001Good evening and welcome to tonight's Thursday, December 9th, 2021 meeting of the St. Tammany Parish School Board. Ms. Coakley, will you please call the roll? Mr. Harrell. Mr. Green. Mrs. Hines. Mr. Derman. Mr. Loop. Mr. Nation. Mrs. Richardson. Mr. Winkler. Mrs. Baker. Mr. Bentoncourt. Mrs. Lamey. Mr. Hersey. Mr. Breaux, Mr. Kuzan, Mrs. Page. Thank you very much, Ms. Coakley. Tonight's invocation and Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Skylar Douglas and Brady Miller. Skylar? Father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather this day. May everything we do begin with your inspiration and continue with your help. We ask for your guidance throughout this meeting that all of our thoughts and actions will reflect your holy will and that you would grant us the grace to love you and our neighbors more perfectly. We pray
002in Jesus' name. Amen. 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 so much, Skyler and Brady. Board members, do we have anybody they'd like to recognize tonight? Mr. Burrell? Yes, I would like to recognize Robin Mullet, past president of school board and... Past representative of District 13. Mr. Derman? Well, I would recognize Craig Foles, but we're going to recognize him in a little while. So I don't want him getting too big-headed before we get to it. But I do want to introduce Mr. Jeff Shane. He's the son of one of our former superintendents as well. So, Jeff, thank you for being here tonight. Seeing nobody else, we can go ahead
003and move on with the special recognition. Superintendent Javier. Hey, good evening, President Harrell, school board members. Tonight we begin by honoring our former superintendent, Mr. Trey Foltz. Unfortunately, Mr. Foltz left us to become assistant superintendent for the state of Louisiana in the middle of a pandemic and a spot where we couldn't have gatherings. But fortunately, yeah, fortunately, and yeah, I would say some other things, but I'll reserve those for the time. Just joking. But fortunately, we are able to do that tonight. So I am here honored to be able to recognize Mr. Trey Foltz and his family at a presentation for his service award and unveiling of his portrait. Trey Foltz is a proud graduate of St. Tammany Parish Public Schools. He's been a teacher and has held many administrative positions. But in May of
0042010, he was named superintendent of St. Tammany. During his 10 years as superintendent, Trey was involved with the community, with his regional partnership with North Shore Regional, with Children's Museum, and also with many boards with the Chamber of Commerce. He was also active in the academic community as he was president of the Federation of Urban and Suburban Schools, and he was also Region 2 chairman for our LACE Superintendent's Advisory Committee. He also, in 2017, was named Superintendent of the Year for the entire state of Louisiana. All these things are very important, but the most important thing is the love Trey had for the students of St. Tammany Parish. He created and embraced our motto, Every Child, Every Day for a Successful Future. As you can see on the wall of our portraits of our former
005superintendents, we're here to honor and I am privileged to recognize Mr. Trey Fulce. It is my honor to thank him for his service and dedication to the students and teachers and employees of St. Tammany Parish. I also want to give a big thank you to Ms. Patty Foles and the family for making this all possible. I'd also like to thank Mr. Ryan Perea, who is one of our St. Tammany Parish talented art teachers, and he was able to help us with the commission of this portrait. So I appreciate you, Ryan, working with the family to get that done. Trey, if you'd please come up. We'd like to thank you and reward you for all you've done for the citizens and the parents and the students of St. Taney Parish. So if you'll join me, we'll
006unveil the portrait that Ryan did for us. And then, again, Trey, I can't thank you enough for what you've done for all of us here at St. Taney Parish, for your commitment and service to us. We really appreciate it. Mr. Harrell. Board members and Superintendent Javier, thank you so very much. 18 months ago, and it certainly does seem like a longer time than that, 18 months ago, I shared with everyone how special this school system is to me. The 35 years I spent in this system with the last tenant superintendent will always hold a special place in my heart. Tonight's recognition and honor is sincerely appreciated and valued by me and my family. I know my mom and my dad, along with my grandparents, would be so very proud. I have with me here tonight
007my amazing and super supportive wife, Patty, my son, Will, who's on his way, my daughter, Abby, and my bonus son, David. My other bonus son, Jack, was not able to make it tonight. Will's wife, Rachel, and Abby's husband, Jake, are at home with the three most amazing grandchildren in the entire world. Jacob, Sophie, and Davis. Without all of them and their many sacrifices for me, none of this would be possible. I love them and I thank them. A special thank you to the board members, Superintendent Javier and his administration for making tonight happen. I also want to say what a great job Mandeville High's choir did with the Christmas program. It was awesome. To be included with others' picture on this wall is unbelievably special to me. Mr. Sip Shane. who was a superintendent when
008I first started working in the school system as a teacher and coach at Salomon High School, which led me to my first administration position as assistant principal at my alma mater, Slaughter High. Mr. Lenny Montleon, who gave me my first opportunity to work in the central office, and he assigned me to human resources. And my first central office boss just happened to be Mr. Pete Javier. And I get to say it just one more time that he was also my junior high math teacher. So this is my last opportunity to say that one more time. And then also Mrs. Gail Sloan, whose leadership provided me the opportunities and experiences to serve as a deputy superintendent in that position for eight years. Three special leaders, and I'm certainly proud to be there with them. There are
009so many colleagues, whether it be school board members, superintendents, assistant superintendents, supervisors, central office staff members, school-based administrators, teachers and support staff. All of those people have supported me throughout my career, modeling for me and others teamwork and the importance of everyone working together. Many still work in this system. While many others have retired and unfortunately some have passed away, a special thank you to all of them. Others that played a vital role in the school system's success are our parents and our guardians, our PTAs, our booster clubs, our elected officials, as well as community and business leaders throughout the parish. It was a total, and it still is now, a total team effort. And I say the best thank you for last to the educators here in St. Townie Parish, led by Superintendent Javier
010and his amazing team right here. Thank you for what you do for every child every day. I could not be more proud of my time here and our accomplishments as a team. I thank everyone who believed in me. I thank everyone who supported me. I thank everyone who prayed for me along the way. It will never, ever be forgotten. Thank you and God bless. Thank you, board members. We appreciate it. One second, Superintendent Jaffe. I think we may have a couple of board members that would like to say something. Ms. Hines, would you like to start us off? Thank you, Ms. Cheryl. I appreciate that. You know, I missed the last meeting before Trey retired, so I didn't get an opportunity to say anything that night. So I've kind of been waiting for 18 months
011to be able to say something. You know, I heard that there were tears that night from some people. And I thought about teasing them about that. But then I thought about it. You know, we've gone through a lot together as board members and staff. And, you know, there have been a lot of changes in the school system. There's been a lot of safety issues, those expulsion hearings sometimes. Those are nights when it brings tears to your eyes. And, you know, we've even gone through deaths of school board members. We've gone through deaths of staff, teachers, even some students. And those things are hard to take. But Mr. Foles was there for all of us. And he has, you know, just listing a few things. I mean, he was a true leader. It takes courage to
012be the superintendent. It takes kindness. He's a good listener, a strong communicator. He has a lot of empathy. You know, he works to find the balance. And we've pulled some all-nighters up here as school board members. You know, so we've laughed together, and we had a lot of... fun times, but we've had a lot of serious times. And I just want to say that through it all, Trey really did embrace our students. Mr. Jabbia was right when he said that tonight. And he also embraced their families and our educators for sure. And I want to thank you for that, Trey. I'm not sure why you just didn't retire, why you wanted to take it on this new position. It's been a real blessing, I think, for the state school system to have you. I've heard
013really good things from superintendents and others. So thank you for that. And thank you all for letting me have just a minute to say thank you. Mr. Derman, you need a tissue? I'm trying not to cry tonight. I mean, I've taken 18 months to try to get over him leaving, you know, but it's all good. You know. Our loss is the state scheme with Trey moving from our district to the state position. And I just didn't think he was going to screw everything up so bad, getting in tornadoes, hurricanes, pandemics. I mean, Trey, can't you just coast a little bit? You got to make all of this chaos. You just love it. No, I'm teasing. But Trey's mannerisms and his character go, Well beyond incredible because of what he does in a way he talks
014with people, interacts with the community, interacts with everyone on the same level. And I think that's, I used to joke with him. I said, you know, you need a t-shirt, man. I said, back when I coached baseball, I had this t-shirt that said, don't mistake kindness for weakness. And I really believe that's his motto. God bless you, brother. Mr. Bettencourt. Thank you, Mr. Howard. That's a wonderful portrait. But if you go back to when we elected Trey that night, I think the background should have been like a nice tomato garden. It would have been a little bit more appropriate. But it's a wonderful picture. We still miss you. You did a great job. Thank you. Mr. Kuzan. Thank you, Mr. President. I guess I probably have known him longer than anybody else in here. And
015I followed his career from when he was fifth, sixth grade until now. One of the most impressive things to me one night, as I was refereeing college basketball, I happened to referee a game. a few games that Trey played in as a collegiate star. I wanted him, you know, I wanted to say so much to him while he was going up and down the floor. And I think I mentioned something at one time. The other ref told me, hey, you can't do that. So I'm just real proud of him, and he's done wonderful things with his life. And I just want to say God bless you and your family, Trey. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Guzan. Thank you so much, Mr. Foltz. I appreciate it. So congratulations. We'll now take a short break. Board members,
016President Harrell, first thing I'd like to do is wish Ms. Beth Hines a happy birthday. I didn't want to steal Mr. Foltz's thunder, so I'll have to wait a few minutes. But happy birthday, Ms. Beth. Thank you for all you do for us. Thank you so much. Just some quick COVID update numbers for the whole parish of St. Tammany. It's at 4% right now. It's been teetering, like I said. It's about what it was. That's basically for Thanksgiving holidays. So that's about basically where we've been. We're still averaging about 20 positives a day, like I said, for the entire parish of St. Tammany. This past week, we had 34 positive students. we had four positive employees. So the numbers continue to stay down, which is tremendous for us and everyone. We had two nice events
017this week. First one was our principals meeting on Tuesday at Treen. We had all 55 principals in. We had some great discussions about our campuses and things that we can do to work with the community, work with our employees. I appreciate all of everyone that provided all the professional development and everything that we provided, the support we provided to them. So thank you very much. And the second thing was today we held our superintendent advisory committee. It's just amazing to meet with those students. They represent all four grade levels at all eight of our high schools. So it's just great to see them. They just inspire me to do everything that we do and give me such great feedback. of our schools so it was a pleasure to have them As we celebrated Christmas holidays
018and we celebrate the upcoming Christmas holidays, it was great to have Mandeville High School's choir here tonight. They did a tremendous job. It's the first bit of entertainment we've had in about 21 months. So it was great to have them here. Just such a positive energy. And speaking of Christmas, we had Lyon Elementary students come over and share with us. They decorated some ornaments. and sang for us here at Central Office. So we want to share that video with you now. I want to thank Ms. Rebecca Burkett, principal at Lyon, and all the faculty and the students. It was just so great to have them here, and I appreciate them working with us. Also, Ms. Gardner and I had a chance to go by Abney Early today and be two guest judges for their hallway
019decorating contest that the student and the faculty did. Santa Claus was there with us. So normally I go in and I'm like, hey guys, how are y'all doing? I'm like, tell them. And Santa Claus right behind me. They just blew right by me. They didn't like, like I wasn't even there. I'm like, how y'all doing? Nothing, zero, nothing, Santa. So it was great. That was a tremendous experience today too. So it's just amazing what our, what our faculties and staff are doing to celebrate Christmas and to bring the Christmas spirit into the classroom. It's just absolutely amazing. Also, I want to thank Ms. Katie Fuller for setting up the entertainment. and making sure and taking care of that program tonight. Katie does a tremendous job for us. So thanks to them. And I just want
020to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very happy holiday. And thank you for all that you do for this community, for our students, for our employees and everyone. So I want to enjoy your Christmas break. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you, Superintendent Javier. Board members, did anyone have any questions? All right, moving on. We'll go right into public comments. Up first, we have Ms. Michelle Broussette. Hi, my name is Michelle Brossette. I'm a certified pre-K special ed teacher here in St. Tammany Parish. I'm here to tell you that your pre-K teachers are the only St. Tammany Parish board employees that are denied a duty-free lunch. Despite an existing collective bargaining agreement guaranteeing a duty-free lunch for all. And I am quoting. all elementary employees within our school system. While pre-K teachers are often
021lauded and recognized by administrative leadership for our nurturing and student-centered caring attributes, it is unconscionable and unfathomable that the same administration that heaps such praise upon pre-K teachers would simultaneously deny basic duty-free lunch. I want you to compel Mr. Jabia and his leadership team to honor the collective bargaining agreement to ensure the fair and equitable treatment of all pre-k teachers by finally affording us a well-earned and long-deserved duty-free lunch. Thank you. Up next we have Miss Jennifer Kerrigan. I bet you're all wondering what I came to say tonight. It's been an interesting week. A lot of back and forth this week. A lot of requests for public information this week. A lot of real difficult questioning and digging to ask for basic information that any public citizen should have the right to ask for. And
022absolutely outrageous and ridiculous responses. I asked for the same type of information of the Louisiana Department of Education, and do you know how quickly they got that information to me? I didn't have to dig. I didn't have to beg. I didn't have to grovel. I didn't have to make phone calls. I didn't have to provide a whole bunch of extra information, answer questions, prove that it existed. They just got it for me because I'm legally entitled to it because that's how it works. That's what the law says. I just thought I'd start there. But we'll go on. So I hear a lot that CRT doesn't exist in St. Tammany Parish Public Schools. I just thought I would refresh your memories since the school board seems to need that. The DEI committee. from their notes. It's
023been meeting since the 3rd of February, since you all need to have your memory refreshed, I think. February 3rd, February 23rd, March 16th, I think May 11th, June 2nd, June 15th, August 17th, October 19th. Dr. McCurley has met with them. They've issued surveys to employees. Somebody said it was not an official committee, but they have public comment on their agenda. Sounds pretty official to me. I hope that their meeting notices have been published appropriately as the law requires because I haven't been able to find them except for two. Equitable and inclusive educational stuff. There's a whole bunch of it in SPED. So those of you that don't think CRT is in our curriculum, you need to take a hard look because it's there. Whole bunch of it in SPED. It's real easy to find. Just
024look. If I sound angry, you know why I am? It's because I had to beg for information from my elected officials this week, from my taxpayer-funded school system, for information I am entitled to receive. That is not acceptable. You know me to be a generally pleasant and courteous human being. That is not how I feel tonight. And I am very happy. To start exposing things if it continues Next we have miss Stephanie Underwood Good evening superintendent Javier administration and board members. My name is Stephanie Underwood and I'm the executive vice president of the st. Tammany Federation I've come here tonight to express a few things to you all into the public First, I want to emphasize our purpose of putting out a call to action and what it is. A call to action is a
025way for the Federation to have employees engage in a positive, peaceful effort for change. Studies prove that when employees feel like they have a voice and are more involved and informed of the workings of their job, they feel more valued and respected. Once employees feel that they are heard, respected, and valued, the work environment improves. Therefore, we want to empower our members and all employees to express concerns, give suggestions, stay informed, and ultimately get more involved. This brings me to my next point. Another way we can help improve the work environment is by taking things off of employees' plates. There are many different things administrators can do at the school level to help alleviate some of the stress on all employees. For example, in a recent meeting, Brant, Superintendent Jaby, and I found common ground
026in the idea that there is more to teaching than a detailed multi-page lesson plan that takes hours to compose. Some employees may want to do that, but it shouldn't be required. Our amazing curriculum specialists already create model lesson plans that can and should be the foundation of teachers' plans. Next, be creative with dismissal. Most schools have late dismissals due to the bus drivers having to cover multiple routes. Does every employee have to stay? Can you rotate a late duty post to help employees be able to leave on time most days? Also, allow and encourage boundaries. Employees shouldn't feel obligated to answer emails and do work until late at night. They should feel like they can put the work away and enjoy their personal life. And we should normalize these actions. Most importantly, listen to employees
027when they gather enough courage to speak up and express concerns. Being a business manager prior to teaching taught me the policy titled BLAST when handling complaints. BLAST stands for listen, apologize, solve, and thank. Putting this into action involves listening to the complaint, apologizing for the issue, working with the customer to solve the problem, and most importantly, finishing with a thank you because the customer gave you a gift. the customer allowed you to be aware of the problem and gave you a chance to improve. Even if you were getting yelled at, it was better than a customer not saying anything, resulting in you making the same mistake over and over again. Therefore, the Federation is hoping that when employees do gather the courage to speak up, we can all view this as a gift and an
028opportunity for improvement. Thank you for listening. Thank you, Ms. Underwood. Next, we have Ms. Barbara Sharp. Barbara Sharp bus driver at least that wasn't a repeat I want to repeat some of the things that have been covered lately a few examples are the repeated statements from administration and board members bus drivers are the highest paid in the state bus drivers do not work seven hours a day and they have received all their steps right over the years these bus drivers have been told repeatedly that this will be taken care of in collective bargaining. I will repeat some of the facts. Over the last 35 years, bus owner-operators have only received a total of $1,200 per year to supplement the 35-year-old minimum operations table. Board and administration were instrumental in the failure of HB 364, which
029would have been a big step in correcting this table's deficiencies. Bus owner-operators must purchase, insure, maintain, and repair their bus. Because there has only been this minute addition to bus operation, it is almost impossible to attract new drivers and maintain the existing drivers. Numerous drivers have detailed their days and the time involved from start to finish, and again, I repeat. If we are the highest paid in the state, why are there so many vacancies in this position? A number of owner-operators have been expressing their concerns to the board about the lack of bus owner-operators and just bus operators. Concerns about the stress of the coverage of other routes and the children and driving conditions involved. concerns about the rising costs associated with maintaining and operating their buses, concerns about the difficulty the school system has
030attracting new drivers. Board members and administration should be concerned about overloading of buses. It's against the law. Parents and children not knowing from day to day what bus or even what time a bus will come, the safety of children that are waiting beyond their normal pickup and drop-off times at bus stops. And also those parents that are concerned about exposure, contracting, contract tracing is a laugh during this juggling of students and buses. I guess it takes repeating and repeating. There are red flags waving in transportation. It's time to take action. It's time for the board to do what the public hired y'all to do. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Sharp. Up next, we have Brent Osborne. Good evening. Brent Osborne, President of St. Timothy Federation of Teachers and School Employees. Good evening, board members, President
031Harrell, Superintendent Jabia, administration. I wrote a speech, and then I reduced it, and it's still too long. So I'll tell you what I've been doing since November regarding collective bargaining. So I enrolled myself in a collective bargaining intensive through... a joint partnership with the union and Cornell University and their School of Industrial and Labor Relations. I looked at collective bargaining in the public sector in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to arrive at some concepts that I think will add some life to collective bargaining because I think we need a hard reset with it. I think too often it's become this kind of red tape that prevents the board from solving clear and present problems that need to be addressed. So in terms of state law, our state favors collective bargaining, but it's
032not a right. That right is granted by the whim of the board, and we do appreciate that. Strikes are legal in our state, but our CBA prevents those. There is no specific statute or case law regarding collective bargaining in the way that it's to be handled. Other states, it's very different. It's very scripted. There's nothing in our CBA regarding collective bargaining and how it's to be handled. And so often in the past, what the Federation and administration has done is consult a labor attorney named Al Bordelon. Now, Al's background is in federal labor law, which has no jurisdiction here. This is a public setting. And so he uses those guidelines, but they're not binding. It's just the two sides agree to handle things in a certain way. They don't have to be handled in those
033ways if we choose not to do them. There's nothing in our CBA. There's nothing in open meetings law. There's nothing in state law that would prevent this board from discussing any item pertaining to collective bargaining. That would include wages, benefits, working conditions. In fact, RS-4217 and your own board policy, which mirrors that statute, BCBK, discusses executive session. It says strategy sessions or negotiations with respect to collective bargaining may be conducted in executive session when an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body. So not only can you talk about it, you could actually engage in negotiations, which I'm not advocating for. I don't want to have to face off against Mr. Breaux or Mr. Green and their savvy. But I'm just saying, you please be empowered to talk
034about any issue. And there's precedent. If you go back to July 22nd, 2020, Ms. Heintz made a motion after the curriculum instruction report by Amy LeMaine. And this was to delay school, if you guys recall. And it was spirited debate, push the start of school until after Labor Day. The motion had to be changed. And so it was changed. Yes, the school board to come talk to us. And it was handled. Thank you. Agenda item, the approval of minutes for the regular meeting held on November 11th, 2021. Do I have a motion? Thank you, Ms. Page. Do I have a second? Thank you, Mr. Kuzan. Do we have any comments by the public? Any questions from the board? Seeing none, everyone please vote. That motion passes 11 yays with one abstention. Agenda item B, approval
035of minutes for the special meeting held on November 18th, 2021. Do I have a motion? Thank you, Mr. Winkler. Mr. Darman, thank you for the second. Do we have any comments by the public? Seeing none, any comments by board members? Seeing none, everyone please vote. And that motion passes with 10 yays, 2 abstentions. Agenda item C, the appropriate retirement resolutions for the following certificated personnel subsequent to November 11, 2021. Mr. Cosey. Thank you, Mr. Harrell. Yes, I bring you appropriate retirement resolutions on the following certificated personnel subsequent to the November 11, 2021 meeting. Hatra F. Gast. Abita Springs Elementary, 32.51 years, 20.51 years in St. Timothy Parish. Elizabeth E. Nations, Viola Cone Middle, 30.29 years, 16.29 years in St. Timothy Parish. Kimberly H. Reed, Clearwood Junior High, 30.01 years, 29.01 years in St. Timothy Parish.
036Norris D. Simmons, Fountain Blue Junior High, 32.47 years, 29.18 years in St. Tammany Parish. Judith R. Bass, Harrison Curriculum Center, 30.98 years, all in St. Tammany Parish. Eugenie D. Simpson, Mandeville Middle, 27.35 years, 22.51 years in St. Tammany Parish. Catherine S. Cino, Monteleone Junior High. 12.01 years, all in St. Timothy Parish. Richard E. Thompson, North Shore High, 30.29 years, all in St. Timothy Parish. And James R. Corville, Salmon High, 8.68 years, 7.93 years in St. Timothy Parish. Thank you, Mr. Kosay. Do I have a motion? Thank you, Mr. Betancourt. Do I have a second? Thank you, Ms. Baker. Any questions from the comments from the public? Any questions from board members? Seeing none, everyone please vote. And that motion passes with 12 yays. The appropriate retirement resolutions for the following employee support services personnel subsequent
037to November 11, 2021. Mr. Cosa. Thank you, Mr. Harrell. This again is item D, appropriate retirement resolutions on the following employee support services personnel subsequent to the November 11, 2021 meeting. Shannon M. Landry, Central Office, 23.36 years, all in St. Timothy Parish. Herbert W. Taylor, Jr., Covington Warehouse, 17.77 years, all in St. Timothy Parish. Alty C. Fairburn, Lancaster Elementary, 33.25 years, all in St. Timothy Parish. Gay A. Ferris, North Shore High, 24.89 years, all in St. Timothy Parish. Teresa L. Thomas, North Shore High, 30.62 years, 27.95 years in St. Tammany Parish. Elroy Clark, St. Tammany Junior High, 16.48 years, all in St. Tammany Parish. David McGregor, Slido Warehouse, 28.76 years, all in St. Tammany Parish. Jerry S. Byron, Transportation Center, 17.55 years, all in St. Tammany Parish. Michael E. Galino, Transportation Center, 26.14 years, all
038in St. Timothy Parish. Dexter A. Malley, Sr., Transportation Center, 30 years, all in St. Timothy Parish. And Roy E. Yates, Sr., Transportation Center, 26.50 years, all in St. Timothy Parish. Thank you, Mr. Cosey. Do I have a motion? Thank you, Mr. Broughan. Do I have a second? Thank you, Mr. Hersey. Do we have any comments by the public? Seeing none, any comments by board members? Thank you, Ms. Baker. Everyone, please vote. And that motion passes unanimously. Item E, to consider and take action with respect to adopting a resolution providing for canvassing the returns and declaring the results of the special election held in St. Tammany Parishwide School District. Number 12 of the Parish of St. Tammany, State of Louisiana, on Saturday, November 13, 2021, to authorize the renewal of the special taxes therein. Do I
039have a motion? Mr. Darman, do I have a second? Thank you, Ms. Hines. Do we have any comments by the public? Seeing none, any questions from the board? Seeing none, everyone please vote. And that motion passes unanimously. The approval of recommendations from committee as a whole meeting for finance and administrative held on December 2nd to 2021. Mr. Green, do you have that report? Thank you, Mr. President. I do. The committee recommends item A, the adoption of resolution for the retention of special counsel Hammond, Sills, Adkins, Geis, Noah, and Perkins LLP presently providing specialized legal services to the board. I so move. Do I have a second? Thank you, Coach Luke. Do we have any comments by the public? Seeing none, any questions from the board? Seeing none, everyone please vote. And that motion carries 11
040yays and 1 nay. Mr. Green? Item B, the committee recommends acceptance of the load-based bid alternate number one and alternate number two submitted by C.M. Combs Construction LLC in the amount of $12,841,000 for the additions at Abney Elementary School STPSB project number 1905. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hurstie, for the first. Do I have a second? Thank you, Mr. Winkler. Do we have any comments by the public? Any questions from board members? Seeing none, everyone please vote. And that motion passes unanimously. Mr. Green. Item C, the committee recommends acceptance of the low base bid submitted by Lincoln Builders of Baton Rouge, Inc. in the amount of $24,285,000 for the additions at Fountain Blue High School STPSB project number 1945. Thank you, Mr. Betancourt. And I'll second that one since my kids go to Fountain Blue.
041Do we have any comments by the public? Any questions from board members? Seeing none, everyone please vote. And that motion passes unanimously. Item D, the committee recommends acceptance of the low-based bid submitted by T3 Global Projects in the amount of $3,172,000 for the civil site work for three artificial turf fields at various high schools, STPSB Project Number P0265. And I so move. Thank you, Mr. Betancourt, for the second. Do we have any comments by the public? Seeing none, any questions from board members? Seeing none, everyone please vote. And that motion passes unanimously. Item E, the committee recommends acceptance of the low base bid alternate number one, alternate number two, and alternate number three submitted by Brunt Construction, Inc. in the amount of $5,073,000 for the renovations at Florida Avenue Elementary School STPSB project number 1935.
042Mr. Cousin? Thank you for the first. Do I have a second? Thank you, Mr. Brunt. Do we have any comments by the public? Seeing none, do we have any questions from board members? Seeing none, everyone please vote. And that motion passes unanimously. And finally, we have item F. The committee recommends acceptance to terminate R.S. Bernard and Associates, Inc. as general contractor on the seven high schools artificial turf field installation St. Tammany Parish School Board Project P0265 and DeKalb Merchants National Bonding, Inc. As the surety issuing performance and payment bonds number NLA 1435 to complete and or pay for the completion of the project and to pay all outstanding payment claims owed by R.S. Bernard and associates to subcontractors, suppliers on the project. And I so move. We have a second. Thank you, Mr. Hersey. Do
043we have any comments by the public? Seeing none. Any questions from board members? Seeing none. Everyone, please vote. And that motion passes unanimously. Up next is the election of board officers for a one-year term effective January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022. Up first is the election of president. Do we have any nominations for board president? Yes, sir, Mr. President. I would like to nominate Mr. Brandon Harrell to serve one more year in this capacity. I appreciate the confidence. Any other nominations? Seeing none, is there a motion to close nominations for board president? Thank you, Mr. Kuzan. Do we have a second? Thank you, Mr. Winkler. All those in favor of closing nominations, please say aye. Aye. So ordered a roll call. Or we can do a show of hands. Show of hands. Thank you
044all so much for the vote of confidence. I hope I can continue to provide some consistent leadership for you all. All right, we have the election of vice president. Do we have a nomination for vice president? I'd like to nominate Mr. Ron Bencourt, please. Thank you, Mr. Hersey. Thank you, Mr. Green, for the second. Are there any other nominations? Seeing none, is there a motion to close the nominations for board vice president? Thank you, Mr. Derman. Thank you, Ms. Page. All those in favor of closing nominations, please say aye. Aye. And can we have a show of hands? No, you really don't. Congratulations, Mr. Betancourt. Thank you, board members and Mr. Harrell. It only took 19 years to become an officer. I'm going to check with my advisors and maybe a run for governor might
045be in the works. There's not a whole lot for the vice president to do, which really lends itself to my skill set. But I'll serve to the best of my ability this board. And again, thank you. Congratulations. Thank you so much. All right. Up next, we have the election of chair for the committee as a whole meeting, one-year term, effective January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022. Up first is the Human Resources and Education Committee. I'd like to open the floor for nominations for the chair for the Human. Resources Education Committee as a whole. Ms. Hines? I'd like to nominate Mr. Matt Green for that position. I'll second it. Thank you. Any other nominations? Seeing none, is there a motion to close the nominations for chair for the Human Resources Education Committee? Thank you, Mr.
046Betancourt. Do we have a second? All in favor of closing nominations? Aye. Please raise your hands and vote in support of the nomination. Thank you. Congratulations, Mr. Green. Congratulations, Green. Thank you, Mr. President. This is a little switch from my previous role as committee chair on the business and administrative affairs, so I'm looking forward to the new challenges here and to working with the fine people at central office to end this role and just to continue to help our school system be the best that it can be. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Green. Thank you. Item B is the business affairs and administrative committee. I'd like to open the floor for nominations for the chair for the Business Affairs Administrative Committee as a whole. Do we have any nominations? Mr. Derman? I would like
047to nominate Mr. Nation for that position. Do I have a second? Thank you, Mr. Hersey. Are there any other nominations? Seeing none, is there a motion to close nominations for the chair of Business Affairs and Administrative Committee? Thank you. All in favor, please say aye. And can we hand vote? Sure. That's what, yeah. Don't miss next year. Don't need to be present to win. Congratulations, Mr. Nation. I'm sure you're watching this on YouTube. All right, moving on to the announcements. We would like to thank the very talented choir from Mandeville High School who performed the holiday music for us in the atrium before the board meeting. They are under the direction of Lindsay. I would butcher it. Yeah, you would. Ms. Lindsay. Ms. Lindsay. Vocal music teacher. There will be two special board meetings on
048Thursday, December 16th at 445 for the bids and 5 p.m. for the expulsion appeal hearings. The schools will be closed a half day on December 17th through January 3rd, 2021 for winter Christmas break. The offices will be closed December 20th through January 3rd, 2022. The next committee as a whole meeting will be held on Thursday, January 13th at 6 p.m., beginning with the Finance and Administrative Committee. And this meeting is adjourned.