001Heat. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. to Dr. Joseph, school board members, and our guests. I count it as a high distinction to be charged with the duty that falls upon me today. Dr. Joseph and board. I present this candidate to you to receive her high school diploma. This learner has met all requirements set forth by LDOE St. Helina Parish School District and Se Helina College and Career Academy. It is with pleasure that I introduce to you Emily R. Tate, class of 2025. Let's give OUR HEAT. HEAT. I love you. Okay. How are you doing today? Lord come together. We ask for the wisdom, clarity and unity as us. We also thank for the graduating student to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible,
002with liberty and justice for all. The meeting room will come to order. We're not school board. >> Roll call. >> Miss George Porter. >> Miss Lolita Porter. >> Miss Linda Cheney. >> Present. >> Mr. George Hughes. >> Miss Virginia Bell. >> Mr. Alison Travis. >> Board election. Board election for president. I nominate Mr. Thunder Cheney. >> I second. >> Motion by Miss Virginia Bell. Second by Miss George Porter. Vote. >> Miss George Porter. >> Yes. >> Mr. George. >> Yes. >> Virginia Bell. >> Yes. Uh item two, board of lakes for vice president. >> I nominate Miss Virginia Bails. >> I second. >> Motion by Miss George Porter, second by Mr. George Hughes. Vote. >> Mor. >> Yes. >> Mor. >> Yes. >> Main. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Item C.
003Approve minutes and agenda December 11, 2025 committee meeting minutes. December 11, 2025 regular board meeting minutes and current agenda. >> That's uh motion by Miss George Per that we approve all collectively. Second by Mr. George Hughes. Any questions? No questions should pass by general consent. New business one. Adopt school board member training resolution. Good evening. Louisiana school board member recognition month January 2022. Whereas the mission of public schools is to meet the diverse educational needs of all children and to empower them to become competent, productive contributors to a democratic society and an everchanging world. And whereas local school board members are committed to children and believe that all children can be successful learners and that the best education is tailored to the individual needs of the child. And whereas local school board members work closely
004with parents, educational professionals, and other community members to create the educational vision we want for our learners. And whereas local school board members are responsible for ensuring the structure that provides a solid foundation for our school system. And whereas local school board members are strong advocates for public education and are responsible for communicating the needs of the school district to the public and the public's expectations to the district. Now therefore, I, Kelly Joseph, do hereby declare my appreciation to the members of the St. Helina Parish School Board and proclaim January 2026 as school board recognition month in St. Helina Parish. I urge all citizens to join me in recognizing the dedication and hard work of local school board members and in working with them to mold an educational system that meets the needs of both
005today's and tomorrow's children. In official recognition whereof, I hereby affix my signature this 8th day of January, 2026. Dr. Kelly Joseph, Superintendent. All right. Next item, adopt the LSBA code of conduct. And I have the LSBA code of conduct. As a member of the school board, I will endeavor to meet the and adhere to the following LSBA code of conduct. Represent the constituents, parents, and students of district which I serve while remembering that my overarching concern must be the educational welfare of all the students of the district. Respect and hold the uphold the laws and constitutions of the United States, the state of Louisiana, and the policy adopted by the school board. respect and treat with professionalism and courtesy of my fellow schoolboard members, the superintendent, staff, educators, parents, and students of the district. Maint
006maintain the quorum and professionalism in my communication with and about my fellow schoolboard members, the superintendent, staff, educators, parent, and students of the district. no matter the form. Recognize that my authority is that of a member of the school board acting through the process of the school board and that I do not have nor will I attempt to exert any authority as an individual over the superintendent, staff, educators, parent or students of the district. respect and adhere to the decision of the school board while retaining the right to respectfully seek reconsideration of decisions with which I individually disagree guiding directed concerns, complaints, and questions of constituents, parents, and students to the superintendent for consideration and action in accordance with schoolboard policy. conduct my personal and professional life in a manner befitting an elected official elected
007representative representative of the people and in accordance with the laws of the United States and the state of Louisiana. Refrain from using the position as an elected school board member to pursue personal financial gain or aggressment. make a concerted effort to attend the meetings of the school board to which I am called and be prepared to discuss and deliberate on the matters that are scheduled to be before me. Respect and maintain the confidentiality of information to which I may become privy in accordance with the state and federal laws and the fidiciary obligation that I owe to the district. affiliate with the Louisiana School Boards Association and avail myself of the continuing education opportunity offered thereby toward meeting my obligation for annual continuing education as provided by law. That is the LSBA code of conduct. I
008just read this. All right. So, can I get a motion to adopt items one and two? >> I moved. Motion by Miss George Porter, second by Miss Virginia Bell. Any questions? No question. Shall pass with general consent. Item three, presentation of the 2025 LSBA certified school board member designation uh certificates. The Louisiana School Boards Association Certified Board Member Program Certificate of Merit is awarded to board members for voluntarily completing all required inservice training by participating in approved workshops, seminars, and conventions designed to enhance knowledge and develop skills needed to contribute to even higher standards of elected public school board member service and public school system governance. and is officially designated a certified school board member for the year 2025 by attaining 20 or more continuing learning units. Tonight we present certificate of merits to Miss
009Joyce Porter, Miss Lolita Porter Miss Linda Cheney, thank you. Miss Virginia Bell, >> Thank you for your dedication to St. Helina Parish School. >> Thank you. Next item, director's report. The director of exceptional service, Miss Wendy Young. One more. Thank you. One more. Good evening, Lord. >> Good evening. Good evening and thank you for your patience. Thank you for the opportunity to share an update on how we are strengthening academic supports for our learners, particularly our learners with disabilities. Lassard. Lassard stands for Louisiana Special Education Academic Related Services Development. Lora supports school systems by providing research-based guidance, professional learning, and technical assistance focused on improving instructional practices and learner outcomes. On January 5th, 2026, our district conducted a district-wide professional development session in partnership with Lassard. This focus of this session was on evidence-based instructional
010practices designed to strengthen academic instruction and improve outcomes for learners. During this professional learning, teachers engaged in high impact instructional strategies aligned to best practices. These strategies emphasize intentional lesson planning, clear learning targets, and instructional approaches that support diverse learners across general and special education settings. To ensure sustainability, the work extends beyond professional development. We are conducting learning walks in weeks to come, providing ongoing coaching and technical assistance and monitoring implementation to ensure the instructional guidance are aligned with IDA requirements, district expectations, and learner needs. In closing, this work reflects our district district's commitment to instructional excellence, compliance, and equitable outcomes for all learners. We will continue to monitor implementation and provide the necessary supports to ensure professional learning translates into meaningful academic gains. Thank you. And I am happy to answer any questions. Thank
011you. One more. Good evening. Tonight, I want to provide an update on the academic interventions currently being provided to our learners across the district. Beginning with St. Helina College and Career Academy, the focus for our newest academic intervention is ACT Preparation. This semester, learners enrolled in the ACT Prep program are receiving tutoring through Top Tutors for Us. Top tutors for us provides small group six to one learner ratio tutoring for learners based off of assessment data provided through the top tutors for us administered diagnostic which is a mock ACT. That mock assessment will be on January 14th. they will come in and assess the learners and use that data to group them based off of the skills that they need. So it will be uh learner specific setup. Also top tutors for us the tutors
012in their program have had to have at least a 27 on the ACT to be eligible to work for them as well. So these are individuals who have the ACT score to be able to uh provide that instruction. And on the 16th, top tutors for us will come in for the parent orientation night where they will go through the platform and program parameters with the parents. And in the folder you all received is a copy of the flyer that's being sent out with those specific learners. um whose parents need to be in attendance at the early learning center. Our high dosage tutoring focus, it will continue through intervening K12. That was our vendor last year and they uh resumed services this year. This past fall semester, we had 124 learners in grades K through two
013receiving ELA tutoring. And this semester for the spring we'll have 117 learners K2 receiving that math intervention. Um in your folders is the presentation from intervene with the uh growth data that they provided us towards the end of the ELA intervention. And so uh in that piece you have the satisfaction surveys but then also the academic data and what the weakest area was and where they grew the most. The last thing is regarding outcomesbased tutoring. This year, the LDOE offered districts an opportunity to apply for outcomesbased tutoring, which is an addition to high dosage tutoring where uh the state approved an allocation for St. Helina in the amount of $34,753 for that outcomesbased high dosage tutoring. and that those sessions are based on individual learner needs identified through uh McLass data and the vendor that
014we have selected is amplify. Amplify is also our provider for MClass and Dibbles literacy screener. of the programs, the intervention and the state testing data will sync. Um, and the vendors part of outcomesbased tutoring, they have certain um goals and outcomes that they have to meet for the state to uh finish out their contract. and Amplify has submitted their rider to LDOE to approve for the Bessie board meeting next week. So, we are slated to begin that tutoring with Bessie approval the end of January. That'll be the K2 and ELA. So in closing, these efforts reflect early intervention, data-driven instruction, and fiscal responsibility because none of the programs that we are bringing in, we have to pay. They're all through grants or um some type of state funding. Thank you. Good evening board members. Um
015I would like to share an update in on academic programs um in math and science. I would like to start off with the science fair. Um I'm I'm pleased to share that our science fair was uh successfully completed on December the 11th. Uh we had a total of 120 learners from both Shada and um high school. Um this event was like very successful uh because we could see the increase in the number of participants compared to all the previous years. We had never seen the like more than 100 projects. um being displayed by our learners. So um the dedication, hard work and um um um by by all the all the parents and learners were evident in each and every aspect of the project. Um I would like to appreciate all the leaders and students
016um especially the parents uh they were very much involved in helping their uh kids with completing the projects. Next I will move on to the observation cycle. Um as part of providing the support to our teachers throughout the year. Um this is the first year we are fully implementing the observation cycle. Uh so far we concluded six cycles starting from August and um just before the Christmas break we had cycle six support which was focusing on uh we focused on um uh deep diving into the second benchmark data. Uh we got the results just before the break and we are uh we are still analyzing um comparing that with the first benchmark to see the growth. Um and also in cycle five we focus on academic feedback as part of this observation cycle. The first
017uh during the first week we provide the PD support to the teachers. Second second week we observe and provide the feedback uh to the teachers. Third week we uh we provide the classroom support to all the teachers. Next um I will move on to the LDOE support. Um um the LDOE consultants from both math and science department from the state u Miss Anar, Miss Talbot, Molly Talbbert and Miss Tana Luther have been providing the continuous support right from the beginning of the year. Um I can um I can say we we this is the enormous support that we have been receiving. Um I could see even the directors from the direct level um have been providing the PD support even they were even teaching in the classroom um to assist the teachers not only the
018teachers and also the learners um their level of support has uh enormously tremendously changed compared to all the support that we uh received in the past. Um and also uh they provided the coaching um they conducted the learning walk uh with the principles and gave the um feedback and had the debrief with the leaders and teachers um and also as part of the computer science um initiative from the state department Dr. Liz and uh Miss and uh Miss H the leaders um um just before the break um in 2627 the incoming freshman uh will need to complete the computer science course um that is a new requirement and also in the middle school uh they have to complete u one computer science course. So the plan was uh briefly discussed with all the leaders and
019the landscape analysis was done. Uh we are still working on creating a a solid district-wide computer science plan. Next I will move on to um the ZER math and um I I'm happy to announce that we are number three in the state as far as the ZER completion is concerned. Um uh every week we are providing the data to the leaders and uh teachers and the learners are being recognized continuously and also the teachers are um recognized as well uh with the certificates and awards and I can say we are um moving in the right direction but there are some areas to grow when it comes to the live instruction and also providing the individual supports um by analyzing the tower alert reports. uh we are working closely with the teachers to improve in the
020in those areas so we can improve the state results state uh leap results. Uh next I would like to give some update about K through2 numerousy testing update. Um this year um the the state department has implemented u the new platform called kite. We don't have any results from them because until next year we have to wait. Um until then we we were asked to use the MClass platform to administer the test to see the growth and uh the graph that you see on the right side is the result. Um the recent result is middle of the year and beginning of the year. Uh I would like to thank Miss Smith for helping us to put all these numbers together. And as you see the graph uh the comparing the beginning of the year and
021uh the middle of the year uh we count I think the state count only the above and add benchmark. You can see um about has increased from 11 11 to 22% um there in the growth and also at benchmark has grown to 11% from 7 as you look at the last two proficiency levels below and well below it has gone down which is what we need um I know the numbers have to still increase uh we are working um closely with the leaders and teachers and the principles are u working hard with the interist um to ensure that the these numbers go And if you look at the proficiency levels by grade uh we and if you look at the proficiency levels by grade uh we could also see the growth um across all grade
022levels. In kindergarten you can see there is an increase of 22% and first grade 17% and second grade 8%. Uh we are very glad to see this uh progress um across all grade levels at ELC. Uh we are we have we we are working hard to continue this momentum. Uh the next I would the lastly I would like to give some update about the Kirkland Kirkland group tutoring. Uh we partnered with Kirkland group tutoring um since October I guess I think the beginning of October last year to provide extra support to the learners especially the the struggling learners and um um the team from Kirkland group have been uh working closely with all the leaders and the principles and the academic directors and you can see um in the spring um at SHA all tutors
023will provide 2 days of support weekly um that will be a total of 14 days from January 7th until February 20th. Uh because the testing is starting around the mid of April uh for the retesters. Uh we are trying to extend it but as of now as per the contract we have 14 days. Um so that will be provided at both uh SH and high school. In high school we have 15 uh days of tutoring. Um uh second benchmark data to refine the uh groups the bubble group learners. Um all tutors will provide that provide two days of support every week. Um as far as the high school is concerned, geometry and English one geometry and English area. Um um so the these are the updates from department. In closing, I want to emphasize that
024our work is around is around the uh datadriven instruction mastery of the content to ensure that uh we are improving the results um in the forthcoming LIP test. Yes, ma'am. Any questions? >> Representatives when they come in to work with the student. >> They're pulling out the kids based on >> the special needs. >> Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Especially during the intervention block. >> Oh, okay. And the second thing, have you wor have you done anything with Dr. Schaeer yet on that? >> Dr. Who? >> Dr. Schaeer on the steam initiative that she's trying to get. >> Yes. Um the date has been finalized. Uh it is on February uh 24th. I'm not exactly sure about the date on the top of my head. We're working to create the flyer and it's going to happen
025at the gym. The date has been finalized. >> The vendors have been um invited I think. >> Yeah. >> And at the high school um the Kirkland did pull out >> and they did the whole class. Yeah. Somebody said they were pretty good and I was just wondering were they able to get with the whole class if they were doing pretty good. >> Probably that class has more uh learners who need more support maybe. >> Um but across the board that's not the case. Yeah, we pull only the learners who are struggling based on the data. So initially they were using the leap data from last year. Um now they're using the benchmark district benchmark first and second benchmark results. So when they propos everybody in the class pulling out >> any questions it thank
026Good evening board members. I will be providing an update on ELA and social studies instructional support for the three school sites. The first thing I would like to discuss is our ELA observation cycle. The ELA observation cycle is a structured instructional support process that's designed to strengthen classroom instruction and improve learner achievement. Teachers participate in professional learning for week one. Week two consists of observation and feedback. Week three consists of classroom support. The data that supports our ELA observation cycle is that we have completed six coaching cycles and we are beginning our seventh observation cycle would be on um the week of January 20th. The second point is LDOE ELA and social studies consultant support. St. Angelina Parish uh school district receives ongoing instructional support from the Louisiana Department of Education, ELA and social studies
027consultants. The consultants are collaborating with district leaders, principles, assistant principles, and teachers to strengthen instructional practices in both ELA and social studies through classroom learning walks and instructional observations. They also provide professional development for teachers and school leaders. We have the data reflects 16 teachers received that instructional support in ELA and social studies. And lastly, I would like to discuss the district dibbles beginning of the year middle of the year comparison data in grades K through three. The middle of the year data shows growth from 36% to 42% growth in reading proficiency of our learners. And just as Dr. Um John Pow discussed we can see that the numbers of our well below and below are going down which that's what we want to see. Our numbers are increasing at our at and above. So
028that means our learners are in improving their reading proficiency and through daily interventions and core instruction we are preparing our learners in grades um K to three for our end of the year Dibbles assessment. We are looking forward to seeing that additional growth in reading proficiency in grades K to three. Does anybody have any questions? Thank you. All right, next item. Approve committee report >> from January 8th, 2026. We did not have any report of the next meeting, February 12th, 2026. Board members, any comments? No. No comments. That last motion. All yay. This meeting is a