001Call to order the Tangero Parish School Board meeting for May 19th, 2026, 6 o'clock p.m. Miss Amanda, can we get a roll call, please? >> Mr. Anthony >> here. >> Mr. West Morland, >> Miss Abrams, Miss Dominguez, >> Mr. Duncan, >> here. >> Mr. Moore >> here. >> Mr. Piaza, Miss Richards, >> present. >> Mr. Toller, >> here. Item B is the pledge of allegiance. Mr. Toller, would you please lead us? Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you. 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. You may be seated. >> All right. Item 2A is consider approval of the tanchopair school board meeting minutes for May 12th, 2026. I make
002a motion to approve as presented. >> All right. We have a motion by Mr. Dominguez and a second by Mr. West Morland. We have any opposition to the approval of these me these meeting minutes. >> With no opposition, motion motion passes. Item 2B, consider approval of DRC appeal meeting minutes for May 12th, 2026. >> So move. >> Motion by Mr. West Morland. Second. >> And a second by Mr. Toller. Any opposition to approving these meeting minutes? Hearing no opposition. Motion carries. Item 3A, presentation. Um, Office of Innovation Spotlight, Mr. Porter. >> Good evening everyone >> and we are so excited to have an opportunity to uh share a spotlight tonight from Office of Innovation. We want to thank Superintendent Stilly and the board. And as we have um worked this inaugural year of the office
003of innovation, we are very excited about the work that we're doing that is focused and centered around family engagement and strengthening our partnerships with our community partners. And two of the initiatives that we uh launched this year um one of them was um a clergy tour. Uh we started out back in October. And just to kind of give you insight, we this year as we're in um beginning our work, we felt like we needed to do listening tours this year. And one group that we wanted to target to listen to to share the things that we're doing in the district and then to get feedback from that group was our clergy. And we started out back in October with the clergy breakfast where we invited clergy from throughout the district to come and uh sit
004with us. and um Superintendent Stilly shared our three big rocks and the things that we're doing in the district and then we were able to hear from them and hear their voice about how they could help support the work that we're doing. So, as a result of that initiative, we decided that we wanted to take them in our schools to see the great things that are going on in our schools so that they can continue to be the voice to share in their congregations and to um work as community partners to spread all of the resources that we have in the district. So, we were able to view um and go into and visit all of our schools probably with the exception of one or two. And um as we go to the next slide,
005Miss Amanda, uh we want to acknowledge that we started an initiative called the hope closets. And that is an initiative on our campuses where we have um a closet that is stocked with snacks, school supplies, book bags, jackets, you name it. And as a result of the uh clergy tours, our schools were adopted by our clergy to adopt the hope closets. And uh next slide, we did nine tours. We visited 31 schools. and you'll see some of the pictures that we that are highlighted from the tours. Uh throughout the course of the visits, we had 44 uh clergy leaders who participated during the course of all of the uh tours. And as a result of that initiative, 23 of our schools have been adopted by clergy and their congregations. So, we definitely are appreciative of
006that. Um and so tonight we have um some of our clergy members who have uh joined us over the tours. They're going to come up and just kind of share a little bit about their experience uh from visiting the schools, being a part of the clergy tour initiative. Um and we're going to start with Pastor Danny Carter from the Talbin Baptist Church, Elder Kelly Bars from Showers of Blessing Deliverance Temple, and Pastor DJ Coleman from Kingdom Life. they will come in that order and share their experiences. And then we also have with us um a representative who attended our realtor launching and that was an important initiative that we also uh launched this year because our realtors are selling houses to our families who are moving into our district. And we felt like we wanted
007to be able to give them some resources that as they communicate with the people that they're selling to, we wanted them to know the good things that are happening in our schools and we wanted to be able to provide them uh information that they can share as they're having those conversations with potential buyers or homes for Tangi. So, uh, our clergy members will come in that order and then Miss Leslie will come after the clergy and then we have a short video that we want to show to close out. uh our spotlight tonight. So, I want to thank you again for the opportunity to share the work that we've been doing this year in the office of innovation. >> Thank you. >> I get to go first and I had the the privilege or I
008guess the honor to uh have perfect attendance in this >> every every tour >> every tour I was there and uh it had been a while since I had been on a school bus. It had been a while since I've been in school, but I just want to say just how um exciting and eye opening it was to be in the schools. Um just being able to go physically walk through the halls of the schools. And just a couple of remarks that I'd like to say. I know we've got several others that's going to come behind us and we are preachers so we could go for a while. But first and foremost, I would like to say that um did not really know what to expect when we started this. But the team that you
009guys have assembled in this team of this office of innovation, these guys are behind this mission. They are excited. They are doing the work. They were very hands-on. They were there with us. The value that I think Miss Stilly has placed. Uh she was almost perfect attendance. We were always on bus together. She missed maybe one or two. Um, but when we went in the schools, man, just to see the excitement of the staff. I know our schools have some problems. I think everyone knows that. But it was it was so good to see the uh the robotics, the engineering departments, the things that we didn't have as children back in the day. Um, to see these things offered to our students and to see them highlighted in such a positive way. One of the
010great things about the tour was that as we went uh the schools became very competitive uh not only with their tour and their uh tour guides but with their um greetings. I mean we were greeted I mean we were like royalty man. Only thing missing was some red carpet I believe. But uh we would be greeted with the bands and which was great to see that music is being restored back into the school system. Uh the cheerleaders, the the dance teams, but then the tour guides was was Beta members and some of the outstanding students and they did exceptional with leading us on the tour. Um just just excited to be a part. Uh the office of innovation is doing a great job connecting and I realize we were a clergy bus tour but we
011did not go in there necessarily representing religion. We went in there representing um the community as leaders in the community and I am thankful as a pastor for a school board that is supporting this work. >> Yes. >> So thank you guys. We've prayed for you all. We pray for the schools. We pray for our students. And we're thankful that you are behind this and um I know it's going to be a great thing in the future. I know it's very new, but I know that it's going to work well and it's going to be a positive impact on our community. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Good evening. Well, I didn't have perfect attendance, but I did make most of the tours. And I agree that it was really an eyeopener
012because you usually only hear the negative things about our schools, especially on social media. So to walk those halls and see all the positive things that the schools are offering, all the positive things that the kids are learning was was great. And you know, I have a daughter in these schools, so that really reassured me and put my trust back into our school system as well. and to see them learning robotics and planting gardens and leading. Even at the elementary school, these kids are leading and guiding and showing us what they're doing and the work that they're doing. It was really it was really great to see and to be invited to walk the halls and see what our schools are doing to see that our teachers really do care about our students. They care
013about the education and our kids are learning, you know, despite what you know the internet may say or think. You know, it was it was just great to experience it and see it for myself and be invited and to walk the halls as a clergy member, but also an alumni of these schools with I have a daughter, I have cousins, I have nieces, nephews in these schools, so I know that they're learning and they can't come tell me anymore. Well, we don't have homework today or we don't have this today. I saw it for myself. I know what they're doing and I know what the teachers are instructing. So, it was really great to to see for myself. It was really an eyeopener. Thank you. >> Hold on, Miss Bars. Eric, >> what school did
014you graduate from? >> Independence. >> All right, >> Coach Ryan was my principal. >> All right, Mr. Jeno. Now, >> I figured I can I can see the greatness from being from Independence, so I just wanted to ask. >> Thank you. And it was really good to see that school rebuilding coming from there as well. My daughter's at London, though. Go Wolves. All right. It's only right that as a pastor I come at four points. >> Uh my first thought was the difference between what I went to school and now. >> Um >> I went into computer science and I'm a graduate of Langer High School >> and what I see the young kids doing with technology now is just mind-blowing. Um, I graduated from South Eastern in computer science and I am telling you
015that the launching pad that we're giving our kids now is literally night and day compared to when I went to school. We should have great pride um as a parish and the product that we're producing in our students. The second thing is which was mentioned a moment ago the narrative in the community uh related to the school system is can be a little bit negative you know and um I always thought that my experience through these tours actually gave me a realistic picture uh I think she mentioned about what the internet says right um just like a church a school can actually have a bad reflection in the community that's not real I want to make that clear and I understand that. I understand that firsthand. As a pastor, it was good to see firsthand
016the quality and level of discipline that was present as we went through these schools. No matter how much the principal prepares for our visit, there is no way we could control the behavior of the kids, >> right? >> And that was there. It was present. It was good. Just like there are no perfect churches, there's no perfect schools. there are going to be problems, but it was just beautiful to see the realistic discipline that was going on in front of us. Something else that was mentioned already was the school spirit and the pride and the competition that manifested while we were there. Um, I don't think there's any doubt that it was just good to see all the bands and the cheerleaders and the dance teams and the student leaders all up front and center
017throughout the entire tours. It was also obvious that as the tours went on, the competition went up and uh I think it's a credible picture of the school spirit that is very autonomous in every one of the schools. But I'll have to say high graduate, no offense to anybody in the room or watching that's from Laura, the second line that happened at Independence was beyond any other. For those who were there, they understand what I'm talking about. For those who aren't, if you want to know more about it, I'll tell you later. Okay, the pastor's on a tight timeline here. The last one, which I think personally is the most important, the unity and the collaboration that came out of this. I um within the walls of a church, within the walls of a school
018system, there can be uh a lot of collaboration and unity. From a pastor's perspective, we've been told a lot of restrictions and things we cannot do when it comes to the schools. And this clergy tour is refreshing to me to ski to see the school system inviting us to the table rather than restricting access to the table. That is what we all need as we try to reach and serve our communities, our families, and our students. And it was refreshing to me. So, I want to thank you and thank you to the Office of Innovation. >> Thank you. >> I think we have a video, but I just want to say we kind of took a leap of faith um with this idea uh this vision of how do we how do we engage with
019the community? Um and you know back you know years and years and years ago when communities were formed the first thing was the churches. And so if it just made sense to us to really involve the pastors uh in our schools um you know and get them engaged and and come and walk the halls themselves. And of course we're going to continue next year this in August with um bus tours tours of our schools. But it will be we're going to advertise those and put them out. And really anyone from the community who wants to join on one of the tours is welcome to do that. Whether you're a pastor, a realtor, or community member, uh you can join. We'll put that calendar out this summer. And um you'll know when those tours will happen
020and what areas we'll go to on which days. Uh and so you can um also join the the tour as well. And I think you do have a video, Miss Amanda, that you're going to play. All right. Go ahead. by one shared mission to uplift the children and the families of our parish. Each stop along this clergy tour told a story. A story of opportunity. A story of hope in action. A story of innovation. We witness classrooms filled with creativity, programs designed to prepare students for the future, and educators who show up every single day committed to changing lives. But beyond the presentations and the tours, something even greater happened, relationships were strengthened, conversations were sparked, trust was built. These moments reminded us that when schools, churches, and communities work together, transformation becomes possible. So
021this tour was not simply about seeing where we are. It was about envisioning where we can go together. As we reflect on the memories captured here, we celebrate every handshake, every prayer, every conversation, and every connection that moved us closer to a stronger parish and a brighter future for our students. So to every pastor, leader, staff member, volunteer, community supporter, thank you for walking this journey with us. Yeah, this tour may be coming to an end, but the work, the partnership, and the purpose will continue. >> Yes. Thanks to the pastors. We appreciate y'all um for taking that leap of faith with us. And uh Miss Emma Divine, I recognize your voice on this video, by the way. Good. Great job on that. Thank you, >> Mr. Sporter. Before we move to item B, is
022is Miss Leslie here or >> Leslie Victory? >> Okay, gotcha. >> All right, Danielle, speak for >> There you go. >> This This next one will be just as interesting. We'll go to item 3B, which is the swag appreciation. Is Miss Johnson here? >> She's going to wait just a second. >> Okay. >> We have a little surprise. I would like to ask you and Miss Tilly to to come down for a second. >> The only way to get Johnson to a meeting to recognize her is to tell her she's going to talk about children. So, we we have Miss Mildred Johnson and Miss Lori. if y'all would both come forward and and y'all are actually going to talk a little bit about uh swag. But if you know Miss Mildred Johnson, I'm getting to
023know Miss Lori a a little better. The word passion is an understatement when Mildred Johnson starts talking about children and specifically our children with disabilities. And so when some people call and say they have an idea, I get nervous. When Mildred calls and says she's an has an idea, I just get ready because you don't ever know what she's about to start planning. So, she called and she always Miss Miss Johnson is is always thinking about how to elevate our children, how to elevate um what we offer our children. And so, she had this idea she called to talk about. She said, "Hey, um I'm going to give you the number of of to Miss Lori. She's got some questions." I was like, "Okay." So, hi. We've we've only I think talked. So, Miss Lori
024got on the phone. Five minutes later, I don't I don't know that I said anything. Miss Lori was still talking about all the exciting things. And so, when I got off the phone with her and I called Miss Johnson, I said, "You met your person." Because the two of them together, you just, you know, get out of the way. So, we would like to recognize them for the work um of this new the swag prom as we called it. They're going to talk about it, but before they talk about it, we wanted to talk about them and we wanted to recognize them. And so we have a a plaque and we have some flowers before they come forward. Thank you both so much for your >> I'm going to keep these over there. Miss Johnson,
025you better bring some flowers, too. She trained me that you bring some. We would like our talk about whatever. >> What do they do? Good evening. Thank you um Superintendent Silly um to the board. Um like Dr. Fusel, I do not like to be recognized because I think the work that I do is ministry work. I don't like a pat on the back. Um it's all about the students for me. Um but thank you all and thank you to Miss Lori. Um, we've been I've been doing this work. This is my 33rd year. And if you know anything about me, I love students with disabilities. So, you know, a lot of times we have the connotation that it's special ed. So, in my mind, I start pondering what can we do a different name for
026our students. So, they're students with amazing gifts. So, we called them the swag learners. So, we kind of adopted that. And then, um, I talked with someone, they say, "You better trademark that cuz people trying to steal your name." So, I'm in the process of doing that for Tangible Parish School System and our uh students with amazing gifts. Um, but this journey just did not start with the swag prom. Miss uh Lauri and I kind of talked about this two years ago and we just say we're going to do it. But in the midst of that, we did a swag Olympics and that was very dear to my heart because the Swag Olympics is about students competing for jobs. And if you know about our job market and what our students, we were tired of
027them sitting at home. When they leave here, they just sitting there. So, we came up with some jobs and we did it at Southeastern. So, we're excited about that work. And y'all, it was phenomenal. So, our kids were excited. So, just wait till next year when we put on our next swag Olympics uh because now we're going to have a sonic station. So, just get ready. And then every year we do our career fair where we just uh focus on resources for our students with disabilities. So we're excited about that. And then our swag prom. Well, after it was over, everybody kept saying, "Well, did y'all do this? Did y'all do this?" Well, we know we were going to have a little conflict and we did have some conflict because another prom was doing. But
028Lane Hardy, we had to get with him and he volunteered his time, brought his band, did the live entertainment. So, we were excited. If you haven't seen the video, I encourage you to watch the video as it come to life with the swag prom. Many ask, well, why would they have their own prom? It's not to segregate our students. But I'm telling you, to see the uh faces of those students when they could run by themselves and nobody would say, why they doing all that running? They ran, they laughed, they talked, and it was them holding in their own community. So, I can't begin to thank Miss Lori enough for the work that she does. She's like me. She doesn't like a pat on the back. She doesn't like you calling her name. And I
029always say she has a duo husband, Mr. Lance, with her. But y'all, I told them I'm I'm holding on to her coattail because of the work that she does. We have it and we're going to continue this work for our students with our swag learners. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much. Um, and if you don't know me, I'm Lori. I'm the marketing director with Pra Sonics and Preyason Sonics been in your community deeprooted for over 45 years. And um when Gabe Prey brought me in, he said, "I want to do something really impactful with our marketing funds." And I said, "Just give them to me, Gabe, and we're going to make it happen." And so I met Miss Mildred and it was a beautiful marriage, I say. Um we work so well together.
030She's so inspiring. All your teachers are. Your swag students have stolen my heart. They stole my heart at the career fair and ever since then. Um I love each and every one of them and I love your teachers. What your teachers and pair pros do is way beyond the call of duty. Um they love your students and I love that. And that love comes through that culture comes through. The swag acronym you had me at swag. Um I think that that is so amazing. I have three stu three students, three children that were all special ed that had IEPs. I know what this looks like as a parent. What you do here is amazing and they are amazing students. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for letting us be a part of it.
031It really has been the best thing I think we'll ever do. Um the smiles on their faces, the smiles on their parents' faces, the stories that we heard. There's one student, um what was his name? Daniel that came with the flowers. Who came with the flowers? >> Daniel. Daniel. >> So he is a um virtual a virtual student and so this was the first school event he has ever attended. His mother called ahead to Mildred wanted to count on all the girls that were coming and he brought flowers and handed them out on the dance floor to each of the girls and he spoke and he had been working on his speech for a little while and he did an amazing job. I just can't tell you you had to be there. Hope you're there
032next year. It's it was magical and and your students are magical and thank you for letting us be a part of it. >> I brought something for all of you. >> A little momento swag. >> Just walks around with a bag of goodies all the time. So, this is from Lane Hardy. He gave he personally signed all these for the students. They all got one in their swag bag. >> Thank you. >> You have enough of them. We can >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank Thank you. Don't go anywhere without a bag. >> I always have a bag. >> You are always with a bag. >> Thank you for the wonderful. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you all. Appreciate it. All right, we have item 3C, which is to recognize the LHSA
0334A boys pole vault champion, Mr. Viney. >> Yes. Yes. >> Thank you, Mr. Anthony. Board members, good evening everyone. I'm Mark Vining, coordinator of athletics for Tangible Paris school system. There were 33 tangible pair school system student athletes that competed in the LHSA state track meet. Only one of them was named state champion. Gordon Gross III uh growth, I'm sorry. Come on up. Gordon is the 4A boys champion. >> Congratulations. >> Thanks so much. Thank you. Gordon cleared a height of 14 feet 11 inches. >> Gordon is also a virtual student representing Tangel Parish. Dr. Stump is here. I don't think Miss Anony's here, but he also since he is a virtual student, he's in Lrange school system so he can play for uh participate at LRA High School. Is also is a coach is
034here. Coach Pal, come on up. >> Come on up. >> Come on, coach. So this is and one more thing about Goran, he's just a junior. So we're expecting good things out of him again next year. So >> I I want to say something here. Um that's this is one of the advantages of our our virtual program here in Tancho Parish. Uh that is that a student can choose to be full virtual with all their coursework um but can participate in extracurricular um activities at their homebased school. um in which Gordon is taking advantage of that. Uh I will say that Gordon is actually my next door neighbor and um and so I I have watched him from afar, you know, not not doing the pole vaulting, but uh doing his stuff on Yeah. working
035on the form. Uh and what's interesting note is come on up here. Is that is that the the neighbor Brian Dwey who you're actually living in the house he grew up in? >> That's true. Yes. Um, yes. I live in his his >> his parents' home, which is my neighbor's, but he held the state title for po pole vaultting. >> He did. He did. >> Record, not title. >> For our school. >> Yeah. For Lanja High. >> L High School. >> Until you came along and here you are in the house that he grew up in. >> Some in the water, you know. >> And it is definitely My husband probably put the well down, but uh so but anyway, and now you beat his record. >> I did. I did. So that's Isn't that
036crazy? That's interesting. Yeah. So congratulations. >> Thank you so much. >> Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Anything you want to say? >> Uh I'm super grateful to be here. Uh I'm super grateful to do be able to do what I do. Uh I love the sport and I'm I'm going to keep on getting higher heights for Loner High School. Go Wolves. Congratulations. >> Is Gordon's I'm I'm sorry. Gordon's parent is are they here? Parent of Gordon, please stand. It's my mother's birthday today, y'all. >> Happy birthday, Mom. >> And and just looking at the heights comparing from BC to class 1 A, 2 A, 4 A, uh 3A, 4 A, and 5A, Gordon is is a top of all of them. There were 5A, did 1411 as well, but he's right there with them. So, congratulations.
037We expect great things out of you, Gordon. All right. Right. We have item 3D, which is the Louisiana Music Educators Association's recognitions. Mr. Square is going to be presenting. >> All right. Great. Well, good evening. Now, I'm going to blink for a little bit. I'm still getting used to not wearing glasses. I've worn them since I was a kid like a bunch of them. I started in bif focals and after um cataract surgery, it's a whole different world out here. Uh what we'd like to do tonight is uh we'd like to um honor um our students who who um went to their own particular heights in music like you did in your your pole vaulting um through audition processes where they are competing against students on their own instruments or voices against students throughout um
038our parish our Louisiana music educators district which includes St. Helina Tanchaho Washington and St. Tamony Parish and then we take our district and we compete against all of Louisiana. There are nine districts and we're very proud of our students that have reached that that top tier. I think there's a nice recognition that we have prepared for them tonight. So, uh, as we call your names, if you'll come up and parents, if you're here, if you'd stand up and wave, we definitely want to recognize you because without your time and your dedication, hard work, and taxiing kids till they get that driver's license, a lot of this would not happen. getting them to lessons and to ensemble participations and things of that nature. I'm very proud of you all, too, because 50 years ago, I was
039an allstator and I only look 35, but music stays with you a very long time and and it's uh something that's with you for life. Before we get to the students, we've got some of their their um teachers here with us. We have Miss Robbins >> from Hammond High >> also in in the coral department. Uh here in Tancho, we have a rookie teacher, but you wouldn't know she's a rookie the way she's just really done a great job this year. She's also a product of Tanchoa Parish. We have Miss Emily Weiardo. And when I tried to retire a few years back, um, one of my, um, supporters said, "Well, James, you're not going too far. You need to keep, you know, dreaming up what we can do in in music in Tangaho." So, I'm
040going to say good morning to my former neighbor, Miss Stephanie Robertson. And thank you so much, Miss Dilly, and the rest of the board. Uh, we had a meeting uh, back in I don't know if you remember that meeting. It was the schoolboard association convention. Baton Rouge. >> It was in Baton Rouge and all of our representatives, all of our schoolboard members made it a point to come to the LMEA booth to see what we had to offer. Now, everyone else there was selling curriculum and books and all kind of stuff. We were just saying we're here as music educators. We want to be in our schools. We want to reach students and reach community. So, thank y'all so much for that commitment and doing that. And the students that we want to recognize tonight
041um that they are in different ensembles in in the all state area in the mixed choir from Ponchatula High we had uh Leah Lopez. Leah uh was a second soprano voice. She's not with us tonight. Also in the mixed choir we have Jackson Hudges from Hammond High Magnet School Tener 2. And in the bass section singing bass one from Ponchula High School, we have Lewis Johnson III. In the treble choir, treble choir and those voices, if I'm correct, that's soprano, soprano, alto, most of your higher voices. And we had three young ladies from Hammond High Magnet School that are represented. We have Rain Whitney. Rain is not with us tonight, but we still want to celebrate her. We have Michael Sullley and Desiree Lucas. Come on up, Desiree. Make a little room for everybody. Okay.
042On the instrumental side of the house in the all state concert band, Abigail Morse, Ponchhatula High School on Finnax and not with us tonight and he just graduated from Ponchula High School. I think he's in the real world now working a job somewhere. Uh let's celebrate Mar Marlon Bagnet trumpet from Ponchetta High School in the symphonic band. In the symphonic band all state level Samuel Morris bass clarinet from Ponchatula High. next two gentlemen are probably out somewhere working because that's what young people do so they can afford lessons sometimes or or pay mom or dad back for you know a little gas money to get to some lessons or ensembles. Uh so we we have uh Tommy Krider. Tommy plays trombone. He's from Ponchula High School. And next is also Carter Elie, a percussionist. He's
043from Ponchatula High. Carter uh did something a little different. Most kids instrumentally they will make the the bands, the wind bands. Carter played percussion in the orchestra. So that was a very different experience for him and we're very proud of him. also in in the orchestra and we don't have an orchestra program here in Tanchaho Parish yet >> yet but we would hope that when we do and we grow students and and uh have them move forward in their music that they are as as um accomplished I don't know a better word for Anna Johnson. Anna's violin one in the all state orchestra. And I think you've probably heard Anna do some presentations here at the school board before. So if you've heard her either here or 4, you know what a fine job she
044does on her violin. Uh Tommy uh unfortunately he's not here tonight. Tommy has been selected to be featured in the state virtual solo recital. These are students that play individually. Uh it is very rigorous and they will pick the top 10 in each category. So Tommy will be representing Tanchaho, Ponchula High School and District 9 as a soloist, a gold medal winner. So we're very proud of Thomas. Some young people here, they see me pretty much every day. I hope uh it's a smile on their face. Uh this is something that we have tried to do in our expansion getting more feeder schools in our band programs. We want to keep that uh growing into the elementary and also in choir. Um so these are some of my my young gentlemen there. They're with me
045at Champ Cooper, my homebased school. Uh we've only had band now for three years and it has been quite a journey and to see how they have grown and we hope to continue to grow students there because these feeders are what keep students going in the high school level and we hope that um students that that are going to graduate soon will continue in music and parents let's say this big word music scholarships they're there and they can pay for a lot of school. Uh so we we hope that uh these young people will will stay with it. Okay. From my school, these are uh young people. We're going to spend a couple of days in Lafayette as a part of the Louisiana Band Masters Association Allstar Middle School Band. They had to send in
046a recorded audition that uh was listened to across the state and I was so proud to see that they've been selected. So we're going to have a good time. We're going to make sure that we're tucked in and you know and everything because we're representing Tanchaho and I'm sure they're doing going to do a great job with that. So on French Horn we have Luke Cashion. Good night up Luke. Uh Jacob Gomez on trumpet not with us tonight because I think his little um brother is graduating kindergarten somewhere. in the parishes. Kaden Jacobs. Kaden is a trumpet player. And rounding up our bunch tonight, we have Preston Pajovski on tener saxophone. So, come on up. And I think we're going to take a picture here. I want to thank Miss Dilly in particular for your
047coffee talks that you did back in March featuring music in our schools month. That meant so much to all of us music teachers that we had the top person in the in the district come out spend that time with us to find out what we are doing in the classrooms and how important it is and all curriculum on all campuses. So thank you so very much for that >> the work you do. very well. >> Look, I I want to say that we have some amazing students in our school district and these are just some of them. Of course, Garden uh with his, but we have amazing students across the district. But behind every amazing student, you have to have amazing teachers and amazing parents. So, all of you out there that are here because
048you're par you're a parent, um we appreciate what you do because it's a partnership. We can't do it without you. So, let's get a picture, right? Yeah. Congratulations going back this way. Works. >> All right, guys. We're going to take a 3 to 5 minute recess to let these guys take pictures with their families if they want to step outside. We do have a backdrop outside if y'all want to catch a couple pictures. And the board will return in about 3 to 5 minutes to start finance. Everybody's welcome to stay, but if you don't want to stay at this point, you don't have to. Of course, we'd love to have you, but don't feel obligated. And >> channel 17, proudly serving the Florida parishes. Go to action item seven which is executive session. Do we
049have a motion to enter executive session? >> So move to enter executive session to consider >> I don't have it in front of >> consider the case item A consider the case of Raymond Bean and item B Alton Sofure versus TPSS. >> Yes. >> So we got a motion by Mr. Duncan and a second by Mr. West Mler. Channel 17, proudly serving the Florida parishes. Uh, do we have a motion for items A and B? >> Mr. President, on the matter of uh Raymond Dean, I moved that we adopt council's recommendation. >> All right, we have a motion to adopt council's recommendation on item A uh by Mr. Duncan and a second by Mr. West Morland. Any objection to the adoption? All right, hearing no objection. Motion passes and item B. >> Mr. President, on
050the matter of Alton Sophshire versus Tampa Paris School System at all, I move to adopt council's recommendation. Second. >> All right, we have a motion to adopt council's recommendation for item B by Mr. Duncan and a second by Mr. West Morland. Any objection? Are hearing? No objection. That motion passes as well. All right. and we will move back up to item four, which is financial updates. And we'll start with 4 A, sales tax updates. Mr. McNeely. >> All right. Good evening. Uh our sales tax updates for uh through April 30th. See, which first one are uh All right. Um so for our two cent sales tax, it was up 8.63% 63% uh for the month of April, which is a $525,000 increase over the prior year. Um, which has us on pace for a 9.52%
051increase for the year, uh, which would be about $6 million over last year. So, we're looking good with sales tax, continue to stop, shop at home. Uh, Ephid U, about the same numbers, um, 9.11 increase and it's up almost 12% for the year. Uh, and with because it's a much smaller tax, that's about $1.7 million increase over >> back up to the graph, please. >> And then on the graph, >> yeah, I was just taking a look at it. >> The uh the orange numbers are actuals and then where it turns blue, those are projections. So, you can see that it's orange through April the 30th. And then the blue shows the um in November the stipen and then the line goes below 4 million. And so unless there's a change in uh policy or
052unless there's an increase or something happens with salaries, we will not be able to do the $500 stipen in 2027. >> I just wanted to remind everybody of that and that's something I'm sure that we're looking into and working on already. Thank you. >> All right. >> You're going to do item B as well, the presentation of the April check register. >> Yes. Uh it is a new format. Um we've we've gone using some different um reporting software and uh so it is I didn't receive any questions. If you have any just let me know. >> I didn't I was actually a little um I didn't email this but I figured you would maybe address it. The check numbers is that actual check numbers. Check number 99 million. >> That is that is actually I
053believe think those check numbers but um if you notice and they accidentally um subtotal the checks instead of subtotaling. So, like I looked at the first one, I said, "Oh my lord, we spent $792 million with somebody and then I realized, oh, that's the sum of the check numbers." Uh, but I didn't discover that until this afternoon. So, we will get that fixed for the next. >> Okay. I was trying to figure out what that number was when I was looking at this, but that makes perfect sense. Thank you. >> All right. We'll go to item C, which is the presentation of the March 2026 financial reports. Also, Mr. McNeely. >> All right. Um, so you have the whichever one you want to go to first. Uh, how about all there we go? All funds
054balance I'm old school balance sheet statement of net position. Um, you can see that our cash um, compared to June 30th 25 is about the same. Actually, each item is pretty close. The only one that's not is if you look at taxes receivable uh, and that's just because that's an acrruel item that gets booked at the end of the year. So that's that's the big difference there. Same thing if you look at liabilities, uh they're different and it's because the um acred salaries um have not been booked yet and that'll be done on June 30th of 26. Um the only other item I discovered an issue uh page one under the audited column. I'm sorry, the next the I moved I moved on to the to the um budget. Uh that's general fund. One more.
055There we go. Uh it doesn't affect our budget. It's I just didn't want anybody seeing. If you look at the first column, it says unodudited. Um that is actually our audited numbers. That's getting corrected. But sales tax, it shows $121 million. Uh that number is actually$85 million. That's that was a typo in that spreadsheet. So that's that's getting corrected. So our sales tax did not drop by $30 million from last year to this year. It's actually increased from about 85 to 90 million is what we're projecting. Uh we will be uh coming to you uh you should have copies in front of you of the revised budget. Um those are just for presentation tonight so that you have them and we will be placing those on the June 2nd finance meeting to begin the revised
056budget process. Um all right, general fund. Um statement of net position, same thing. The taxes receivable are not booked. Uh and um the the only other change is if you see under audited reserved insurance retirement was there was $3.5 million and there's none in there this year. It's because that three and a half million was for health care uh retirey health care and it is now moved into the OPED fund and it is reflected on the all statements. It's just in a different bucket. All right. Any questions? >> All right. All right. Let y'all perk up for the next three. Let's see. >> All right. So, you're up here for the next ones. No questions or comments or concerns on um item C, presentation of the March 2026 financials. All right. If not, we'll move
057to item 5 A. Consider authorizing the superintendent to execute any and all documents related to the purchase of property on the school section road, including the selection of a title company for closing. Mr. McNeely. >> All right. With your approval, we executed a uh purchase agreement for $170,000 pending an appraisal. Uh we received the appraisal from Murphy. It came in at 180 which is higher than the purchase price. So that's good. So administration uh is asking to move forward with the purchase of this property authorizing the superintendent to sign any and all documents and appoint a title company to handle the closing. >> I'll make a motion to uh accept the recommendation for this property. >> All right. Have a motion by Mr. Dominguez. >> And a second by Mr. West Morland. Have any uh
058comments, questions? Anything else you want to add, Mr. McNeely? It said uh it does mention on on the item actually uh choosing a title company. I don't think any of us have a horse in the race. So, we're just going to select one based on a get a couple quotes or something. >> You need some assistance in that. I can maybe help you with that. >> That's what I was. I'll help you with that. >> All right. Okay. Well, that being said, we have a motion and a second. No questions, comments, concerns. We can go ahead and call for vote. Miss Amanda, please. >> Mr. Anthony, >> yes. >> Mr. West Morland, >> yes. >> Miss Dominguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Duncan, >> yes. >> Mr. Moore, >> yes. >> Miss Richards, >> yes. >>
059Mr. Toller, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Item B is consider approval for the low bid for Hammond High School track restoration. Mr. Paige or andor Mr. McNeely? Okay. Yeah. Uh we opened bids on this on May the 13th. Uh the low bid of geo services surfaces of 648,000 recommended by Coleman Partners and that is the administration recommendation to uh accept the low bid of 648,000 subject to court approval. >> Move to adopt administration's recommendation. >> Second. >> All right. Motion by Mr. Duncan and a second by Miss Dominguez. I'm going to ask if we have any questions, comments, concerns on this one. We've talked about it so much that I think everybody's well verssed on it. But um do we have any comments or >> just point out that it came in
060less than >> less than anticipated. It's only about 100,000 more than the other two tracks. >> Not not a bad deal considering the scope of work on this one versus the other one. >> Yeah. >> All right. Hearing no other questions or concerns, Miss Amanda, can we call for a vote on this one as well, please? >> Mr. Anthony? >> Yes. >> Mr. West Morland? >> Yes. Miss Dominguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Duncan, >> yes. >> Mr. Moore, >> yes. >> Miss Richards, >> yes. >> Mr. Toller, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> And Mr. McNeely, the timeline that we got back on that is that should be finished before track season starts back up. >> We have to get court approval. So, >> depending on court approval. That's right. Okay. >> You want a
061chair? You going to be standing there a couple more items? Are you good? >> Yeah, I'm good. >> All right. Get some exercise. Item C is consider approval to amend the job title from custodian coordinator to custodian foreman. Also, Mr. McNeely. >> All right. I know these usually go to personnel, but this is just a title change to avoid confusion. Uh it it says there was custodian coordinator and in the salary schedule coordinator is a very specific position in education that is a a certified position. So, we're just asking uh to to change this to custodian foreman so that it aligns with what the position actually is in the salary schedule. >> Move to adopt the administration's recommendation. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion to approve administration's recommendation by Mr. Duncan and
062a second by Mr. Toller. Do we have any questions, comments from the board? Hearing no questions or comments. Mr. Amanda, can we call for vote, please? >> Mr. Anthony, >> yes. >> Mr. West Morland, >> yes. >> Miss Dominguez, >> yes. Mr. Duncan, >> yes. >> Mr. Moore, >> yes. >> Miss Richards, >> yes. >> And Mr. Toller, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Item D, approval to revise and reissue the RFP for superintendent search services to align with board priorities. Uh, I guess I'm presenting this one. Um, I'm pretty sure that I've discussed this with with most of you uh one way or another. So, this is the more streamlined and narrowed down uh approach and it will go out for an RFP. Results should be in next week is the
063goal that this could be back on the agenda for approval as soon as June 2nd. It's kind of the goal for that as well. And again, this is just u some of the services that were being offered on the previous RFP are going to be removed and we'll handle that stuff amongst ourselves or in house. So, do we have a motion for that? Make a motion to um reissue the RFP for superintendent firm. >> All right. All right. We have a motion by Miss Dominguez and a second by Mr. West Morland. Do we have any further questions, concerns, comments on this RFP? >> Just point out that the goal is to refine the the scope and hopefully save the taxpayers a substantial amount of money. >> That's correct. There there were some things that were
064being offered on the original RFPs for anybody who may be wondering that were just um having done it a few years ago with some of the board members on this particular board that still sit found to be unnecessary and and to be frank I guess maybe wasteful in terms of spending. So this is still uh just for anybody who may be concerned a nationwide search. This is still another firm vetting and getting us a top top 10 or a top percentage of the candidates. this is still somebody else helping us with the interview process. It just takes away some um some things that we can handle here in house like town halls, community meetings, preparation and and things leading up to the selection and the interviews. So um nothing much has changed just some of
065the stuff that the firm would have to travel here here for is no longer necessary. The other thing I think is that one of the most expensive parts of the proposals that we got also was to try to help us negotiate the contract with the superintendent that we select and I don't really think we need the search firm to help us with that. We have >> our own experts that have always done that for us in the past. So >> that's correct. And we did actually there is an item on this RFP that that says hey can you provide to us what other similarly sized districts within a reasonable proximity or compensating their superintendent but again that's something they can deliver us a one pager by email that will take them maybe an hour or
066two to prepare versus a large study that's just we uh find unnecessary at this point. Yep. All right. Any other questions, comments, concerns? >> All right. We can go ahead and call for vote please. Please, Miss Amanda. >> Mr. Anthony, >> yes. >> Mr. West Morland, >> yes. >> Miss Dominguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Duncan, >> yes. >> Mr. Moore, >> yes. >> Miss Richards, >> yes. >> Mr. Toller, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Item six, we have superintendent reports and recommendations. General updates. Miss Stewie. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. just um you know as school clo gets close to the end in the next day or so um our schools will be preparing to dis disseminate report cards. We're going to do them three ways this year.
067Um parents can look into the student progress center and view their child's report card right right then. Um, one the other way is that we will email the report card, uh, the final report card to the parents email address that's on file. Uh, so it's super important that, you know, families are keeping that email updated uh and also their their phone number. They can do that in the students progress center by the way or you can call the school uh for assistance or the registration center. And then the third way this year that they will receive is by snail what I call snail mail, regular mail, uh report cards, which will be slower. That probably will be faster for most people just to go to the progress center and look at that. Uh we're hoping
068to have um it posted on the progress center and um emailed out by Monday um for for families. Uh and this is the last year that we're going to snail mail them. Um we're we're trying to get people it's much faster uh to get it electronically through the uh a lot of our families are using the student progress center uh and they're also getting very good at email and checking that and which way we communicate that. Uh June the 1st we start summer school already. Uh and that's for specific students, not all students. Uh this will be again communicated to the families of students who are eligible for summer school. Uh and so there'll be instructions for them to to do things that they'll need to do on their end in order to get their
069child signed up for June 1st because because of their eligibility. Uh so I wanted to mention that. And today's coffee talk was about the different summer uh engagement activities for families through the office of innovation. Uh it was actually held at the library. Uh you know as we know the library does a lot of special events and all for students in the summer as well. And uh at one of our upcoming coffee talks, we'll specifically have the uh parish library um people on there to talk about the schedule for the summer and some of the different things that they do uh and people that they bring in um for their summer programs. So, uh it's another great year and I know our our teachers and employees are looking forward to um closing out this year
070this year this week. Um and we you know wish everyone a very restful summer summer and a safe summer especially um during their time off for students and employees. That's I think that's all I have. >> Like a deal. Thank you. All right. We have completed item seven which is executive session. We'll move on to board acknowledgement item eight. Um does anybody want to start it off? Mr. Moore, are you ready to go? Any any public comment? Well, I I think that we can celebrate another successful year with our students uh progress. Um I want to commend our teachers and our principles. Um you guys are my favorites. You hold the the future, you know, of this country in your hands for each one of our students who graduates and goes on to participate as
071leaders. You are responsible. and uh just wanted to let you know I appreciate you and um I keep you guys in my prayers. >> Thank you, Mr. Mingos. >> Well, congratulations on a great year. We're almost done. Um I would like to uh congratulate our office of innovation. I love the video. And whoever talked that was good. They they were they had the perfect like a radio voice. >> Miss Rose. >> Okay. >> Hey, get your microphone. There you go. >> Okay. Uh anyway, I enjoyed that and I did enjoy the the couple of tours that I got to do. So, y'all did a great job. I appreciate that. That was good. It was a nice presentation as well. Thank you. Good luck to everybody and have a great summer to all of our employees
072and our students. >> Thank you, Mr. Duncan. >> Yeah, it was a great year uh in the areas of student achievement. You know, our graduates were particularly impressive, I think, this year for all of our schools. um the scholarship money, the um the uh career certifications, the uh college credits, the um all of that was exceptional. >> Uh I also um we had I think record numbers um on our truency uh that we we recently released. And then >> yeah, reduced our truency mean yeah record reductions in truency. Our reading scores uh were exceptional. Uh and then our uh student behavior was was uh improved uh substantially I think this year. Uh and then finally it was nice to to get a report during our capital outlay committee this u earlier this evening on just
073all of the progress that's being made to improve our facilities both small projects and big projects um to include a project at Woodland Park that we are wrapping up and doing the ribbon cutting on uh at 9:00 tomorrow morning. So, um yeah, lots of lots of great things that um to be proud of as a system and appreciate all the hard work of the people who made it happen. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Richards. >> I was waiting for them. >> Oh, I can if you're ready. >> Okay. I just want to say um congratulations to our staff for a wonderful year um and all of the hard work that you put in and to the innovation department. Uh I'm always telling them how proud of them I am because involving our family in
074our communities especially in our rural areas is really really important and we just kind of see that the parents are enjoying it and and to being informed. Also, I'd like to say that uh I'm kind of my voice is tired. I'm tired from graduate high school graduations and all the way down to now the kindergarten graduations, but it's just it was just so good to see our kindergarteners and they're being so excited because they did so well with dibbles. So, the the parents was excited about it and then everybody was asking, "Well, what is that? Well, what is that?" but the the kids were telling them what it was and our kids really did well with it. So, we're proud of them and we're proud of our teachers for it. Thank you. >> Thank you,
075Mr. Toler. >> Office of Innovation, you know, you notice the more people that we get to visit our schools, >> the better our reputation is. >> Yeah. >> And it's because people don't know, well, they don't know. and when they see our schools and they see so I applaud the office for doing that with the clergy tours. um love to see us get back to, you know, schoolboard meetings when we can in the classrooms or in the libraries or at the schools. But, um, you know, and I know logistically it's probably hard, but I'm I was just thinking earlier all of the presentations and the programs at schools, um, especially at the end of the year like this, the parents typically will go to the gym or the auditorium, wherever for the event. Well, they're
076not going to just let them roam through the school. And I understand logistically that's an issue. But wouldn't it be nice if they could not only come to a kindergarten ceremony or prek or whatever that they could leave and like an open house and walk through the school and see the other kids learning. >> Um I know there's problems with that and there's issues with that, but the more people we can get in our schools, the better our reputation is because people just don't know. >> So uh hats off to your office and what y'all are doing to get that word out. um graduates. Uh once again, congratulations. Um and also want to thank the resource officers and the law enforcement that worked every night at the graduations inside the building, outside the building to
077ensure that these events went on without problem and that um they were well intended and uh well secured. And then last, I spoke a little bit about this to Mr. me and I wanted to give the board members a chance to think about it before I bring a policy back, but I really do I really do want to work on this whole deal of going cashless. Um, you know, this week I got hit with a fee for Derby that I didn't agree to. You know, this as a school system, we're forcing people to pay 3% because they have to use this system to pay their fees. I didn't get a choice. I had to pay the 3%. You know, I should have the choice as a parent to pay cash, a check, whatever. Um I
078I believe it's a courtesy fee. Whether it's a ball game, whether it's a whatever it is, it should be a courtesy fee. If I'm wanting to pay with my debit card, I'm willing to spend 3%. To pay for that. But if the school forces me to pay something, I should not be forced to pay that 3% because you told me I had to do it. So we I'm going figure up something in policy and I I welcome input from the board and input from Jeff and the superintendent. Um we need to come up with a realistic solution. If we're going to force people to pay 3%, it needs to be absorbed by the school system. If you give me the choice, I'll pay it. If you don't give me the choice, you pay it. And
079I want some type of policy to protect those people in our community that still want to pay cash to have that option and not have to pay a 3% charge. That's my soap box. >> More to come. >> All right, Mr. Westmore. >> All right. >> Right. Ditto. to what all of our members have been saying tonight. You know, congratulations uh to the superintendent and all the administration for a great year. Uh a lot of successes that we have celebrated including tonight the the music industry. Uh the swag appreciation was uh something the pastor they both they all three gave great compassion as to what they saw. Uh congratulations Dr. Porter, you're doing an excellent job. Appreciate your your efforts in that matter and hope everyone enjoys their summer. I already saw something that said,
080"Welcome back to school dash July 25th or something like that." Wait, we got to celebrate being off before we can start worrying about going back to school. But >> y'all enjoy. That's >> right. Anything else you want to add? Do you think of anything during this time? I have a couple just really quick notes. Obviously, ditto to what exactly what y'all are saying. Um, I was I was so glad to hear the pastor say what I say every time I leave the school. It It's so much better when you go there and you get to walk through and and if you're going unannounced, they're not preparing for you. Um, you just get to see what it's actually like. And our staff does an outstanding job from from you guys from administration to the superintendent all
081the way to the school level administration, etc., etc. Everybody does an outstanding job. We have awesome kids. Awesome kids. Um, I did want to apologize for Mr. Piaza, he really wanted to be here, but he's coaching his son's championship baseball game. So, good luck to them. And Miss Robin had some something she had to attend to, kind of an emergency situation, so she apologized as well. But other than that, that is all I have today. Um, we're going to move to item nine, which is public input. It does appear that we have at least uh one item for public input. And Mr. Lawrence, if you want to come forward, please. Miss um Miss Amanda will set a timer. You have that option available still and the floor will be yours as soon as that timer
082is set. Sir, >> should get into it. >> There we go. Are you able to see it, Mr. Ross? >> Okay, gotcha. Good deal. >> All right. Floor is yours, sir. >> All right. Good evening, board. Uh, it I heard some exceptional news today regarding our the state of our school district and the wonderful things that our children are doing. However, I have some disappointing news to share as this could have been an opportunity for some positive news to take place last Wednesday. Um, last Wednesday I saw that Mr. Anthony was in an accident on JW Davis and I stopped and I asked he, you know, asked him if he was okay, if everything was fine and he said it was and the young man that was involved in the car wreck, I asked him
083as well. And um I kind of stayed in the area just to kind of just make sure of what was taking place. And there were some things that I witnessed that I didn't quite like. And I sent Mr. Anthony a text message and he called and during his conversation he became irate and I was assuring him that that's not my intention to start an argument or to even try to make this thing worse. I understand that you were in a car wreck and it's great that you're okay, but the way that he conducted himself, I did not appreciate that as a school board member and as the school board president. And I asked him did he would he at least consider uh did he at least consider using that as a as an opportunity to
084minister or coach the young man that was involved in the involved in the wreck which presumed to be where Mr. Anthony break checked as a witness updated to the police report which caused the wreck and the things that Mr. Anthony said I just could not believe that he would say those things. He said well what did you want me to do? did you want me to hit the dog? And I said, well, we're not going to make this about a dog. I said, I understand that the dog was a part of was around in the area, but I mean, we don't need to compare the severity of not hitting a dog and causing a wreck with a young man. And so then, you know, he began to call the man, the young man, a maniac.
085And it was just language that I know that he should not have heard. I mean, he should have not displayed. And it and as I was still trying to calm him down, you know, he began to say that you're trying to call me white privilege. And it was just it was confusion and it was mess that should not have taken place. And I told Mr. Anthony that all I want you to do is to exempl to exhibit some form of leadership in this situation. and he told me that he could that he refused to do that and whatever was to happen to the young man involved in the car wreck that was on him. And I I just I just feel as a representative of Tangro Paris school system board that that was not the
086the the way for a school board member to act in that manner. And I do know that and I I will not try to smear your your role as a public officer, but I do feel as a school board president that you should be able to show some type of compassion regarding the circumstance, especially some public passions, public compassion. And if you can't do that, I I do expect you to step down from your role of president and just become a normal board member. I'm not asking for you to resign from your role, although I did state that in the email that you all that I sent to you all. But the way that he conducted himself, I'm just ashamed. And the way that he talked so negatively about District G and he said that
087it was a despair community and he was the only one trying to work to uh get rid of the blighted houses and the blighted property because he's the only one who cares about the community. But I would like to add that uh I'm a resident of district G and I feel as though that I am a remarkable person as others who have who lived in that community and who have served this school district in great capacity. So, I'm here today to just shed light on as board members, we should uplift the same morals and the same respect culture as the superintendent has set forth for students, employees, and parents as well. Because if I came here and incited some type of riot, I would be held accountable as you all could press charges and I
088would have to deal with um the the court. And I feel as though in this situation that Mr. Anthony should be held account held accountable in some for some some form or fashion. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. All right. With no other matters to come before the board this evening, I will consider this meeting ajourned. Thank you.