001Meeting school board meeting called to order for November 18th. We'll start with roll call. Miss Amanda. >> Miss Abrams here. >> Mr. Anthony here. >> Miss Dominguez. >> Mr. Duncan >> here. >> Mr. Moore. >> Mr. Piaza >> here. >> Miss Richards >> present. >> Mr. Toller >> here. >> Mr. West Morland >> present. >> Mr. Morris here. >> This time I'd ask you please stand with me. Stand with us and I'm going ask Miss Abrams if she would lead us in the 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. May be seated. >> Trying to get my computer to cooperate, but I know we have several committee reports to
002consider. Starting with the DRC appeal from November 10th. We hear a motion to accept those minutes. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Motion made by Mr. Anthony, second by Mr. Piaza. Any debate, questions, corrections, or public input? Hearing none, call for any objection to the motion. Hearing none, motion carries by common consent. Moving to D, personnel committee from November 4th. >> So move. Motion made by Mr. Piaza. >> Second by M. Rose. Any corrections, additions? >> I just want to clarify that on the agenda, these should be about considering approval of the report from the personnel committee. We are approving the recommendations made by the personnel committee as part of our actions on this agenda. And then that report is made a part of the minutes for this meeting. Uh finally, we're not approving minutes. We're
003committ We're approving the recommendations made by the personnel committee. >> Very important. Any objections? Hearing no objection. Motion carries by common consent. All right. Moving to item E. Consider approval of the finance committee meeting for November 4th. >> I'll make a motion. >> Motion made by Mr. Anthony. >> Second by Mr. Piaza any additions, corrections or comments or public input? Hearing none. Any objection to the motion? Hearing no objection. Motion carries. Item F, consider approval of the capital outlay from October 21st of this year. Do I hear a motion? >> Before we make that motion, I just want to make sure that we're approving that right. I know at that meeting we paused all phase three projects that weren't concerning the gyms. After the retreat, do we need to go back and amend that to
004push them all forward? >> Well, we can't >> like if we go and vote them separate. >> I think we those would have to come back to a committee the capital outlay committee meeting. Okay. >> And we would have to take action. >> Okay. >> So move. >> Okay. Motion made by Mr. Piaza. >> Second by Mr. Westerland. Any corrections, additions, or public input? >> Well, according to what she's got written here, it says consider approval for Lana Elementary Classroom to remove portables. It says carried, but we didn't carry it. We held it. >> Yeah. I I really don't think these minutes should be on the agenda again because we took action on this committee report at our last school board meeting. That was my question. >> No action. You >> want me to put
005no action needed? >> I just think we need to pull this one because we already took action on this committee report at our last schoolboard meeting. >> Okay. So, >> go ahead. >> Um, didn't the last action table certain items? that tabled that but that was part of our meeting of the last school board member where we took up the recommendations of the capital outlay committee of October the 24th which again we don't we don't approve the minutes of committee committees we approve we we take up the reports from the committee in our full board meeting and then we decide what we we're going to whether we're going to adopt the recommendation of the committee or do something different. So, at our last school board meeting, >> right, >> we took up the recommendations that
006were made by the capital outlay committee on October the 21st. We changed those recommendations and then approved what we approved. >> I thought we I thought we approved two and then tabled the rest of them until after. >> Well, we shouldn't be taking action again on the capital outlay committee minutes from October the 21st because we already acted on those at our last school board meeting. So, with them being on the table, how do they get approved? They have to go back. >> Stuff that did not get through at our last schoolboard meeting needs to go back to a capital outlay committee meeting and we need to make take a new set of action on those. >> So, all we're approving tonight is the fact that we tabled is >> what you're saying. >> Well,
007but it wouldn't be part of >> there's no action to take tonight. >> There's nothing on the committee minutes because we took action already on the report from the capital outlay committee. That's what was part of our school board meeting of November the >> the last >> whatever it was >> 21st. So this just needs to come off of the agenda. >> Yeah, >> because we've already acted on the committee report. >> Well, we have a motion and a second on the floor. So >> who has a second? >> We need a motion to >> Can I motion to amend my motion since I made the motion? >> No, I'm just thinking Robert's rules of order. If we have a motion and a second on the floor, we don't just do away with it. We
008need to do some type of action. >> I withdraw my motion. >> Made the second. And who made the motion? >> I withdraw my motion. >> Motion. >> I withdraw the second. >> Okay. So, motion's been withdrawn and and the second's been withdrawn. So, at this point, we have no action to take on item F. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Yeah. >> All right. So, on to item G. Y'all are really going to try to confuse me tonight. Item G. Consider approval of the capital ally committee minutes from November 4th. Do I hear a motion? >> So, what was that? >> That was the one with the design for the awning at Martha Vineyard. >> So, we haven't acted on that already? >> No. >> So, we're com again approving the report from the
009committee. >> Correct. >> Okay. So, I will move to approve the report from the capital outlay committee of November the 4th, 2025. >> Motion made by Mr. Dun, second by Mr. Piaza. Any additions, corrections, or public input? Hearing none. Any objections? Hearing no objection. Motion carries. >> Item H. Consider approval of the minutes from the board retreat November the 12th. >> So move. >> Motion made by Mr. Piaza. >> Second by Mr. Westerland. I will say I appreciate everybody's attendance that day and their um the time that they gave in. Any corrections, additions, or public input? Any objections to the motion? Hearing none, motion carries. And then last but not least, item I, consider approval of the board minutes from November the 4th. >> We'll move to table to our next meeting, the approval of
010the November 4th board minutes so that we can clarify and correct them between now and then. >> Okay, we have a motion to table. >> Seconded by Mr. Dominguez. Motion made by Mr. Duncan to table item I. Any questions? Any objections? Hearing no objection. Motion carries. Okay. Awards and recognitions. Item A, recognize Miss Anne Trape, recipient of the 20. >> That's being moved to the >> That's been I was going to go ahead and see her here. I know. >> Yeah. Okay. Same thing. >> Once again, y'all name more curve balls. Item three, department update, office of innovation updates. Mr. Porter >> in your >> Is that really Mr. PORTER? >> I KNOW. >> We all were in shock and all. >> It's really me. >> THIS IS A NEW MR. PORTER. >> Just Just
011to put this disclaimer out there, I did have leadership tango today. This was our roughing it day. So, I probably smell like global wildlife, but it's all good. >> You barely got here, right? >> We had a great day. Uh, I want to thank uh Superintendent Stilly and the board for the opportunity to share uh tonight and give an update on the Office of Innovation. I first want to introduce the team uh when I call the team's names. If you guys would just kind of stand and then I'm going to allow them since they're a little bit better dressed than me to come and share um what we've been doing in Office of Innovation. So, we have Miss Crystal Hooper who is our family uh our coordinator of family uh outreach and engagement. We have
012Miss Danielle Stewart who is our coordinator of registration and family school choice. We have Dr. Ashley Gayton who is our professional development coordinator and we have Miss Emma Divine who's our administrative assistant in the office of innovation. So I want to yield to these ladies and they're going to come and talk about the things that we have been doing in the office of innovation and we want to thank all of you. Um we had our first uh clergy tour today. Uh I was able to after our meeting today to watch the coffee talk and see the feedback and uh I was very pleased. I want to thank the team because they were able to move forward with the tour today without me. Um, but I really appreciate their work and we have a great team
013here and we're looking forward to doing great work in the district. >> Yeah, come on up. >> Good evening. >> I'm Crystal Hooper and uh I am the community outreach coordinator. And so as a team, I'm going to talk about a little bit things that we've been doing. Uh we started we hit the ground listening. And so we've started what are called listening tours. Uh one of the first things that we did was we disagregated the survey data for the calendar um the upcoming calendar. We hosted the clergy breakfast where we invited the clergy throughout Tangaho Parish and um which was a very successful event. We didn't have all of the updated phone numbers and names but we requested additional names and phone numbers of people who were not there which as a result of
014that clergy breakfast. We did the bus tour today which we thought was very successful. We had um 18 uh 18 people that went on campuses today across six schools. We had a phenomenal tour today. The feedback was amazing. Um we have been put up input questions, impact questions at all of our schools. Our parents can answer questions about the campus, what's going on on the campus. We actually did a drawing for the month of October. And we had two schools that were tied for the number of questions that were answered. and some of our community partners gave us gifts to send out to those parents and to send out to the schools as well. Um our we've been collaborating with different departments with early childhood. Um we've been collaborating with the PD coordinator communications and
015so we've just been listening. We've been meeting with different departments and we have been listening. And so I'm going to talk a little bit about my role as the community outreach coordinator. Um on every campus we have established what's called a fed. It's the family engagement designate. So every one of our campuses including task and college and career has sent us a name. We also have a early childhood member on our team as well and those are going to be the face of the family engagements that happen on every campus. So we had our first call yesterday and um which was a success because today they were ready to go. They were a part of our tour. They helped get the students engaged and rolled out the tours. Today um we have uh launched an
016initiative called the hope closet. We have partnered with uh Crimestoppers and we've partnered with transport ministries. And so we're working to put a hope closet which is like a pantry on every campus 34 campuses because task and college and career where transport ministries I don't know if you guys are familiar with it when there's a disaster in an area they bring in 18 wheelers of trucks full of cleaning supplies, snacks, foods, non-p perishables. And so there is a truck coming. We don't know the date as of yet. And so we've been getting our schools in position to receive some of these goods. We're working with some of the water companies to have water. We're working with um North Oaks and we've got a contact at Medline to have first aid kits and supplies as well.
017And so we have been gearing up the feds to make sure they establish a space, see if they need a locked cabinet to put those things in. Some of the schools already have something of a sort on campus, but we're going to stock them. We've also asked our clergy members if to consider having a whole closet on their campuses as well. So when the school is closed, our families can still go and get those supplies and everything that they need. Um we've been building our community partnerships um through Crimestoppers. We've been attending the track meetings. We did the town hall meeting. Miss Dilly was there with us on that. Um our friend's closet has already dropped off a couple of supplies. They sent some things for Natal Benny's homeless. Did y'all see that? Natal Benny's
018homeless. Um where they were trying to give supplies to the hygiene to the homeless. And then myself, I serve on learning communities three and four. So the resolve a problem. I'm looking at those um at least twice a month just to ensure that the principal supervisors and principles are resolving those issues. Any questions for me? >> Okay. Good to have you. >> Thank you. >> Good job. That's a lot. I was trying to write that out. >> Yeah, I'm writing it all down. I'm like, "Oh, man. I missed one." >> Hi, my name is Ashley Gayton. I am the professional development coordinator of family and community engagement. I am very passionate about marginalized populations, including English learners. So, I am working with the EL department to plan EL um planning for improving the department as
019well as EL nights. Our first EL night will be in December. Um, and we'll plan to do more throughout the year. I'm also working on doing parent advisory committees um um so that we can meet and get their voice in what decisions we make. Um and also I'm planning to do hybrid PDS, something new, so that we can have parents come in person, but also provide it to those who are not able to come. So to air it maybe on Zoom or Google Meet so that they can watch at home. Some of the areas that I'm looking to do PDS in soon are parent school communication um attendance and prek kindergarten readiness because these are areas that people are telling me um is a huge need and I serve on learning communities one and two
020and I do also check the resolve a problem just to see if there are any issues. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Gaty. Hi, I'm Danielle. Hi, I'm Danielle Stewart. I'm the new coordinator of student registration and school choice. Um, essentially in my role, what I've been doing is looking at our current student registration process and examining it, looking to see how we can expedite it, make it better for both families and students and our office as a whole. Um, I've been educating myself on the our current student choice models and um better educate looking to better educate families on the student choice options like the magnet school programs and things of that nature. I've also been looking at possibly hosting a professional development for our school secretaries and representatives on campus to better educate
021them about our registration process because I've noticed that, you know, we could do a better job of educating personnel on our campuses besides the people in a house in our office to know what our registration policies are and how to better serve the families that come into the schools, not just our office. Um, and outside of that, I've been exploring new registration systems. looking at other communities and what they've been using for student registration to make it a better seamless process and overall just learning and absorbing as I go and hopefully making improvements for the future. >> Thank you. >> Miss Stewart just started what? Wednesday. >> Yes, I just started on Wednesday. She's the newest. Um and we uh recruited her from South Eastern. She was at South Eastern with their working with their
022enrollment. >> Um and and Dr. Gaitton we stole from St. Tam Parish. Um, but my motto is you can't steal someone who doesn't want to be stolen. So, I don't feel so bad. Um, and of course, Miss Crystal uh Hooper is our own right here in Tanchoian. Uh, and it came from within. >> Thank you, Daniel. >> Thank you. >> And bringing up the rear. Yeah. >> Great day, everyone. My name is Emma Divine. I am the administrative assistant for the department of our office of innovation. Of course, due to my title, I am the admin and so I do take care of all of the administrative duties of our department. However, I'm also being tasked with data management, database management. Uh particularly my big first big project has been with the clergy. We're trying
023to clean up the list that we currently have so that we can be most effective in our communications with that uh portion of our sector. but also content creative. So, I'll be handling our social media content and our Facebook um our um website information that is distributed. And for some of our major events such as the clergy breakfast that we recently have, uh I will be taking the lead on event coordination uh for those things. Uh I pride myself in being number one at being number two as administrative assistant for the office of innovation. >> Nice to meet you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any questions for him? Come on. Y questions. I know. >> Did a good job explaining. >> That's amazing. That was good. >> I got a full notebook now. Thank
024you. >> Thank y'all very much. >> Thank you for having us. >> Thank you. >> All right. Item B, social emotional learning. >> Amy, >> it's fair child. >> How are you all doing? >> Great. How are you doing? >> All doing good. Thank you. So, I just wanted to um Miss Silly asked me to come to give an update on uh social emotional learning. I think this is about our fourth year now in action. Um and so I'm going to just give you a quick overview, kind of show you the trends of what we're looking at, how we got here, and how we're doing. Um culture is one of our big rocks in our district. Um and the definition of culture is that it goes much deeper than a mission statement. goes much deeper
025than just the icon that you see in the corner of the screen up there. Uh culture is how a group how the members of a group actually behave repeatedly and habitually. So what we talk about when we talk about culture when I'm talking with our schools, when I'm talking with our students, when I'm talking with our teachers, is that we all have to have ownership on our culture. Our principal, our leaders can't be the ones that just say this is the culture that we're going to have. It's the behavior of everybody on every campus. And so that's what we're working to do. Um, and so if you'll go ahead and go to the next slide for me. One of the ways that we do this is by having little check-ins, right? We call these relational
026activities. This comes from our character strong curriculum. So every meeting that I host, whether it's a well-being meeting, whether it's a PLC, um, our curriculum facilitators are using these as well. Our teachers are using these with students. We do a little check-in. So, I'll admit I was here a little early, so I got to see some of the committee meeting. So, be honest. Where are you? You can just hold up a number. One, two, three, or four. Who are you most relating with right now? >> Anybody else want to check in? Two. I got a two. I got a one, a three. Okay, good. Good. If I were y'all, I'd be like a four. Haven't eaten. Okay. What that does, y'all, is that it lightens it up. It h we have fun with our students.
027It also helps us to connect, right? So, I know, okay, I got to work on Mr. Tolar tonight cuz he's tired. So, I got to really make sure that I'm being energetic and lively. So, if my student is sitting in my classroom and they tell me they're a one, I'm going to say, you know what, let's get up and have some movement. Let's move around a little bit. Or if my student tells me they're a three, I'm like, let's go. We're ready. Right. I'm excited that you're on my same pace. So, um, some of these activities are a little deeper than just, uh, you know, raise a number and check in. Some of the activities actually get our students to think a little bit deeper. We start here because we know that we have to
028build that trust and we have to build that relationship. So, we start with these and then as the year progresses, we start having them share out a little more. Thank you. So, let's just look at a quick rundown of how we came to be. uh 2020 the world shut down and LDOE said we need to focus on the well-being of our people. Um so that is where our focus on well-being began. Um in 2021 what we decided was that in order to address well-being we needed to hear the voices of our folks. We couldn't decide what they needed. They needed to tell us. So that's how we started with the Panorama surveys. That's also when it was determined after Hurricane Ida that well-being couldn't be a part-time afterthought. It needed to be full-time. So, that's
029when the coach positions were um established. The following year, after hearing the needs from the surveys, we established that a curriculum was needed because our folks wanted to teach social emotional learning. They just didn't know how and they didn't know uh what to do. We were doing different things in different places and we knew we needed to establish a consistent clear language that everyone was talking speaking the same language across the board. So then you can see how it really grew. We used it in summer school character strong I have abbreviated there used in summer school programs and our teachers actually had a full hour to teach SEAL curriculum which exposed them to the curriculum and got them really excited about it because prior to that it was just do it when you can and
030so that summer really ignited a lot of our teachers and it was funny because I would go and visit schools and teachers would say you know I didn't really believe in it like we had these non-believers as I call them that all of a sudden were like converted because they got to experience it and they got to see the students really engage. Um we also started doing uh our deep dive collection where we look at discipline. We look at connecting the dots right nothing is in a silo everything impacts everything else. Um so being a part of the learning community helped Crystal and I to have this different view from the academic folks. So we might walk into a classroom and walk out and the academic person is talking about the pacing, but I'm talking
031about the climate inside and the relationships that we saw. And so when we started looking at those data points, we could really um compare and look at how they impacted each other. Moving to last year, culture became a big rock. Um, Panorama is now our data that I'm going to show you a little bit of is being used by our SAT teams. So, we can individually pinpoint the needs of our students and not just look at attendance, grades, and discipline, but we can also look at how they rate their own social emotional competencies. Um, some of the schools, I'm doing deep dives right now. I'm in the thick of it. Um because we just finished our survey and some of our schools are finding that they're surprised that hey that was our student of the
032year last year and they have low self-efficacy. They don't really believe in themselves, right? Or they say that they have a difficult time regulating their emotions. So it's giving insights to how the students perceive themselves um and helping us to support them on an individual basis. Uh and now this year this summer we were able to do some trauma training for our administrators. Um we had 32 people attend the national conference in Washington for Character Strong. And um we also now have student well-being teams on each of our high school campuses. We've um reignited the Keys Alliance group and so those students are now partnering with our well-being initiative as our student well-being team. So it's slow but steady. >> That's a good over I mean that's a good picture of where we started and
033where we are. I love that. >> Tried to consolidate. You know, I'm not good at that, but I try. So, if y'all will, I know I'm making y'all do a lot of activities tonight, but if you will, just hold your hands up for me, face them toward each other like you're about to give a big clap, and I want you to clasp them with your fingers intertwined. Now, don't undo. Look down, and notice which thumb is on top of the other. For some of you, you might have left over right like I do. Some of you might have right over left. Some of you might be side by side. Do it again. Open them up. Close them together. Is it the same? >> Yes. >> Yeah. We've been clasping our hands like this. >> I
034thought we were supposed to pray. >> We might need to if I go too long tonight. We might need to uh No. We've been doing this since before we were born. Okay. So think about every time you clasp your hands, every time you go to pray, you're not thinking about it. Now do it one more time. One last time for me. Now switch your thumbs. >> Feels awkward. >> Awkward, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Feels weird. Feels funny. >> Ew. That's because we're changing the way that we've done something for a very long time. SEAL feels like that to some folks. We've been handling behaviors the same way for a very long time. The way you clasp your hands, there's no right or wrong, right? The way we handle behavior, we can do better and
035we're getting there. But it takes time and it takes some uncomfortable awkward sometimes ooh to be able to get there. So when we look at that timeline, I'm not a very patient person and so it's hard for me to be like we're not there yet. But we are making progress and more and more folks are showing a willingness to try and be more mindful of maybe if I pay attention, maybe if I slowly focus on and I change the way I cross my fingers, then I can cross my right over left and it doesn't feel so funny anymore. Right? So that's just an example for you, an experience for you to kind of resonate so that you can understand the change that we understand we're asking our folks to do. And some of them, actually
036a lot of them are really embracing it. So I'm very excited by that and I appreciate y'all engaging with me. Let me just show you a quick few numbers. Uh we can skip past this because they have links to those things. the past three years of our SEAL competency survey. Our teachers for the grades preK through 2 take the survey for their students. It's their perception of their students skills. Grades 3 through 12 take the survey on their own. These were our participation rates. So, we can see the increase over the past three years because we're using the data more and more. And once our school started realizing the value of the data, they really started emphasizing the need for our students to complete these surveys. Go ahead. Here's the feedback that we got from
037our preK through 2nd. So you see we have 2023, 24, and 25. And the three main areas that we focused on were asking about self-management. How are they able to stay calm and focused in class? We asked about emotional regulation. How are you able to calm yourself if you're upset or how quickly do you disregulate? And then self-efficacy, that belief in themselves. And you can see, which is kind of surprising when you look at the youngest students have the highest emotional regulation, which you might not think, but what we know is that we as adults co-regulate for little ones. We don't expect them if they fall down. You got this. Now, when they get older, we start, you got this, and maybe we shouldn't, but we do. But with littles, we have that expectation that
038they need a little bit more. And so, if we look to our third through fifth grade, you can see their self-management is higher, their emotional regulation is lower, but you can see how each year we haven't seen any major drops, but we have seen some incremental kind of like plateaus and jumps here and there when it comes to self-management. And then our oldest students, this is really exciting because this is where we've seen the embrace of Character Strong is in our middle and high schools. They're using it during intervention time. They're using it during PE class in the middle schools. And we're actually seeing growth for those um those kiddos with self-management, emotional regulation, and self-efficacy. the percentage numbers that you see that 41 36 38 that's the percentage of students total that answered saying
039always or most of the time. So that's like the favorable response is how often if you're in a bad mood can you get yourself out of it always or most of the time. That's where we are and that's pretty much nationwide where our kids are. So we know that those are the areas we have to focus on. Okay, these are some of the things that we're doing to try to help. So, we have the deep dive participation. You can see for this year, um the third column, we have 22 and growing. I think I have like 13 slots still to be filled um for our principles to choose from. The data has only been out for two weeks, but we've got 22 scheduled. Um you can see that jump from the first year that we
040were doing them. I will say another difference from the first year is that we were showing up to the deep dives and nothing was done. Nobody had ever looked at anything. Now once they schedule it, I have a full team of folks sitting around the table. Their whole well-being team is there. They understand it. We're digging in and we're going deeper. So it's really exciting. Uh our monthly school well-being team meeting participation has gone up. And then our character strong usage has significantly increased over the past three years. This is just an example of what we do in the deep dives. We kind of dig into the data, make a plan moving forward. This is to just kind of show you a quick glimpse of what's inside of our character strong curriculum. Again, you have
041links to all this, so I'm not going to go dive into it. Uh, but you can see under elementary, we have our little characters. We want our kiddos to be able to identify their emotions. Most adults can only identify four emotions. Happy, sad, mad, and scared. We This is introduced in kindergarten through 2 grade. And we want our kids to have a vocabulary of 16 different ways to express themselves. We have our character dare for middle school. There's also a 2B challenge for high school where it challenges our students. Bring what we're learning and apply it. So this one says, "Go out of your way to thank an adult in your life who has taught you a skill or given you advice that helped you this year." So we're making that spread. And then finally,
042the future ready is new. There's 14 sessions that help our students for career readiness, and it's built into the program. Here are some things from our teachers. If you're wondering, not just what the Susie social worker says, but what our teachers are saying, this is what they're saying. They're using it to set the mood. They're using it for their behavior management. They say that it's been a total gamecher. Um, and they're using it for regulation. Okay. So, it's the plate. It's not one more thing on their plate. It is the plate. Building strong relationships is the foundation that makes classroom management, behavior, and engagement work more smoothly in our learning communities. When we're reviewing the data, we're seeing that our schools that are struggling academically are not fully engaged in the well-being initiatives. We see
043there are schools that have decreased in um discipline referrals such as disrespect and whose academic scores have increased whose teacher well-being funny enough increased are engaged in our well-being initiatives. So a lot of correlations are happening in the positive and we're hoping to keep seeing that. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you Mr. >> Thank you. >> All right. Fun with numbers financial updates. Mr. McNeely monthly budget update. >> I need to do this. Yeah. >> All right. You have in front of you the um all funds budget through August the 31st. As you know, our year begins July 1st. So that's two months worth of information. Um it's looking good. Um feel like we're on budget and uh our revenues, which I'll talk about in just a little bit, are doing well. So,
044um, I'm not a big fan of a two-month budget at this point because of the acruals of the first of the year. It really starts being more relevant once you get into November, December and a little more a little more information for the year. Um, but according to state law, we present you a monthly budget. So, there it is. Um, and then the next one is the general fund only budget. Um, I will continue to brag on our department. I do love the format now to where you can see departmental and you have a snapshot to really kind of look at the entire budget. Um, and what we're doing in salaries, benefits in each department. Uh, no action is needed on those. Any questions for Jeff? All right, moving into the sales tax update. Right.
045>> The uh neutral >> the first sales tax is on the Ephid, which is the half penny. Um, you can see we had a huge month. October was up 15.6%. Uh, which puts us up 9.7% for the year. Um, and Mr. Anthony, that's still not enough money to increase the, um, stipen, but we are continuing to monitor >> a month like that though. Maybe, right? >> I wonder what that could be attributed to. >> Yeah, that's crazy. >> So, that is so it's October. So, that's actually September sales. Um, I talked to Donna Drew about it. Part of it is there was a a change in the way the sales tax was paid for quarterly taxpayers. They had to they got all lumped into one month. So So we had a little bit more, but
046that's that's still a pretty that's still a pretty substantial I I think um one of the things that's great about the sales tax is that it is inflation proof. as prices go up, your sales tax revenue goes up because you're paying more sales tax on a higher priced item. Um, so we know that we've had 40% inflation over the last few years. You know, when you go to the store, you're paying more for items. Um, and uh, as now I'm going to really speculate, interest rates have been really, really high. Car sales suffered. You notice on TV more there's more 0% incentives, things to buy vehicles. So, I think we're seeing vehicle sales catch back up. Um, so more and we have more people shopping at home and more people shopping online. And since the
047state changed the laws, um, we're getting we're capturing that online sales tax now that used to go to Minnesota and Connecticut and everywhere else. >> All right, >> good news. >> This is our um, two cent and it was up 13.6 six and is up 7 and a2% for the year. So, um I'm I'm happy with those numbers. Like I said um a couple of years ago, if we could get to a 4 and a.5% increase per year, that's historic. And if we could keep that without losing that postcoavid IDA uh bump and we have. So we're we were at 4.4% for the year last year. We're running at 7 and a half% this year. >> Good news. >> Any questions on sales tax? No action needed. Thank you, Mr. Jeff. All right, moving into
048item 5 A. Consider approval to renew the leases on the portable buildings from satellite shelters and William Scotsman pending court approval. Do I hear a motion? >> I'll make a motion. >> Motion made by Mr. Anthony. >> Second by Mr. Westerland. Questions, concerns, complaints? >> I'm going to say the same concerns I always have. I think we're overpaying for old buildings when we need to be looking at possibly getting newer ones if we have these for longer terms. I said that before with when we had the last administration here. I'm going to say it again while we bringing it up for renewal. You're paying $27,000 for buildings that are built in way way like the 1990s. I I know we talked about this at the retreat of building, you know, little structures that are maybe
049metal or something like that to replace these buildings. I think that's more costefficient than paying every six months $27,000 for old buildings that are falling apart that we are responsible for and they're not even ours. >> So, I know we're on a time crunch and we can't just replace them today, but I I want that to be the administration and this board's push is that, hey, this is money that we're throwing away that we could be saving in better structures than what we have our kids in. And I know we're doing that with phase two and three and four, but there's still going to be portables that remain in those phases that we could replace with temporary solutions that I think are cheaper than what we're doing here. >> Could we set up a team's
050meeting maybe with Mr. Piaz or whoever else wants to participate as long as we don't have five but u a team's meeting with someone from CSRS and go and maybe just navigate that thought of building like a 16x 24 metal building on a slab two classrooms or 24 by 50 or whatever something to start purposely building those to replace portables and it would be a you know a hurricane proof um something sound that our kids could learn in. >> Agreed. Um, >> could we set that up? >> We we could. The only question I would have, and I'll defer to Mr. Duncan, I believe the court order requires us to go to the court if we're doing anything with classrooms. So, even if it's under the 125,000, >> but this would just be a factf
051finding. >> Okay? >> I mean, this is not to design. This is to to come up with some ideas and let them maybe bring us some and then once we see the cost maybe we can go to the court then den and say look for x amount of dollars we can replace one portable you know with before having to get into all these multi-million dollar projects you know on the back of campuses on the back behind schools you know >> because I mean we know even with phase three there's still going to be portables remaining some of those like I said are dilapidated and old >> which you know that doesn't negate this need right now. So, I'll go back to this motion right now. Got a motion in a second. Any other debate or
052questions? >> Hearing none, I'll call for a roll call vote. >> Abs. What is the What is the motion exactly? >> To accept >> the renewal of these >> to renew the leases subject to court approval. >> Subject to court approval. >> Abrams. >> Yes. >> Mr. Anthony, >> yes. Miss Dominguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Duncan, >> yes. >> Mr. Moore, >> yes. >> Mr. Piaza, >> yes. >> Miss Richards, >> yes. >> Mr. Toller, >> yes. >> Mr. West Morland, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. And I will turn it over to the superintendent for her part. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, for uh general update is um on Thursday the 20th, which is this Thursday, at 10 a.m. the state will release the uh 2025 state accountability
053scores publicly. Um and so following at that time, we'll we'll be um putting out our information for change prepare school system. So I wanted to advise the public and the board of that. Um on item 6B um we have here to consider approval of the certificate of substantial completion for LRA girls locker room by Gasaway Gasway and Bankston. And if you remember that's that last little piece of phase one projects for Lanjah High uh that had to be finished. And so we're asking the board to consider approval for the certificate of substantial completion. >> Do I hear that in the form of a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All right. Mr. Abrams made the motion. Second by Mr. Piaza. Any debate, comments, public input. Hearing none, call for a roll call vote. >> Miss
054Abrams, >> yes. >> Mr. Anthony, >> yes. >> Miss Dominguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Duncan, >> yes. >> Mr. Moore, >> yes. Mr. Piaza, >> yes. >> Miss Richards, >> yes. >> Mr. Toller, Mr. West Morland, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Uh item 6C, uh we wanted to update the board. This does not require a U vote for the board because the board voted on the calendar last year. Um so it's an update on the two emergency days for the first semester. And if we do not use those emergency days between now and Christmas, uh it says on the calendar that the board adopted that the 18th that that's two days would be given back. So it would be the two days at the end which is the 18th and 19th. Um
055that basically the schools would get additional two days at Christmas for break because we're not having to use those two dates. Any questions on the board from >> Merry Christmas. >> Yeah. Merry Christmas. days before or um I'm sorry if I'm >> No, 18th and 19th. It would be the 18th and 19th. So, >> they get out two days earlier. >> They would get out two days earlier. >> Um Miss Silly, do we have an option just in case to to roll that to the second semester or do y'all not prefer not to do it that way? >> Well, it's it's in that it's on the calendar that the board approved um at the bottom that if those days are not you, there's two days for the first semester and there's two days for the
056second semester. And so if we don't use the two days for the first semester, they would be given them back. They would give them back during the first semester. Got >> that's the benefit though of stacking them. >> Yeah. Just in case we had a free >> Okay. Season's over. >> Yeah. >> That would be a Yeah, I guess that'd be a board action decision if y'all wanted to do that. >> Right. Item D. >> Okay. uh item D which is calendar item again. Um and the uh we have the 2627 calendar which would be a the next August uh calendar option number one had the largest vote at 37 uh% actually I think it was 36 something uh round off it' be 37% of the vote. Uh and that's calendar option number one. Uh
057so our recommendation is to adopt option one for the 2627 school year. >> To adopt the administration's recommendation. >> Motion to adopt the administration's recommendation. Seconded by >> second >> Mr. Westland. Any thoughts, concerns? Mr. Pas, >> I know when we originally put this out, we gave three options. Do you think it would be relevant to send out with just two since that way it pulled some of those votes from option one or two? I'm I'm just asking. I don't care. >> I mean, there was not a whole lot of difference between one and two. Okay. So, I don't I don't think that's a a big deal actually, but um option one is the one with the most votes for 67. Uh so, you know, our recommendation would be to adopt one. >> Just out
058of curiosity, what did the um all year calendar get? >> It was um on they were actually almost like a a third, a third, and a third. they they were very close um on both years. >> So um it was kind of pretty maybe a percent point different or two between the three um of all three. So that for the next school year which is 26 27 our administration's recommendation is to go with option one which was the highest vote. Okay. >> Any other questions? Having no public input call for a roll call vote. Miss Abrams, >> yes. >> Mr. Anthony, >> yes. >> Miss Dominguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Duncan, >> yes. >> Mr. Moore, >> yes. >> Mr. Piaza, >> yes. >> Miss Miss Richards, >> yes. >> Mr. Toller, >> yes. >>
059Mr. West Morland, >> yes. >> Meshing carries. Item item 6D, the second part of that, which is looking at um the calendar for 2728 school year, which is 20 months out from now. Um our recommendation is to go with uh option number three, which is the balance calendar. Um at 34% of the vote on that one, >> move to adopt the administration recommendation. >> I thought you just did we just vote on >> that was 26 and 27. This is now 27. jump to 27 28. Okay. I thought you gave two option one and option one twice. >> I thought that's what you just said. >> Like 26 27 option one and 27 28 option one. I thought that's what >> so 26 27 which is what y'all just did was option number one. It
060had the highest percent of vote support for the calendar which is the one that's 20 months out from now. You know over a year and a half. um is our recommendation is to go with option three which is the balance calendar. So I I moved to adopt the administration's recommendation, but I I did want to talk about that for a little bit. >> What were the what was the numbers your points or vote? >> 34%. It was what was the other ones though? >> Other what >> the other votes for option one and option two >> on the same on that same year? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um option let's see option two was 3 uh 5% of the vote. So it's 1% >> between option two and three. >> So you technically they vote.
061>> So right now we have a motion. Mr. Dun made the motion. You need a second. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second. Okay. So we have a second. >> M still I know that you have some other recommendations related to this though. It's not to just go head on into to option three, but really Yeah. The the administration's put together a very extensive plan to to really study this to transition >> to do community meetings. Do you want to talk about that a little bit more? >> Yeah. So, so actually it would be it's not just because with the balanced calendar it's different. Um and so there would have to be a lot of work done. That's why we need 20 months. Uh so that a lot of this stuff
062can be done with um community meetings. I mean, you know, one is the court system, of course, that does visitations for families. That that's a shift. Um, and so, you know, community meetings in terms of um uh working around the the calendar in terms of major holidays, um the instructional days, making sure uh doing all of that, just a lot of different ones on. So, how would we address that is uh really engaging with families, which uh Mr. Porter's department plays a key piece with that, the community, the families, educating them, uh making sure the public is aware, um looking at all the different um employee groups, you know, we have some 12-month employees 10, 11 months, 9 months. So, we'd have to really look at how that, you know, how that would impact them.
063So there's a lot of other decisions and conversations that have to happen and take place before what is it 27. >> And so Miss Stilly, really what the administration's recommending is because this gives of course the community and the board time to change their mind between now and the following school year. Really what what y'all are communicating is wishing to get the community's attention and have conversations with them about why a balance calendar would benefit the families and particularly the students in our in our community. Uh but again, of course, reserving the right to change our mind between now and then, right? But but unless we were to take a step like this, we're really not getting the community's attention to to really study this concept. >> Okay. Mr. Anthony. >> Yeah. So, um I
064I wouldn't make a substitute motion that we do not adopt a calendar for 27 and 28. Reason being is when this balance calendar idea came out, um number one, I I wasn't aware that it was even going to be something that the public was going to be allowed to vote on. Number one. Number two, I didn't have time to prepare or talk to any constituents about how this would affect them. >> And um so, and let me just take it a step further. My problem with it is that, you know, we had a very very brief discussion. I believe it was via text or something that was like it was just kind of thrown out there to see how the public would feel about it. But I thought it was just kind of an afterthought
065at that point. And therefore, I didn't do any kind of research with people in my district with church leaders who have church camps. It goes on and on and on. That being said, um if I can make a substitute motion that we don't adopt anything for the 2728 school year, um I would like to make that motion now. >> And I'll second that motion, but I have some discussion of >> Can I ask to clarify your motion just a little bit because I think I could join it uh and even withdraw my motion. is would you at least be willing to set up a study commission on this concept between now and the next time that we adopt the following the the 2728 calendar year that that we still go forward with the other parts
066of the administration's recommendation to set up the community's meetings you know and study this concept deeper between now and then. >> Absolutely. Yes. It's just I'm just I feel completely kind of blindsided and unprepared and I'm not upset with the administration. This is the recommendation of the community. I'm just I'm kind of blindsided by that. >> So, I would withdraw my my motion and uh join in that substitute motion with that clarification >> and the second still stands for that. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Uh and again, I agree everything what Mr. Anthony said. I'm very open to hearing the administrations and the factf finding because I mean we're not the only district that has thought about that and there are some really positive studies on that. However, I I I I agree with him
067Mr. Anthony about tableing this, taking this off and then just having your office of innovation maybe doing some studies with the community members of how this would affect them because you have a lot of working families that it's going to affect that's time extra they're going to have their kids at home that they now have to find babysitters for or daycare centers and not to mention summer camps are now going to be different. It's a major change. I I don't know if you could do that in one year cuz it's really you're looking at one year buffer there. I would love to see that. So I I again taking it off the table but continuing forward with factf finding I I think that's I'm definitely interested in that. >> I just like to add that
068that's the reason for getting public input. >> Right. Correct. >> You you gain you gain you gain a knowledge or at least you get an idea >> right >> uh about how the public feels about that. >> Okay. Miss Rose. Well, one thing you didn't mention was the fact that our campuses will be open 24/7, which means security, which means employees, the light bail, the lunch bill, all of that. We didn't even you didn't even throw out the money portion of how much money this would cost us. >> 24/7. >> Well, I mean, if you're open 5 days a week, 24 hours a day or whatever, you know, for the year, in other words, not just 9 months. >> But you're going to be open It's the same amount of days. >> Still the same
069amount of days. >> It's just stretched out differently. >> But we understand what you mean. >> Yeah. you going to I mean you're going to be running your light bills and all of that. >> Is that something that part of a financial financial part of it is going to be >> Mr. Moore did I cut you off yet? Something else. >> And just to clarify the motion is to table this. >> No, it's to adopt the other portions of the administration's recommendation as far as the study and the community in intake, but not to adopt a calendar for 2728. >> And and I agree wholeheartedly. Just throw my two cents in there. You know, I'm open for studying this, but I can see we all know the damage one Facebook post can make in this
070community. >> I'm telling you, had we walked out of here tonight and voted for this, the Facebook post would be Tanchville school system is going to >> a full year school starting and then um so anyway, I'm all for I'm all for studying it and moving forward with that, right? >> Getting some directions because I mean, if you >> there's a lot to that. I mean it's just and then she just said that it was a less vote. The vote was less for this one than it was for the other one. So I mean it >> was more but it was by >> 35. No was 35 her option was 1% less. >> Okay. So right now, just to clarify, the motion right now is to >> say it >> move forward with the administration's
071recommendation of pushing more information out, studying the concept of a balanced calendar for the 2728 school year, but not to adopt a calendar yet for the 2728 school year. And um like I said, I know that the administration has a very detailed plan on how they're going to study this and roll it out. Um and um and I do hope that and I believe that when the public sees what this will do for our children, particularly our children who are behind and need intensive interventions um you know and what why this will benefit them. Uh I I do think the public will come around but it it definitely needs a full conversation. I I I said at our retreat that to me um the next way that we will make as a school system that
072the next way that we will make a significant jump in student performance will be through the adoption of a balanced calendar. Um but it but that is going to take a lot of work and and and study to to figure out team is here tonight because they will be instrumental in making this work. Uh last thought on that if when as they are getting this data, please keep us informed because like Mr. Anthony said, these are things that we're going to have to go to constituents and really hammer home as that data is being collected. Please, I would love the access. I'm sure other board members would love the access to that information as it's being collected so we can make a collective decision together. >> Okay. >> Hear no other questions. We'll call for
073a vote. >> Everybody second. >> Mr. as >> he motioned it. >> Mr. Anthony, can I interrupt one second, please? I I really apologize. I just want to We have a We have under item D, consider approval of the 2627 calendar. We voted on that and we passed it. I don't know if there's any need at all for a vote for the 2728 calendar. Would you agree with that? >> No. Just your motion. that what I've said is that we're going to move forward with the we're asking the administration to move forward with their study, their their um their community meetings, the the commission, all of those things so that we can have a conversation, but we're not adopting a calendar. >> Should we change the language on this agenda before the public thinks we
074just voted yes for this calendar? >> We make the the motion is is the action that's being taken. >> Gotcha. Right. Okay. So is it a is it a is it a tableabling of >> No, the motion is to study this to continue the process of studying but to not adopt a calendar for the calendar was my motion. Okay, if that's the case if it would be a possibility. >> Okay, roll call. >> Miss Abrams, >> yes. >> Mr. Anthony, >> yes. >> Miss Dominguez, >> yes. >> Mr. Duncan, >> yes. >> Mr. Moore, >> yes. >> Mr. Piaza, >> yes. Miss Richards, >> yes. >> Mr. Toller, >> Mr. West Morland, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Anything else, Mr. Dilly? >> That's it. >> Okay. >> Last thing on our list
075here, M. Richard, >> we're going to get >> um first I'd like to take the time to acknowledge the passing of one of our own employees, Miss Chris, Mrs. Crystal Darnette from at OW Dylan. um deepest condolences to my family. Um then the second thing is I um I'm a number three tonight because I'm excited because I I got on the bus and u the office of innovation. I just want to commend you all. Y'all did an awesome job. I think that our first run was successful. It was so amazing to see like I have to say it like Oprah, there were so many aha moments from the children to the the clergy. They were just so they it it was like they were expecting to see something different. And then when they saw all
076of the positive things that we have going on in our schools, they were just amazed and they were so willing to um come together and and partner with our schools with the hope that because we they pushed the hope uh closet and you had all of the clergy saying that okay, no, I want to adopt a school. I want to participate. I want to do this. Um, with that being said, I have to, as a board member and district A on the north end, I have to apologize to the the pastors and the community leaders in that area. Some we missed something. So, you know how we say it, uh, charge it to our heads and not to our hearts because I didn't take the time to go back and check the list to make
077sure that all of the the the pastors in my area and the community leaders were on the list to be invited or we had update addresses. So, that's where we missed the ball there. But we are pleading to you to forgive us and to go out to our schools and see them because this don't let this be a deterrent to you because this is a great program and it was just awesome today. You just had to see it. Uh my suggestion to the committee or or to the was to reach out to these board members because these board members we know we know the the the people in our district. So we know how to point you into the right direction and to the community leaders that would be able to assist you to make
078sure that we don't have a mistake like this again. So but other than that it was just awesome. Awesome. And I encourage the board members, get on the bus. Get on the bus because just to see the bridging that gap was just amazing. >> Thank you, Mr. Robert. >> Good tonight. >> Good, >> Mr. West. >> I just like to wish all the uh employees and staff and administration happy Thanksgiving. enjoy your week and uh remember the reason we're thankful for and thank God for the many blessings that he gives us. >> Absolutely. >> M Rose, >> uh well, first I I heard today that um one of our former board members, nephew, Riff Ridgdale, died today and he was also um you know, his dad is a parish count I mean a parish councilman
079long time and so I'd like to send the condolences to them. That's been a long hard struggle and um I'm sure he'll be sorely missed. And also as Mr. West Men said, wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving and thank you for the blessings. Thank you to our new team. Y'all did an excellent job tonight and I'm really happy to get all the details so we'll know what's happening. Appreciate the hard work y'all are doing. >> Hey, Mr. Pas. >> Try to keep this short short and sweet. Um again, >> Mr. More uh Yes. >> Wishing all of our employees a happy Thanksgiving and holiday break. Uh be safe travels. Um I just want to highlight something that we've done as a board in the last three meetings. We've approved to go out for design million dollars
080worth of expansions to fix portable buildings throughout the entire parish. We as a board have actively shown that we are trying to improve facilities across the parish, not in one district or one school zone, but across the parish. And we've now established that by looking at phase three and what's going I want to thank everybody for those even though it's debated and it's heated for the discussions and for because that's how we grow as a school system. I want to thank everybody for their commitment to our schools and their facilities and I'm very proud of where we are. I agree with Mr. Toller about coming up with a set plan that we can use to address needs that is cost effective and I hope that we can see that come to a to a full
081circle. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Okay. Yeah, I I too got on the bus today and uh and I and I highly commend uh I highly commend Pastor Porter's team and um uh I mean you guys what I what I've seen today shows a lot of what that department is actually doing to um to elevate the education for our children. Uh it's amazing the software that's available now and the technology that's available to help kids be excited about learning. I saw that and uh it's it's a good um it's a good uh good uh blend into the regular uh classroom. Um and also I'm I'm I'm happy to hear the uh progress of the social emotional learning. Now these things are are are pretty much something that I've had a passion for because for me
082children are the number one priority in everything that we do here and everybody everybody in this room and this room itself this building it's all about it's all here so that we can educate children and give them the best opportunity we can offer them uh to get uh an education that's going to be it's going to help them be more effective and and um in their in their lives. So, uh everybody else has talked about everything else. I I wanted to just, you know, uh place a little bit more emphasis on that. You know, >> just Doug, >> I just quickly mentioned how proud I am of our Hammond High football team. They didn't make it out of the first round of the playoffs this year, but they got into the playoffs, which was a
083big deal. And then, of course, we beat Ponch Tula, which is the most important thing. >> So, so that's what we did. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, >> that was a that was a great game. >> I can't believe that. That was a low blow. See, I was doing positive. He comes in. >> The last thing I will mention is, you know, my hope is that one day we can rise to the level of an AE and a Kentwood where >> well Sar >> just got a whole different level. >> It's a different but but Ame and Sar mean like I mean Aid and Kentwood, you know, we don't even mention the fact that they won this week this week in the first round of the playoff cuz that's like just >> that's just every year.
084That's normal. You know, we'll start really congratulating them once they get to the dome again. But but anyway, congratulations to all of them. And yes, some are we're excited to see what you guys are going to do this year. >> Y'all got a vibe. >> Yeah, we did. Wow. We just >> undefeated. >> Oh, I'm I'm going to um pass on mine because next uh meeting is going to be my year in review and I'm going to take about 10 minutes. So, we'll figure >> What do they call that? I want to reserve my time. >> Reserve my time. We I did forget to say something and I I'm I'm looking at it now. I know Miss Stilly is not going to mention this, but um we had a sneige from LRA High School. I'm
085saying um her grandson Hayes signed with Texas. He is the number two pick in the state of Louisiana. I'm right >> and um he is pitching at 97 miles per hour. So, congratulations to your grandson for making us proud. We might have another Wade Miley on our hands. >> Smell it from me. >> Oh, he does. >> Yeah. >> And yeah, I I missed it, too. I need to congratulate um >> Ser Kent Wood and Amy um going to the second round. So, we're excited. >> Don't or nothing. >> Hey, we're on our way. >> Okay. Tonight, I just do want to echo office of innovation. Look, I'm all in. I appreciate what y'all do. I do appreciate saw some of you at some of our veterans programs in air conditioning gyms, by the way.
086>> Yes, they were they were. >> It was good to see y'all. I really do appreciate if this is the face of our school system in community events. I am tickled to death to have y'all representing us and engaging with the public. So, um, thank you for doing that. And if we can help you as board members, please invite us to things um that we can go to. We would love to attend as much as we possibly can. >> Get on the bus. >> And I'm talking over Mr. Porter, but talking to him as well. >> Um >> last but not least, it's already been mentioned Sner. Very proud of them. Um with a 10 and0. This is the first time school was formed in 1981 or opened in 1981. This is the the first
087time in our history that we've had an undefeated season. too. So to say the um spirit is high is very would be an understatement. Also what I was very impressed is I went up and did an interview after the a meat game >> and some of the um the outsiders that were doing the interviewing was talking about just how well the crowd was and how good the crowd was and the sportsmanship and the the entire because I'm I'm more about that than I am about who wins the game. I I know that kills coach career when I say that, but I'm about the experience coming to the football field, parking, um, how are you greeted at the football field and the handicap accessibility and everything, but I'm tickled to death at the progress that Sar
088has made. I wish them well against Slaughter Friday night and I invite any board members that would like to come. I will save you a spot. U, it's going to be a good game and good uh, good time for the community to come out u, and see a game. So, with that being said, I have nothing else. Mr. Stey, I give you the last word. Hearing nothing else, meeting adjourned. Thank y'all for being here. Thank you.