginning of March. And these are the numbers we had. For this particular school year a total of 128 applications For next school year, which is less than last year more than the year before last year was kind of a really big jump a little bit out of the ordinary we will have to
041do a lottery for sure at MSA West in kindergarten and in ninth grade and at MSA East pre-k 3 and pre-k 4 so We are still, of course, accepting applications even after that period to try to get kids into other grade levels that may not need a lottery. If you go to the next slide, those give you the current early childhood numbers. They're at about 64% right now. This is not uncommon after the first round of registration. There will be continuing rounds of registration that will take place. And, of course, Our hope is to fill all of these seats for next year. We don't quite fill them all every year, but our goal is to always get as close to 100% as possible. But these numbers are going to continue to grow. On the next
042slide, I spoke to you all about this in our retreat a couple of weeks ago, as well as through some email correspondences that I've sent you. But I want our public to know that we continue to seek opportunities. And then there's some folks with opportunities that seek us. And this is a good case of a mutual. seeking of each other to try to offer better opportunities and outcomes for our students. I think all of you know that there is a major industrial, I don't want to use the word revolution, but industrial growth that's going to be happening in this area. We're already industry heavy. And with recent announcements that have taken place, it's going to be even more and there's an even greater demand for skilled labor in our local communities. So we are in
043that exploratory stage and continuing with some pretty intense conversations and meetings around kind of transforming the ORPCC campus here in Plaquemine to an early college option. We're looking to hopefully get a soft launch started this fall for students that are moving from their sophomore to junior years. They have to have certain coursework and already even be eligible for something like this. But the first couple of cohorts would be a focus on process technology and instrumentation. with the goal to expand it to electrical in the following fall. This would be a partnership whereby RPCC would provide instructors for certain courses, in particular the trade courses, and then we would provide instructors and coursework for the core instructional classrooms. In this scenario, our students would be on campus that participate in this all day long. That's where
044they would be attending school. So it would be like an academy option for them that's focused on these career study programs. When a student finishes, the goal is for them to graduate not only with their high school diploma, but also with a certificate of technical studies. And if they get that, they are immediately employable once they leave that program. ultimate goal is to be able to offer the associate's degree as well in one of these areas whereby they could graduate with a high school diploma and an associate's degree. And again, that first cohort would be for this upcoming fall. I mentioned this in the retreat to let you know that if we are able to move forward, I may need some resources when it comes to positions that I'll need to come back to the
045board at a later date to ask because we kind of would be partnering to take over operations on that campus with the daytime operations being pretty much our students there. Dr. Skidmore and the instructional team with Ms. Johnson went over to RPCC last week to look at the spacing and look at more programming. And I had a conversation as recently as Friday afternoon with the chancellor of RPCC. And, you know, it's looking good. So there will be some outreach going out to try to recruit kids and some parent education. Some presentations being made, you know, to really be clear on this. And I think overall growth in this would be really good, you know. So I want to make sure we put that out in the public as we continue to try to expand in
046all areas, whether students want to be college ready or career ready when they leave us. You move to the next slide. Some important dates coming up today, the legislature. open session. So keep an eye on that. As I put in some emails, LSBA typically sends you all updates. There are some bills affecting education that have been pre-filed and we'll see where some of those go. And ACT testing is this week. That's the district level administration. Our students also have national test dates that they can do throughout the year, but this is the one that we give at school. STEM challenge days are coming up this week. We've got an extended day on Monday, which is also a professional development day with LEAP activities planned for parents in the evening. And then we've got just a
047whole bunch more that you see going on here. And if you go to the next slide, you see even more dates as this school year is quickly progressing. I do want to make one final statement that's not in these slides. I don't know sometimes how the room and mail gets started, but I'm one of the types that likes to be very clear, very transparent. I have been asked multiple times as to if I was retiring this coming summer. My contract runs through December of 2027, not 26. But I do want to let you know that after much thought, much reflection, much consideration, I do plan on coming back for one more school year. But I do intend after 32 and a half years at that point to retire in July of 2027. There's not a
048meeting that I go to that I don't get asked that question. And these are meetings not just within the school system, but without. And then recently when I've had a couple of our administrators and employees ask again, I'm like, let me just make this clear because, you know, I don't need the misinformation floating out there. And also let you know, as the board, you know, what my intentions are. So I do plan on coming back next school year. I do not plan on going to the end of that contract. I do plan on retiring early July of 2027. And that concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Varo. And listen, thank you. Thank you for sharing that information. You know, as a board member, I've been fielding the same type of questions. So I appreciate the,
049I appreciate you sharing that with our board. I've always appreciated the way you communicated with our board. And clearly this isn't goodbye. But, you know, I do appreciate your service in our school district, your leadership. And this is no time to rest. You're not retired yet. So the goals remain the same. We continue to. lead this district, and thank you again for sharing that information. Mr. Abar? I just wanted to thank you also. I know you're not leaving yet, but it's been a pleasure serving as a board member, but you're the leader. And I tell everybody that this is the most cohesive board, not talking about the past boards, but we work together, agreeing to disagree in a professional manner, and a lot of that is attributed to you as our leader. Thank you so
050much. Dr. V, we don't want to make this like you're leaving now, but we do appreciate your leadership, man. You just have set a foundation for us to build on. So we just appreciate, you know, your leadership and your transparency with the board as well as the public. So thank you. And look, I'll say this. One more thing. You know, with the information being shared from Dr. Vuoro, our board understands that we have a duty. and a responsibility to assess this information and come up with a transition that is in the best interest of our school district, and that includes everyone, students, teachers, parents, all employees. And we have work to do, and we will come up with a plan, and we will communicate that along the way. Thank you. Okay, next up is governance
051business. First up, discuss and improve the March 9th, 2026 Finance Committee Meeting Recommendations. There were seven items on the agenda. Six were action items and all six passed. Do I have a motion? Motion by Ms. Williams. Second by Ms. George. Any comments from the audience? Any comments from the board? So Raj machine, please. Online burn is now open. Online burn is now closed. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Next up, discuss and approve the March 9th, 2026 Building and Grounds Committee meeting recommendations. There were three items on the agenda. One was an action item, and that item passed. We'll have a motion. Motion by Mr. Touye, second by Ms. Roy. Any comments from the audience? Any comments from the board? Ms. Solrach, please. Online burn is now open. Online burn is now closed. Passes unanimously. Thank you.
052Next up is curriculum and instruction campus operations. Discuss and approve Head Start policy, council agendas, minutes, reports, and handouts. Mrs. Higdon? Do we have a motion? No. Excuse me. Can I get a motion? Yolanda Laws. Motion by Ms. Laws. Second by Ms. George. Thank you, Mr. McLaughlin. Thank you. Our meeting was held February 20th. And as always, we have our safety monitoring report, which is a month behind for January 2026. Several concerns are at Iberville Elementary, but there are going to be follow-ups. There are no concerns for the other school sites. We had one critical incident. A child was left in the classroom alone, but thankfully and fortunately, no harm done to the child. Everything was fine. course as always we've got little minor incidents we're talking babies here so we've got some bumps and
053we've got scratches and we've got some biting but thankfully nothing serious our attendance report 99% attendance we met our attendance for the month 90% enrollment and 450 of 501 students registration, the amazing art show parent participation chart. The ice cream excursion, parent participation chart, what's happening in family services, lots is happening in family services. We have Mommy Monday. We have March Dadness. And so every child, our teachers and administrators are so compassionate. They make certain that every child has someone there participating with them. Round one ends March 2nd, ended March 2nd. Round two of coordinated enrollment begins at the end of the month, March 30th. She's showing pictures now of some of our youngest learners for mommy. What is it? I forgot what I said. Oh, Mommy Monday. Okay, gotcha. At present, we have nine
054teachers and 13 students being seen by our mental health specialists. Our fiscal report, as always, is attached. And under new business... We have the parent survey, ages and stages, questionnaire, comparison of the fall to winter results. The staff meets with the parents, 439 students. We have early intervention. Developmental delays were assessed. And 15% of our students were identified in August of 2025 as at risk. So we're tracking in progress, the tracking is in progress for SPED, speech, SAT, making certain that no child will be left behind. Our early childhood calendar for 20, 26, 27, it mostly follows our school year calendar, but there are some differences. There's some staggered entrances, only 159 instructional days for early childhood. The home visits that we've done for many, many years is now being re-evaluated due to some safety
055issues, and I think you can understand that. So some of these visits may be... may have to be done at school. And then, of course, there are some of our children with our ice cream excursion. Our next meeting is Thursday, March 26th. Thank you, Mrs. Higdon. You're welcome. Are there any comments from the audience? Comments from the board? Ms. Suraj, please. Online voting is now open. Ms. Holmes. Online burn is now closed. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Okay, next up under new business. Discuss and approve revisions to the job descriptions of supervisor of accountability and assessment, supervisor of child welfare and attendance, supervisor of early childhood, supervisor of elementary education. Supervisor of federal grants, excuse me, federal programs and designated grants. Supervisor of human resources, supervisor of instructional technology and career technical education, supervisor of secondary
056education and Academy programs. And supervisor of special education as recommended. I'd like to make a substitute motion for this item. Okay, Ms. Joy. So I'd like to accept the changes to supervisor of special ed job description and to table all remaining job descriptions until a later date. I second. So Ms. Solerage, there's a substitute motion and a second. And do you need a... You're going to table everything except supervisor of special education. That's correct. Okay, are there any comments from the audience? Any comments from the board? Dr. Walron? Yes, I do want to explain everything to the board and to the people sitting in the audience around these. As I have consistently done with every position that comes vacant in our school system, we do a thorough evaluation of multiple things. One of them is
057to determine, do we need the position or not? If so, then we start looking at the job description to see if any things need to be revised in there. If not, then we won't fill the position. Or it may be a repurposing of a position, which we've done a few times before. So supervisor of special education, we absolutely have to have. So we began the process of reviewing that job description. Bailey, if you can kind of put that job description up. One of the very first things that we took a look at was... Starting to clarify, because you all know this, but I don't know that the general public does. Ms. Pam Moore has indicated that she is retiring this upcoming July. So that's what triggered this review to start off with. So we're not
058going to tell you goodbye yet tonight either, because you still got some work to do, too. We started with that job description, and one of the very first things that we take a look at is qualifications. And we reviewed Bulletin 746, which is the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Certification Bulletin for all positions that certification applies to, and found that our current job description was missing some things. So what you see in blue is what we did not have in our job description qualifications. And anything you see in red up there was something that was beyond what the bulletin called for or may have called for at one time but no longer does. We also looked at the... second or last line under qualifications and acts to add and or providing special education services.
059There are plenty positions in a special education and pupil appraisal department that may not be a teaching certificate position, but they provide related services as required by the student's IEP, such as speech therapy. social worker, school psychologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist. There's lots of SPED services that get provided to students. And then the rest of this is really more cleaning up under the supervisor section. There were individuals that the supervisor of special education evaluates and those needed to be added in. We remodified the job goal. and made that a little clearer. And then if you scroll down to the next page, this was cosmetic. CAO was now called executive director of academics. And this part about overseeing special education student discipline after the school principal has exhausted efforts, that I don't think is even legal.
060I don't know why that was even in there. The principal of the school is ultimately responsible for discipline of all students. on their campus and a supervisory level person, whether it's special ed or any other supervisor, that is not one of their responsibilities. So that's the special ed part. At that time, I decided and asked Ms. LeBeau, then go look at all these supervisor ones, because if we're going to address this level, then let's go in and deal with them all and address them all in a line. And very much like the supervisor of special education, which there are separate kinds of equivalent certifications, they have similar requirements or certification levels for child welfare and attendance. So that one reflects that as well. What you see in really all of these is the combination of
061what the certification structure for administrative positions used to look like versus what the new system is. But, you know, people like me and anybody with 20, probably 22 to 25 years of service, they have certifications that reflect the old certification system. When you look at my certificate, you're going to see all the old stuff. Ms. Polly, too. But it's also going to say type A lifetime. You don't see that in certificates anymore because there's no such thing in the newer system. Furthermore, when I got certified to be an administrative leader, it was called. school principal certification or school provisional certification, and you get that while you're still sitting in a classroom. Doesn't work like that anymore. Now for educational leader certification, the State Department tells the person you are eligible for a position, but you
062can't get the certificate until you get the position and the school system applies for the certificate on your behalf. So when you see words like eligibility, that's what that means. You have a bunch of classroom teachers that has their Leader 1 certification eligibility, but they can't get the certificate until they obtain a position that requires that. Some of those positions could be coordinators. Some of those positions could be school-level administrators and so forth. I'm comfortable if, as I did receive some feedback from a few board members around just some questions with some different things with different job descriptions. I'm completely comfortable with the substitute motion. The one that is of most urgent pressing as far as time right now is the job that we're going to have to advertise for fairly soon. I am fine
063with tabling the others if that is desire of the full board and revisiting those and getting additional feedback from you all on things that you may or may not want to see. I will tell you I am comfortable with what we have and what we've recommended. But as always, I'm open to any additional suggestions that you all may have. Mr. McLaughlin. Ms. Higdon. Ms. George, I like your amended or substitute motion. I had spoken to Dr. Varon prior to the meeting. I have a lot of concerns. Well, I have a few concerns, I should say, with some of the... And some of the qualifications and it's to my ignorance. Okay. It's to my ignorance. Okay. So I need a little more time. I'm a slow learner and I need a little more time to digest
064some of this. I do have, I do have some, some questions. I'm not sure if they're. I think you will. I think you addressed some of them, but I still have questions. But I do think we need to table this, and we're not in any hurry. And no supervisor should feel threatened by this. Please don't feel threatened. It's just, like I said, it's my ignorance of some of the wording. Let's just say that. Any comments from the audience? Any more comments from the board? Ms. Suraj, can you put the substitute motion up? So, okay, the substitute motion states approve revisions to the job descriptions for supervisor of special education as recommended and table the job descriptions for supervisor of accountability and assessment, supervisor of chair welfare and attendance. supervisor of early childhood, supervisor of elementary
065education, supervisor of federal programs and designated grants, supervisor of human resources, supervisor of instructional technology, career technical education, and supervisor of secondary education and academy programs. We had a motion and a substitute motion and a second, and that is what we're voting on. Machine, please, Ms. Sorai. Online voting is now open. Online voting is now closed. Passed unanimously. Just one point of clarification where I've got the attorneys in the room. Do they need to do two votes or just one since it was put in as a substitute motion and not an amendment? That's what I thought. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Motion by Ms. Roy, second by Ms. Higdon. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.