Executive and Special Board Meeting 5/29/26

001the May 29th, 2026 school board retreat. Our meetings are all casting live to access the stream. There's a video icon located in the online meeting agenda. The link is located on our district website, Facebook, and X. The public participation policy is posted on our district website and at the front entrance next to the elevator. Thank you for following our policy. Roll call morning. >> Ms. George She's here. Mr. Aiken >> Here. >> Mr. Aiken Here. Mr. Holmes here. Ms. Law here. Mr. Rabon >> Here. >> Ms. Roy >> Here. >> Mr. Cheeks here. >> Here. >> Ms. Williams I'm going to go on. >> Thank you, Ms. Foreman. I ask that everyone please stand and pledge allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for

002which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, thank you. And the first item on the agenda is under new business, discuss the impact of Amendment 3 failure in the last election. I can go on. >> Uh this is just a informational item. I think everyone knows that Amendment 3 failed on May 16th ballot and a lot has been said out in the media, governor, legislature, citizens um the Amendment 3. So, just to recap, had that Amendment passed, a pay raise would have been given through a reduction in how much the school board would have been prepared to contribute to the teachers' retirement system. And it passed, $2 billion in trust funds would have been used to pay down the debt to the teachers' retirement system. Which thus

003would have reduced the contribution rate by about another 4%. As we stand today, and I'll talk about that a little bit more when we get to the salary schedule item, we're already looking at a reduction of about 1.85% of what we have to pay into the TRSL beginning July 1. This would have reduced the final additional 4.something percent. And the savings that we would have had would have been used to pay the $2,250 per certified person raise, and the $1,125 support staff raise. Now that this amendment has failed, there are no permanent pay raises planned from the state. And the stipend that was given last 3 years, which was $2,000 per certificated personnel, $1,000 per support personnel, which cost the state legislature about $198 million. Nothing has been allocated to reinstate those stipends. So, as

004we stand today, all employees in the school system will have a net decrease in their annual salary for the next fiscal year. It's not going to be the 2,000, 1,000 because you have certificated employees that will move up at least a level as long as they didn't have a giving factor in the evaluation. That also holds true for support staff, as long as they don't have a giving factor in the evaluation, they'll move up. But, however much that increase is on an annual step, which could be 300, could be 400, 500 dollars. The 2,000 would then be reduced to maybe 1,500, 1,400. For some support staff, 1,000, they won't get but they may get it to a 300 dollar stipend. A few days ago, the governor had a press conference and he got with the

005Senate president and speaker of the house of the state legislature. He has publicly stated that no government employee in the state government is what he means will receive any increase in pay unless teachers get a permanent pay raise. There are multiple bills in the legislature this year to increase state paid employees. From what I understand as of today, those bills have currently been on hold. One thing the governor put out last week was that he was going to issue an executive order to redirect 150 million dollars from the MFP that districts would get and that those would be used to fund a pay raise for teachers only. If he were to do that, there would have to be a two-thirds approval by both chambers of the legislature for that to happen. He does have the

006authority to issue that executive order as an exception in state law and it would have to be approved by two-thirds of both the house and the senate. Since that announcement was made we don't know whether he's actually going to be elected or not. But, the legislature did pass a resolution to develop a work study group to study the MFP to determine where funds could be utilized from the MFP to fund current payrolls. So, the legislature is getting to end at sometime on the evening of June 1st. I don't think House Bill 1, which is the state's system bill, the budget for the year, has gone through complete passage yet. So, a lot can happen between now and whatever time they adjourn. I'm not sure if it's 6:00 p.m. or 4:00 or whatever time on Monday.

007Lots can happen between now and then, and I wanted to to give you all a a state of the state, you know, update on where we are now. >> So, Dr. How long has the MFP >> For two years. >> How long the MFP has been unfunded? >> [clears throat] >> The MFP was supposed to go up every year by 2 and 1/2%. And that has not happened since Bobby Jindal got in. So, there has been quite a while. And they funded the MFP on an annual basis that they're supposed to uh give in pay raises, it wouldn't be an issue at all. >> Right. >> Because if they never go to 2 and 1/2% increase, after that, you have to give pay raises to the schools. >> Exactly. >> So, it it's been over

008a decade since the MFP funding was going to adjust for that individual year. >> So, so my question is why why wasn't it done? And who gives the the say so whether that gets done or doesn't get done? >> The House has to send a resolution for the MFP to the legislature. The legislature votes it up or down. So, ultimately it's the legislature that decides. >> And so, they voted it They voted it down all these years or it just never got to them? >> They either voted it down and sent it back to Best and that's kind of how it started years and years ago because they either vote yes or nay. If they vote nay, it goes back to Best. Best invested in recently. Well, over the last few years, Best has just

009sent the formula that didn't include because it eliminated a step because they were going to vote it down and send it back to them anyway. And we you know I read a lot into legislation. Uh And so, they last night or just recently, House Bill 1201 did pass the house, going to Senate conference to get signed over to the governor's trade legislation for a raise. So, just going to have to keep an eye on >> The governor, we'll see if he does what he says because there was a bill introduced to provide certain state elected officials with a pay raise. That's what it was. The governor with a pay raise. Uh And he has said none of them are getting raises if they don't do something on teacher pay. So, if that goes to his

010desk, it'll be interesting to see whether or not he can veto. Any other questions? Uh I just think we got to keep watching what happens these next few days. And if he were to do the executive order to pull 150 million from MFP, that will impact our MFP. Now, we're already at this point where we can't let the kids cut us in the board. I don't quite know how that would come into to play. Uh but there is a possibility that we would lose money in what we do get from them. >> Right. >> But if he does that, he can issue that executive order after the legislature adjourns. Because they have a provision whereby state representatives and senators can do a mail-in ballot on that measure. So, they can still vote on something like

011this after the legislature adjourns. >> So, the magic question that I have to ask is because I thought NEP dollars were allocated for certain things and that it could not be touched to be used for other things. >> You are correct. Right. But there are some operational pieces of NEP that districts can use. You have to spend any increase that they would give. 50% of that is supposed to salaries. But they haven't increased it in a long time. But there are some operational components of NEP that you can use towards general operations of the school system. We have done that here because we get as much as little as possible in the NEP. >> Right. >> Cuz a lot of growth and growth that we we get minimal also. So, if it were part of

012the 70% instructional expenditure, you know, so all of our NEP pretty much goes into instruction. >> And just add to the top of it, not to mention we have to give them charter schools. >> That is correct. Our enrollment in >> Anything comes out of this Hope it doesn't. have before the question we have to get Well, I think they would proportion and take the cut. You know, depending upon what level they take it. There's four different levels of this matter here. And from what I understand, level three is the one who gets cuts on what which I don't know if Charles gets level three from us what they do with us is they figure out twice a year what your allocation is and then whatever goes to the charter, the charter earns more than

013just a year of what he was. They just deduct that off of what they send us. That's all I have before the question in the microphone. >> [cough] >> Any more comments? Okay, next up is discuss and approve an addendum to the superintendent's contract as a result of board action on May 11th, 2026. Do I have a motion? Motion by Mr. Davis, second by Mrs. Laws. Mr. Albright? Yeah. Board members, basically as a result of the move uh from last month's meeting, uh essentially the the files that were displayed uh before you could take any further steps is uh you have to enter into a a revised agreement document. And basically uh I understand that he has worked with the board president to uh basically come up with some amendments to his existing contract. Um

014and as you can see in that document, I believe the uh the end date is now July July 2nd. So, if you recall, Dr. Barreto was actually under contract until the end of next year, in the 2027. So, you know, he's kind of putting it now, like that's the date he wants to be completely out by then. He has made some, I guess, adjustments to some of the I guess the perks and the benefits of the superintendent job. You know, if this transition happens you know, obviously if that if that happens, then there are some things that he's entitled to under his superintendent contract that, you know, he needs I'm not going to need those stuff anymore. Then he has added that into his benefit as well. So, essentially, you know, with with the approval

015of this document, what this will do is to essentially, you know, take care of him as he's, you know, kind of bringing his tenure to a close here. As he transitions this happens as he transitions to his new position. This document will be assigned essentially after the board approves this this this document today. Assuming you approve it today, the board president will sign it along with Dr. Barreto. And essentially, if the board moves forward and hires a a new superintendent ultimately, then this document would then come into effect immediately upon the hiring of a new superintendent. If for some reason, you know, the board does not hire a new superintendent, then this document would actually never come into effect. So, Dr. Barreto's uh board's last approved superintendent contract with him would remain in effect during

016that time period. Which would technically technically go all the way to the end of 2027. Any questions? Can we have a motion, please? I move to approve. >> Yeah, we can. So, the first thing the board has agreed that I would be the consultant. So, the date of my effectiveness would be in and on July 7th, 2027. Currently in the current signed superintendent contract, there's a modification of duties section uh that indicates the board shall choose to hire a superintendent successively, then I would move into a consultancy role with all benefits and entitlements that's in the original contract. The items that Mr. Lavergne and I have talked through that would be modified as a result would be under annual performance pay, I would no longer receive the annual performance pay once the 2026-2027 cycle begins

017because, you know, I feel as though I'm not serving as superintendent for the entire 2026-2027 school year, uh then I'm willing to give that particular piece up. The maximum annual performance pay is is $20,000 if we met our targets for the But again, you know, I feel as though if I'm not serving in that capacity, I should not expect to receive that, although in the current contract I would. The next would be annual cost of living supplements. Once the new superintendent would take over, then I would waive the annual cost of living supplements that's currently included in the superintendent contract as well. And currently, the board pays for organizational dues uh for things such as the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, Rotary, uh other ones may pop up here and there, but those are the

018main two. So, once our board uh move into the transition of our role, then they will no longer be dues paid by the board for me as the superintendent, those should be paid for the next superintendent. I don't know if you have one question, Dr. White. >> I'd like to travel and move to different uh like TRSL TRSL stuff or whatever meeting. Does that change? >> So, my term with the TRSL Board of Directors end in December. Uh and you did not pay me any expenses for a TRSL board meeting. >> We uh when you move superintendent advisory or something like that in one state, what about that? >> I will remain on superintendent advisory committee and there's no pay that you all pay for me. There's no reimbursements again with that. All right. But,

019once I would move to another role, then my appointment to that committee would end. That's the board member would end cuz I would have to be a city superintendent to be on that board. >> Okay. >> Do you have another question? >> You know, I just wanted to say that um you know, I discussed this with Dr. White. I discussed this with you. Gave my opinion, so be it. And uh I think this is fair to our school board. I think it's fair to our to Dr. White, which we want to be uh in compliance also with the law and all of that. So, I think we're I'm I'm good with this. >> I think it's probably a good opportunity for me to vote. You know, we we invest in our students. We invest in

020our teachers. We invest in several things. And I think this is a, uh, short-term investment to hopefully have a smooth transition and, you know, we're talking about the discussion to ask the new superintendent. >> I would like to make a comment on >> Yes, ma'am. >> You know, Dr. Brown has served the district very well and, um, I think it's more fitting that we're able to, um, come to this agreement that we have. Uh, I believe that the new superintendent coming in, uh, that will being there will be an asset to the school district. You know, because that's one of the most important things is that the new superintendent is able to make a good transition into the district. And so, uh, I do support that having that support, you know, with a new board

021coming in, you do want to make sure that you have that support, you know, for the new superintendent. So, uh, I think this is very good, uh, support system being put in place for the transition. So, I would like to say on Has this ever been done before? >> I don't know if it's been done in Greenville or not. I can't answer for all the rest of the state. >> Because what are you saying? You didn't want to disrupt the district for the students. I don't know what you're saying. But I think you said the same thing you just said. Okay. things happen. I talked to my team. I'm not going to talk to you. Cuz I don't know I wouldn't do it. I don't know what would happen but I'm not going to talk

022to you. That's my biggest issue. It's going to be a smooth transition for me all day. So you can walk. Y'all said it was going to be such a smooth transition for me all day. That's all I have to say. >> Sure. >> I think one thing you will see that played into this whole thing is this is the first time the board has ever turned over. And so this is the first time you will have a majority of the board leaving. So not only is the superintendent going to be leaving the board but the team as well. And so the transition of the whole component of the board and superintendent together. Somebody needs some experience here on the board and plan the movement forward. That's not going to happen. >> It's all >> And

023I I just feel like y'all should trust the process whatever it may be. It's a >> It's a process. Yes, I have. >> But these conversations always happen after all of them are over. We have these conversations. I think these conversations should have happened before. They did. >> To respond to your original statement, no, we we've never done this before because we've never been through this before. We've never experienced any of this. So the goal was to try to come up with the best plan that is in the best interest of this school district. best interest of the school district. And I think moving forward that's what we're doing. You know, to have Dr. B move into this role, to have you know, I I mentioned it last month. We're not exactly sure what the

024new board is going to look like. It They could have nine brand new board members. And to have someone like him move into this position help to educate, to inform I I I think it's going to be a benefit not only to the new board, but to the school district. >> You know, the ideal situation that the board would like to have, I would like to have, like to be in the same seat till 2028. Not necessarily December 2028. That would be the ideal situation. But and and that's what the community has, what we That would be the ideal situation, but when somebody needed a new job they needed a new job. So, you know, you don't always have the ideal situation you know, presented to you. So, you have to >> Right. >> uh

025you know, work with what you have. >> Absolutely. Any more questions or comments? Ms. Blaydes? >> I'm sorry. >> Are there Are there any comments from the public? Any more comments from the public? Ms. Blaydes and Ms. Moore? >> All my voting is now open. >> [clears throat] >> The second to the record is yes. >> All my voting is now closed. Seven yes, one nay. Motion passes. >> Thank you. Next up on the agenda to discuss and take action related to the next steps in the superintendent search. Well, do I have a motion? >> Motion by Mr. Ronald Seger Mr. David. Is that all right? >> All right, board members. So, now you have essentially completed the last steps now to move forward with a superintendent search process. Uh I know there are some

026veterans on this board, so I have been through this process several times now. Uh essentially, you know, the process has not changed. There's been no no statutory changes to how Louisiana school board hires a superintendent. Uh you know, essentially, you're at the point now where, you know, you're ready to, I guess, uh start that process officially. Uh In terms of these statutory [clears throat] mandated procedures, again, this is a refresher to your memory. I know a lot of you have done this already. If you If you have not, uh but there's really not much that the law requires in terms of the superintendent search. Uh basically, though, those four or five statutory minimums that you must do is you got to do uh two advertisements in your local official journals, and that would be the,

027you know, the newspaper here, I don't know what we use uh Capital Journal in town back tomorrow. The official journal? >> Post South Field, okay. >> Post South is the issue. >> You have to run two ads in the Post South at least one week apart. In addition to running in in your local journal and Post South, you also have to run at least one advertisement in a newspaper in a metropolitan area with at least 100,000 people. So, obviously that's the closest area is Baton Rouge. Uh so, you have to run a minimum of one ad in the Baton Rouge Advocate. Uh all your advertisements uh must be completed at least 30 days prior to any vote to fill the position. Uh a majority takes a majority vote of the uh membership of the board

028to elect a superintendent. Uh so, that's not a majority of of the individuals just present voting. That's a majority of the entire membership of of the board. And obviously the law requires you to have a written contract with the superintendent uh on hire. That's all the law requires. So, as you can tell by that, it's not much in terms of what what the law requires to do for a superintendent search. Now, you know, we you've done more than that in the past. Most of our boards that when they're hiring superintendents, you know, they they do try to cast a wider net than than just the minimum requirements. Uh but that is essentially uh uh what it is. You know, we always suggest that in addition to the ads, you know, we always would advertise with

029Louisiana School Boards Association, Superintendent Association. Uh you know, I I think in the past we've ran it on uh on National School Boards Association. Uh so, those are options as well. They're always good options uh but you know, they're not mandatory. They're they're options for you as a board member. Um A- another decision that you probably need to make is, you know, how long you want to have the ads for. You know, we just wrapped up one uh we for those that didn't know, you know, there was a vacancy down in St. Mary Parish over the last few months. Uh they hired their superintendent uh several weeks ago. Um you know, they did a 60-day uh advertising in that situation which, you know, they you're running it is a little bit more money, you know,

030because you're running more ads but we're also, you know, you're having grants on there. Um a longer period of time. So, essentially that's kind of the next steps where you need to decide is, you know, where do you want to advertise and then how how long you want that advertising to be. Uh you always uh can put in uh qualifications for superintendent as well if you want to. Um you have the options there. Uh for example, sometimes they won't allow a doctorate, sometimes not. Uh there's pros and cons to doing that. You know, the pros are if you put in certain requirements, well, maybe your applicants are going to, you know, meet those requirements as well but, you know, the cons of doing that is sometimes you're maybe eliminating some some applicants that, you know,

031maybe you would have liked, maybe not. Um Deadline for submission, again, they're really going to give you a a 30-day or 60-day process that they generally uh you know, we'll we'll pick a date uh that kind of lines up closely to a meeting cuz what we normally do is uh as part of these processes uh and and Candace has been through that, you know, we'll have the school board take out a PO box just for superintendent applications. And when you're running your ad, your ad will tell all the applicants that all those applications go to that PO box and that PO box is not checked until the deadline for applications have passed at which point in time usually the board president, maybe vice president, will go and along with the secretary and and HR and

032check that PO box. Uh all the applications will be reviewed, will be vetted, uh and ensure that everybody meets the minimum qualifications. And what we like normally like to have that done is uh have that process done maybe three, four, or five days away from a meeting, could be a regular meeting or special meeting, just so you know, you're going to send the applications to the board members as soon as they're ready. And they're usually redacted copies also made available to the public at that point in time. Usually they don't want a long period of time before the the board comes together and makes its decisions on the next steps. So, essentially what your steps are now, you know, essentially what you're doing now is to get to the point to you get to that

033meeting where you now have your applications in hand and and you're reviewing what your next steps are because anything after that is going to be determined. Your next steps after you get applications are always going to be determined by how many applications you receive. That's not something that you can really uh plan ahead of time. So, for example, uh if you get 50 applications, uh usually it's not practical that you're going to interview all 15 applicants. You know, usually at that point in time at that first meeting it's going to be, "All right, we got to find out we got to eliminate a procedure to call that down to a certain number of people that we will then interview." Now, if you only get, you know, five applications, uh obviously that doesn't present as much

034of a difficulty. You know, usually in that situation most of the board say, "All right, we'll just go ahead and interview everybody. It's only five." So, you know, that's kind of the next the steps after that. But but right now really they're to do is just kind of unless there's anything specific that y'all want to see in your advertisements, uh and and how you're advertising, and where you're advertising, you know, essentially you're it's going to be just the same the same process as you know what you've done the last several times. Now, the one other thing, I guess, is uh I did not pull the ad that we did last time. But, you know, what a lot of boards also do is in their ads, they'll put an estimated salary range. And uh what that

035does what that does Okay, you did do that last time. So, that's good. But, what that salary range does is they give the people who are seeing your ad, you know, they're trying to decide you know, if they're interested in this, they'll want to apply for this if range because, you know, unfortunately, we've had situations where boards did not do that, and somebody applied, the board liked them, they liked the board, uh they would have selected candidate, and they just could not reach a you know, the salary expectations where each side would just be too far out of range, and you know, they a lot of time and money was spent, you know, probably they would have had that from the beginning, they would have would have gotten to that point. I'm looking at your

036ad the last time, but uh this is good. This is good. Looks like you did have an estimated salary range between $130,000 per year. But, again, that does not lock you in. You know, if you find if you have your candidate of choice, and you know, if they're more than 170, that doesn't lock you in at 170. And at at the same time, though, your candidate of choice, if you don't feel like maybe 130 130 is too high, you can go down if you need to. So, this is just to give you range about, you know, all right, this is kind of the area that we'd be looking at, but we could go a little higher, we could go a little lower depending depending on the applicant pool. But, that is essentially the next step.

037I mean, that that's the steps we would essentially recommend that you know you guys take essentially the same process that we've used for y'all in the last couple of times. It's the same process we've used all across the state. Uh And then if you know y'all have these certain specific desires, we can always incorporate that in there as well. >> Is this where we talk about that? What do we want to do? Yeah. I personally like a 60-day window of application. I felt last time 30 days was way too way too fast. Things moved way fast. Uh that's just my thought process on the 60-day. >> I I would kind of agree that a 60-day is a good uh not much to work with. It's 2 weeks 2 weeks. Uh just uh it it allows

038for sure to get the get as many candidates as you can possibly get for sure. Uh and then the other thing that it does is it allow just because uh the process might get indicated when it goes so fast. It allows for uh the process not to go so fast and it allows where you and I and the other members are the only one that have gone through that process. Uh we get an opportunity to kind of go through that process. Uh cuz she's never been through it. And I just think that 60 days would be ideal. >> Mr. Taylor? >> Uh just kind of piggybacking on that in house leading and talking about the 30 days more than I thought but we do have a doctor balance position. I was just worried about six

039days to get them to come in to meet my staff and I really don't think six days would be enough. >> Yeah, I don't think it'd be realistic to have a meeting in four to six years start. I mean, you can even have a a lightning fast start to finish by the time interviews and all that would be done in 9 days. 9 days would be a fast start to finish. >> What is the pros versus cons in doing a national search? I've heard different things from my community and then like people that's been through that previously. We didn't do national last time. Just broken contact. >> Well, it it it it depends on what people mean by national search. Do you want a national search firm from DC or New York to come in

040and conduct it? The pros of that, I guess, would be yeah, they're maybe casting a a more native nation wide net. Um you know, the cons of that is that it's super expensive to do that. Um and that's what I'm saying, you know, if if if it's by national search, you know, if if that's what y'all mean that, you know, maybe you want to run some ads nation wide. Well, yeah, the national NSBA National School Boards Association. There's some affiliate chapters under those organizations as well. I mean, you can even theoretically every state has a chapter as well. You can theoretically run 50 of them every state. Uh so, it just really depends on what you mean by national search. You know, do you want a national search firm or do you just want to

041run advertisements, you know, in national and nation wide publications or organizations? >> Um the organization COSMOS could be just with the Advocate as well as one local. Is that an option? >> I believe so. >> I don't think it'd be a bad idea. >> All right. Uh I think just somewhat Gavin has mentioned, not so much of having a national >> Right. >> search and find but making sure that we put it out there nationally at the superintendent. I think there's a national superintendent. I mean, COSMOS is also like that. >> You You have two national organizations. You've got the National School Boards Association. >> Mhm. >> Uh and then you'll remember quite a few years ago many southern states broke out of that organization and that's where COSMOS you know, came into play. So,

042there's actually now two. Uh and I think last time they had went national to the local organization. >> They did not call COSMOS >> I think you meant to say NSBA. >> COSMOS has grown so much since then. Uh and like Gavin said, it's not uncommon when you post for superintendent over the news, it goes through various state organizations. But it also will go to NSBA COSMOS. The Post Office wouldn't be the only place that you would publish to and then publish in the Baton Rouge Advocate as well and almost every time you advertise in the Baton Rouge Advocate, it hits their national syndicates. So, it gives copy in other major publications throughout the country. >> It's In my experience I have you know, experienced in other school districts. But when we prior were elected

043as superintendent, we did somewhat of a national search. And what we received were applicants that applied everywhere, every state. And so, 90% of them were not good. They weren't uh even they weren't qualified or you know, they they had no um no experience, whatever. They just applied out of state. And I don't know if you all recall what Ascension did a few years ago. They did a national search and I don't know if you know more than me about this, but with my memory, Ascension did a national search. They spent a lot of money doing it. The board could not come to an agreement. They threw it all out. And then started all over. So, it was a waste of money. It it it wasn't effective. So, you know, yes, we should advertise nationally, but

044to hire a company to do a national search is expensive and it's in my experience, it has not been effective. And so, I think I think the way we have done it the last couple times have been more effective. >> And then another thing, if in in terms of out of state candidates in general, we got to receive some out of state candidates. But, one of the things we always put in our board's application packages when you submit an application where where a candidate is submitting their actual application to the board, you know, they're either put in where they're currently licensed to serve as a superintendent in the state of Louisiana or they have that letter from the Louisiana Department of Education uh that that says that they are immediately eligible for the superintendent's certificate

045upon hire. Cuz that you know, that is another issue where we where boards have had some time with where that wasn't in their application packages. You know, they go through the whole process and they identify somebody they like, they're in negotiations, they actually hire and then they turn out this person can't get certified by the weekend at the Department of Education to serve as a superintendent. Uh so, that's why, you know, we we we've eliminated that from our process where, you know, if you're submitting an application, you either got to already have it and submit the legal ability to serve as a superintendent in the state of Louisiana or LDOE has given you the letter that basically says, "If you're hired by the school board, we will immediately issue that certificate." And that just has

046to do with more with how LDOE has their certifications. Uh certain situations, you know, you may have a person who's technically qualified, but they would not give them that actual certificate until they actually get hired by the Um so, that's why we say, "Okay, if you you're not immediately you don't have it right now, you just get that letter from LDOE and you know, now now the school board would know that they have to choose that particular candidate, that candidate would be qualified to serve as a superintendent if that's the person you would hire. So, you know, a lot of times, too, you know, because you know, every state has their own you know, I guess specific rules and guidelines in terms of certification, you know, that does tend to hamper, you know interest from

047out state areas because a lot of times people are you know uncertain if they have to give this how long how long is it going to take me to you know get certified in the state of Louisiana or not. So you know that's kind of going to the national search firms and they're they're more geared toward you know beating the bushes trying to find candidates maybe outside your your area finding candidates that would be off your radar or you know another state or whatever. The downside of all that is you know there are requirements though in the state of Louisiana these people actually have to be certified in the state of Louisiana in certain positions but >> So Evan before an applicant if an applicant comes before this board that is out of state before

048that applicant is given to us the review process would have made sure that they have that certificate or whatever it is needed that level before they even present it to our board to even consider. >> Yeah but that is part of our process as well and you know we have them in the application process that that is part of the paperwork that they're supposed to submit to the US Board of Education either their current certificate showing that they have you know the criteria of the certificate necessary to serve as superintendent or the letter from LDOE. Yeah but what we always do is you know our board just will pick another board in a completely different area of the state that you know has a good HR department and we always have that other board on

049standby when we gather our applications and we bring them you know check the PO box we bring them to the central office. We then send those applications to a completely independent HR department in then school board who then verifies and their opinion whether this person is eligible to serve as a superintendent upon hire or not. And, you know, once though we've had and we've had it several preliminary we've had some applicants uh you know that just they were not eligible. You know, they submitted an application but they did not technically have uh the the current certifications to serve as a superintendent. So, you know, once that all that is, you know, compiled once that applications are reviewed usually that same day is we notify the board uh here are the applications. We We received X

050amount of applications. Out of those X amount of applications, you know, all hold the the required certifications or you know maybe one of them did not, two of them did not, but we'll tell you what those stats are. Uh and then you know we'll also give you their application packages at that point in time as well. So, you know, there is a review to make sure because you know basically if they don't have the certifications you don't want to run them through the interview process and all that. So, you know, we weed those out up front. >> Favor. >> I I just kind of wanted to piggyback on what Ronald said. Um being as Mr. Ross went to that was a really good class went to. And I hope thank you Mr. Ross and all

051the organization you know you give us some mention there. Loud and mean I'm fine with that though. And then that's VA. That could be a lot of money on that thing you get a whole lot. I would say that I would spend it too on something like that. I don't know awesome. I think my original comment it wasn't to get a firm it was like to advertise kind of just to I think last time we had a couple of from out of state and we did have one last time I couldn't get the video clearly. Uh so So, we wanted just to advertise like high profile than having a district wide with our firm home. >> I think we did that this last time with NSBA. >> Okay. >> We ended prior to all of

052the educational organizations. We have done that. >> Okay. >> But >> And I'm good with that. 100% but I have LSBA, I'm sorry, NSBA, TASB, that's the national and then the ones we always do as well, LSBA, LAB, DOE and again, if you have to run them back through Jack again, that's that's probably not a bad idea to run in New Orleans having kids well. I don't know if I can do that last time. Okay, yep. Take what we did that last time as well, so. So, I mean, it seems like you have a pretty a pretty wide net here for capacity. Um salary range, again, you had that in your ad, so that's something we probably need to you know, address at this meeting, $130,000. If there's any any desire to change that one

053way or the other, you know, you probably need to address that now. >> But but the admin that needs to be negotiated. >> It is. It is. >> So, it's it's negotiable. >> It is. Yeah, that does not lock you in on the on the final on the final hire. You know, it does not lock you in where well, now I have to pick 800 over 2100 30 and 170. That's not how it works. So, again, this is just for your ad to get individuals a range. If that's still your your estimated range, then if there are any changes needed there. >> So, I have a I'm sorry, >> You're good, Ms. Ford. >> All right, thank you. Um that range is in line with the average going pay for a superintendent that based on

054the number of students, I think they consider that as a part of the equation that they utilize to come with a salary. The number of students and maybe there's some other things also as a part of that, but it is uh 130 to 170. Uh the average earning rate is within that range. >> I I would say so. You know, I mean, it it's There's some pretty drastic differences, you know, between uh urban boards versus more rural boards. You know, there's big differences between Jefferson and the boards in North Carolina versus the southern part of the state as well. But overall, I think in my opinion, 130 to 170 is probably a pretty good range. I mean, I I don't I don't think we really need to change much. Uh you know, I just wanted

055to throw that out there in case it's thought. >> Mr. Chairman. >> So, what if I'm thinking about our own salary scale? So, if we have a person who we bring Dr. Morrow and their salary is more than what we're advertising. I mean, I don't know that we could bring a superintendent in and hire him or her for less money or her for less money than our second man makes. Uh they maybe need to look at our own salary scale and talk to them about the number that aren't fixed. Does that make sense? >> Yes. >> It makes sense, but we have some and I I know you're familiar with the food service, but our own is way 200,000 less than the awful video. Uh so, I think there's some huge variants. >> We have

056some which you already have. >> Yep. Yep. Yep. >> I'll I'll come into this Georgia the state and y'all know I'm involved throughout the state of Georgia. I think the minimum on that range is probably low. Um you know, if you want to draw more applicants, there are individuals in this state who are principals that they would want to hire. >> Mhm. >> When you look at the salaries in all of the districts, you have your principals that are in the six figures. You have your average general salaries there. Um and the same thing with the supervisors and executive directors. Um I think as far as the range, you want salary on the high end. No one is going to be able to properly steer the ship with that. But 130 is low. You know.

057My recommendation would be a range of like 150 to 170. You know, and that's just me giving you some perspective I know that those contracts are all around the state as well. >> Right. Um that's what I was going to ask you that question to Kevin because I know that uh I mean our principals make 100. You know what I mean? So, um or more. 100 or more. Just how high it goes after you get past that. 100 or more, so I mean the average, you know. >> It wouldn't surprise me you know, the average again, this is just us looking at superintendent salaries across the state. I mean, it would not surprise me that you have employees in in this district that maybe make more than the superintendents make in some of our smaller

058you know, northern rural districts. So, you know, again, you know, that you do need to kind of I guess take in your current salary schedule and what what your you know your your top limits [clears throat] are already made, I guess, in terms of salary. Okay, what would be I guess the bottom range for your superintendent? Again, I mean that that's something that's solely within the school house to do. And you can have the discretion to pay what you want to this individual. >> So, do we do we have to make a do we have to vote on the change, or we just the president will vote on it? >> Well, I mean we again, we're putting this in the ad. The first step in this process now is to add to the go start

059running. So, you know, that that's why you you know, if since it's going to be in your ad, you probably need to make a decision. And again, you're not this is not something that's you know, it's far as I'm concerned here. I mean, you're not bound by it. This is just to give your applicant pools some indication about where your mindset is right now in terms of potential salary for your superintendent. >> Mr. Dude. All right. Now, I'm looking at the master salary schedule right now, and I'm I'm just looking at one thing trying to describe to you the position. But, uh let's just say the senior probably would 10 years is at 121, and and 20 years you're at 130. So, potentially have a superintendent coming in making the same as the first number

060in Eaton Park, you know. >> [clears throat] >> Um so, what do you guys think? Maybe 150 to 190, or just 150 to 180, or 150 to the >> the lowest >> the bar. >> That's the easiest. >> So, I would start with the bottom one at 280, and top it off at 300, and that minimum would have to be around 150. There are some people in Paris with significant experience in certain positions that would make a little bit of money there. So, we have to keep in mind I don't I don't think it would be appropriate to hire somebody at 150. We so badly want to do this. Is an appropriate extra amount. I won't speak to the top of that because that's your decision. But it could range more than what we expected

061for that amount. Joe >> I would like to see us go 150 to 190. Do you think that's a good range? For a new superintendent. Um because our salary schedule is so high in all areas. It's a lot different than we do in the northern part of the state for a higher superintendent. And I I think that range for me I would be more comfortable advertising those numbers because I think you have a better chance of getting more candidates, first of all. Um and then you'll be more knowledgeable when you're asking for what you're getting here. >> Okay. >> I think years ago, a couple of superintendents back, it was we went to 180. >> I think we're we're we're not bound to it. So, that's that's that's a good thing. So >> So, what

062150 to 180, I mean that's reasonable. I mean >> You got to make sure that you're going to do this. >> Stewart, just say it. >> I'm saying 190. >> Yeah. I'm not bound to it. >> Yeah. Yeah, I know. I'll follow you anyway. >> I think 150 to 180. And we can always, if we have to, during the negotiation process, we can go above 180, but I think we can write down 150 to 180 if that's what the board wants. >> And and you could go below 150. >> Yes, I would be willing to go below 150. >> If I didn't really love say the the top candidate maybe all you got principal or something at that point in time. So, we would have to know that it's Well, it's we got to look

063at the salary accordingly. So, I mean, you know, cuz there is a Again, it's negotiable because it it is always going to depend to on the experience and the qualifications that the candidate who is essentially offered. And then maybe it's not just you're going to pay that amount of money to anybody. It's it's more of the qualifications of of the candidates. And that's what drives you know, a large portion of you know, why you know, the salary is anything. >> And I think we need to look at the situation in the country with the economy. I think we need to look at that just like we do on a master salary schedule. We look at that. You know, so I I do think all of that should play, but knowing that an applicant will come

064in and negotiate [clears throat] their salary. So. >> And I think that's a good point. Uh it's valid, but you know, they they're going to look at that bottom number and they're going to look at that top number as well and they can use that as a as a tool to negotiate. And and and you know, take what it is. >> I think we're advertising. Keep that in mind. We're advertising. So, we want to catch the candidates. If if that even enters your mind, what's the possibility 190 180 or whatever. That's what If I was applying for a job, I would want to know what the bottom line is. >> Oh, yeah. >> No, I would. >> For sure. >> I think I would you say that would you get more candidates that way? >>

065Okay. Good. Good. Good. Good morning, ma'am. Mayor Bowser. I was I was going to say one new song just because like George W. application the finance you know Yeah. >> No, it's not. >> Then what do you mean by that? The highest bidder maybe one man one job and put in the city and stuff and thank you for >> Well, you know, I think when you look at an African you got to look at the experience because you know, the ultimate goal is when you look into high school you're looking to grow the district. So, you want to see that they maybe they might have some growth capabilities to help grow your district. So, you're paying for their experience to help them grow the district. So, you don't want to just you don't hire them

066anybody. So, when you put those salaries out there put those salaries out there with the expectations. You know, so >> Sure. That's all. >> No, that's all because we can remove the policies from the within a week. We can look at all of the actors with all of the names before they look at the football with the most followers certainly and I don't >> Um >> That would be a good example. After we like look at the look at the most followed guy so we can no names attached no politics attached and then the salary I wish we could I'm going to pay you to do that because that would be a great Frankie. If you put something like that person who got all of the the these personal applications without thinking you know the

067real over them. >> I was thinking those are somebody before us and they actually find out if they have the criteria to be a candidate. Or if it's somebody before us. >> See, he would go and and usually uh me and whoever would have the key to the PO box. And then we we bring the applications here at the central office and then we're going to shoot them off to whatever other school district, you know, essentially help you vetting vetting your candidates. And what they're doing what that other school district would be doing, they're not judging you know, whether this is a good candidate, uh bad candidate, good applicant, bad applicant. All they're doing is making sure they're they're looking at those applications for one thing. And that one thing is to determine whether this

068particular person, if you as the Iberville school board wanted to hire this person, would this person be eligible to serve as a superintendent in the state of Louisiana. So, that is the only thing that they are looking at. And then from there, you know, we we give you essentially the board members all the results of that. You know, you get how many applicants you received. I'm just making up numbers here. There's 10 applicants, you know, nine of them were qualified, one of them was not. And you know, we would tell you that you know, that one should be disqualified. And you know, we would never do that. Uh you know, and maybe all 10 of them were qualified. So, we would give you that information. Uh at the same time, we would actually give you

069an unredacted copy of all applications received. Uh The other thing we typically typically do is at the same time, you know, for for purposes of the public, we will put redacted copies of all the applications on the website. And you know, basically what I mean by that is the copies that we take all the applicants and we redact all the confidential information out of their application package. Name and all that is still on there, but all their confidential information is is is redacted and it's usually put on the website uh so that the public can see that this is this was the applicant. So, you go to the individuals that have applied to the job. Uh but, you know, the public is going to do their own research as well. They're going to look at

070it. They're going to form their own opinions and they're going to let you know about, you know, what they like and what they don't like and and and so forth. You know, they're going to let you know that prior to, you know, whatever the next meeting is going to be, you know, where you have to take action uh one way or the other in the next step of the process. So, that's essentially what we do. I mean, there's never a situation that we've ever had where, you know, you you as the full review don't know the applicants that you're looking at. Um >> And, how would you know like background check if you didn't know who they were in the first place? I was thinking I don't I don't know. I don't know if this

071is the right way to ask the question. And, I just everything was so good. >> Yeah. >> So good. It was just I was just starting with the politics Thank you. >> Straight up. >> I don't know what I'm going to say about the phone. It's kind of like nobody asked us to vote. We're the HR We get five candidates I was supposed to follow the law and just watch. I said background check I was wanting to work with anything else. Can't find as much information as you can find So, >> would tell me you can do this properly. >> Great. Great. >> What was the name again? >> Great. Great. >> What was the name? This is pretty cool. >> Great. Great. >> What we've done in the past in the songs is you

072need a name. Nothing to do with politics, but you need a name because if I knew an applicant John Smith from I don't know. Right from Dallas. I'm going to find out who John Smith is. I'm going to find out That's what we've done in the past. We I have called people. If I know people on the board, if I know people who live there, I know people who work with John Smith. And I'm going to find out their opinion. I want to know who John Smith is. What was his work ethic? Uh you know, I want to know his soft skills. We know his education. It's written. We have it on the resume, >> [clears throat] >> but I want to know his soft skills. I want to know how he relates to the

073people in the school district. I want to know what he did in the past. Unfortunately, unfortunately, it follows you. Your past follows you. And I did that the last what? Two three times so but a few times we've done >> This one we don't know unfortunately. We have feel like y'all did a fantastic job. >> In in other words, Miss Holmes, we do our homework. >> We did a fantastic job. We all feel like y'all with our other superintendents and every time y'all did a fantastic job, we feel the same like y'all. >> Oh, we know everything. No, I I think it was a candidate. Well, of course. You don't know what you what you're really getting into until you get in there. That's like marriage. You don't know what you're getting into until you

074get in there. >> So, right? >> Right. >> Let's be honest. They can not You think you know, but you don't know. >> Right. >> So, but we we didn't know what we We're going to marry them. They We get married in 5 years. I've been on it. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> We get married perfect. But you do have to have them. But you do have to have them. I mean, we get infected to the fact that you've been infected based on what you want to work with. You may have had I don't know. Great pool of candidates, but you feel that you're subjected to just one hour of that. >> Mhm. >> of candidates that you had at the time. >> So, you know, >> And and they could have been good and they

075could have been bad. >> I said you you'll never control your pool. >> Right. Yeah. I mean, it's different than what we got in the back. But he wants to He wants to go home. He's home. He wants to go home. Don't let him go home in the past. >> Don't let him pass anywhere. >> And I can't say that >> that you're going to help us put him in high security. >> Yes, they can. >> Yeah. >> They turned down the program like they got us beat. >> And I don't even want to go back. >> A lot of boys in the situation where they're trying to push the superintendent out when he comes to track out. >> I'm not going to comment too much on it, but just know that this was all

076the time. We just did a 10 minute search. It's one person applying. This is us as leverage to raise everything we use as leverage. And I wasted a lot of time talking to this man. But I mean this gets tedious and I'm trying to get some Don't give me >> [clears throat] >> All right. Are there any more questions that we have to do them? No. >> I've just made it a couple of notes because of the functions that are going to need to be developed. And the notes that I have so far are just based upon the discussion with the six today. I have a hiring period to ensure that communications are made through the NMEA conference, other means of uh journals or papers. In particular, the Baton Rouge Advocate and also WAFB. >>

077And there was also I think the Advocate Bureau there. >> Yes, they did. >> That the ad should also include the requirement of the Louisiana Superintendent certification on the eligibility of the applicant indicating that he can obtain the certificate upon the recommendation of our school board. Salary range 150 to 190. I think we always I mean I think that our next would be the first day of the advertisement. >> And and that depends on publication schedules and all that. You know, we can we can work on that. I mean typically we all have to vote the board vote on you know, this is the first day just if it gives staff some flexibility to determine the working on media schedules because the Post Advocate is going to have its own different. It's not a paid

078publication. >> But the Post Advocate is every Thursday. >> Yeah. >> And then And we've got to send those ads to them prior to the board. >> So, essentially, what we do is we go ahead and craft craft the ad based on these parameters. Assuming that's what the board goes with. And then, you know, staff will work to get these ads publicized in the in all the locations that's been designated. And uh at the same time, we've got to get that PO box in first as well. Cuz that will have to be into the ad as well, telling them where they have to submit their application to. Uh so, you know, if if you know, we say 60-day advertise, it's not going to start tomorrow or or Monday. Uh but, you know, it'll start in

079the near in the near future. The other thing we'll try to do is, you know, again, work in that calendar backwards. We want uh you know, basically, when that 60-day period is is coming to an end, uh and that day that we're going to go check the PO box, you know, again, we we usually try to have it where it's within, you know, 4 or 5 days of of the school board meeting. Uh So, we'll we'll try to see how that falls to see if we can get it close to uh you know, the regular school board meeting. Uh and then, if if not, you know, we'll look at maybe if if we can do a special meeting somewhere in there. But, we're we're going to try to try to get it with the agenda

080meeting first, the regular board meeting. So, essentially, you know, at that next meeting after all of the advertisements are done, uh again, really the the normal step at that point in the process is you're determining whether you going to interview everybody or you Do you have so many applications that you have to call them after? So, we can never know. We can't predict that right now. You Your application will determine your next steps from there. >> So, for that recommended motion or to document anticipated they can issue it Correct. >> We just make a motion to staff staff would proceed to issue the ad as soon as the ad as soon as the PO box is secured, as soon as the advertisement is then created, you know, staff will run that advertisement and we know

081whatever the first days that we think those ads are going to run I mean, we'll have it where the PO box will not be checked the due date you have due date that will be in your ad and all ads applications must be submitted by usually within 2 days after that date was the date that the PO box are checked and again we'll try to line it up where we have a meeting then in the near vicinity of that time period. >> But their motion today is to include >> The most I I understand where y'all are going right now. I would recommend that you know, the board make a motion to proceed with the advertising process for the superintendent. Said that advertising process would include an advertising period of approximately 30 days with publications

082being run in local and national publications. >> Mr. Chairman >> Is it 60 days? I'm sorry about that. >> The half a time >> Yeah, the advertisement to be ran for essentially a 60 day period. Uh but that same advertisement, you know, also being put in national and state and local educational related entities in SBEA LSBA labs, Louisiana Department of Education and major in state newspapers Advocate, Monroe News Star, Lafayette Advocate Advocate that the advertisement would have a anticipated salary of between $150,000 and $190,000 per year and that any applicants uh the time of submission of their application must be either currently certified to serve as a superintendent in the state of Louisiana or have uh a documentation by the Louisiana Department of Insurance stating that they're immediately eligible uh for their certification upon hiring.

083>> Not insurance. >> Education, not insurance. >> Department of Education. Department of Education. >> Educate. >> Now, looking at this, so if you would do it on the A in the B of June, then you would need the 3rd of August, and we have a meeting on the 2nd. >> The That's a Monday. Our ads only run on Thursdays. So, if it's that week that August can get done in the 1 or all that. I don't know if we can get everything secured to start it next Thursday. So, we're getting our act together. >> When do you have to have the ad if it runs Thursday? When do you have to have the ad in? >> Next week would be June 1st, a Monday. So, we couldn't even get an ad in until Monday. >>

084So, just as a a >> Oh, next Thursday then, but >> a rough timeline. I mean, let's say your your first ad is the second week of June, 60 days, 2 months, uh June, July, August. So, your advertisement period would be coming to an end around the second week of August. You know, you could then look at maybe a special meeting sometime at the beginning of August. Uh just And again, that probably would not be a very long meeting at all. Or, you know, if you want to wait till September then decide next steps. So, late August or early September you're going to be deciding your next steps which essentially be, you know, having the pool of the interview or you know, dealing with any of the other applicants. From there, you know, then you

085would I say you do interviews in September. Um End of September early October then you would be essentially deciding if you're ready to hire at that point in time or again just depending on your number of applicants, you know, you would go into a second round of interviews at that point in time. I don't believe you all did two rounds of interviews last time. Um you did? Okay. Um so again, it usually just depends on >> What happened last time was two? >> Last time it was only one round but it was square with two rounds. >> Oh, okay. >> We did two. >> Two rounds. >> Yeah, two. >> Okay. >> What you bringing is going to be a big camp. >> If this gets Yeah. So that that was the timeline of the

086last time but realistically, I mean Um unless unless there's a second round of interviews and again that would only happen where you got so many interviews on or so many applications the first time that you can get a fair amount of interviews. I mean, let's say eight, seven, nine interviews on round one and then all right, now we're ready to come down and we're going to call that seven, eight down to, you know, three, four, five for a second round of interviews. You know, if you're only starting with five interviews so then I mean, five applications from the very start of the process then, you know, more than likely you wouldn't even be in a situation where you would have a second round of interviews. Um so yeah, I think you know, going off of

087that enough time I mean kind of lines of where late September early October you'd be in a position to either proceed with the hire or are going to another round of interviews. And again, I mean depending on if you have special meetings and all that obviously, you know, you trim some of that time off as well if necessary. But the first [clears throat] step is that. >> I'll make the motion of everything you said. >> Second that. >> Can you read it to us Kim if y'all have it? >> I mean just want to say we do the recommendation of the council. That >> All right, I'll make the motion of the recommendation of the legal counsel. >> I second. >> Hey, but before you all ask the public comment or vote, Gavin, Dan, Kim,

088can you still put into word box the specific motion after this? >> I would the specific parameters >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah, what I what I mean with the analogy. Um as far as the questions and stuff like that and then I think we had public question on the website. That's you worked out with you and then >> Yeah, we we and and we'll kind of get off of that next, you know, with the next steps of the process. Um you know, y'all were there last time. Um, generally and this is this is how we just did it in the same area as well several weeks ago. Um, they were in a situation where they have essentially interviewed everybody. And you know, the way we like to do our our interviewing, um, you know,

089it is typically the format is we you will set the interview dates and times. We set the time slots and then however many candidates, you know, it's a random draw in terms of who's going to get what interview uh, every time. You know, just because you know, you don't want somebody to say, "Oh, you know, I was I was put in that time slot on purpose or one way or the other." That's why you basically just set your schedule first. You know, if it's going to be five interviews, you know, five of them on this particular day, each one starts at this time. You dump all the names of your candidates in a hat, you shake them up, and in a formal meeting you draw one by one. This is the person's first interview spot.

090This person's the second interview spot. Now, all of that's done, uh, and then whenever it's time for the interviews to come in, you know, we we typically structure the interviews where they last they're they're designed to last about an hour per candidate. In reality, they usually go an hour 20, hour 30 per candidate and it just depends on the number of follow-up questions that the board members asked. We would ask every board member to come to the interview with one question, one prepared question. Well, actually two questions in case somebody else asks a question. And basically, you know, you would have you you ask the same thing each candidate the same question and that allows you to prepare I mean, compare answers between candidates as to how each candidate answers your particular question. >> [clears

091throat] >> The format of the interview is normally, you know, the candidate will come in, they'll be a opening 10 10-15 minute opening and they will go into board member questions. Each board member will start at one board member and they'll ask a question. If any other board member has a follow up question based on that applicant's answer, then any board member can ask their follow up question. There's no limit on the amount of follow up questions. So, that really depends on how long the interview is going to last and you don't know how many follow up questions are coming out of the board. And you sit with the whole board. The whole board Each board member asks their questions. The candidate gives their answers and uh then you give the candidate a a 10-15

092minute closing. Um and that's the end of it. Uh you know, so you know you don't have to uh We'll we'll we'll provide some some sample questions that board members can ask and if you if you if you need that as well, but you know, you're free to ask whatever question you want. You know, if there's a question that you know, people in the public are you know, they say to me, "That's the one question I have." And you know, there's nothing wrong with you saying, "All right, that's the that's the question I'm going to I'm going to ask every candidate that particular question." So, you're free to ask whatever question you want. And again, there's no limit on the answers that the candidates may give to other board members' questions. You know, some of

093those questions may actually come up with follow up questions as well. So, that's typically the format that that we have. So, I think that was the format we used last time. Um you know, so it's all it's all in the love, you know, it's all done in a public meeting. It's it's live streamed, so everybody in the public can can watch and they they lay eyes on the candidates and they hear the questions and they hear the answers. Uh they'll give you their feedback. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Humphreys. Now, before we move forward, Kim, are are you able to to let us see this. >> We have downloaded the latest garbage and mentioned in the board meeting that it's in all my packets. >> Okay. We We have a motion by Mr. Toups

094and seconded by Mr. Abraham. Are there any public comments? >> If I may ask a question to the board just to make sure procedurally once the vote is done, we can go and put what that advice was from legal counsel into the record so it reflects the minutes. >> Yeah, and essentially just to summarize, we want to bring in that that legal advice is going to be to proceed with the next steps of the superintendent hiring process, which is starting with the running of an advertise, and just to advise on the same page, that advertising will be ran for 60 days. That advertisement will be ran in national school-related organizations such as NSBA, Cosma. It will also be ran in statewide Louisiana school district affiliated organizations such as LSBA, LASS, Louisiana Department of Education. That

095ad will be ran in the environment of Lafayette and the magnet schools of Youngsville and Lafayette Academies. Uh that ad will have the school board's estimated salary range for the position, which is $150,000 to $190,000 per year, and that ad will also notify candidates uh that they must either be currently approved to serve as a superintendent or certified to serve as a superintendent in the of Louisiana. All they must provide documentation with their application evidence from the Louisiana Department of Education evidence and that form higher and they will be issued a certificate. >> Good. Thank you. Is there Is there any comments in the board? Okay, the machine voting is marked. >> On my voting is now closed. On my voting is now closed. Passing to Nance. >> Thank you. Next up is discuss the

096master salary schedule for 2026-2027 and the 25 2025-2026 budget status. Dr. Warren. >> Okay, this this is just again discussion. Uh as I mentioned last month's meeting, we have had actually a lot of my colleagues about 13 chapters and items and so forth. Uh we wanted to give an update on these because at the June board meeting, we plan to come with recommendations to approve the master salary schedule for 2026-2027. So, that's in place for the fiscal year beginning and then in July, we plan to come in with recommendations for approving the budget for the 2026-2027 school year. So, I'm coming back and forth and Mr. Stewart may provide some input as well on this. Last year at this time, you all know a lot of things that impacted the 25 26 budget. Some of

097them included providing $4,000 across the board payments. We increased the cycling pay for the safe school training by 300 and then several other items that I included in my superintendent's report at the last board the increase in master planning we said how much the differential was if you do have that. Those things in force were impacts of this current year budget that increased expenditure. But what we also recommended for that 25 26 budget was to be more conservative on the construction side and the capital outlay side because for many consecutive years we were doing deficits in the prior general fund balance. That general fund fund balance over those four years or so was plenty healthy enough to support that. But what it did is brought down those general fund fund balance dollars. I will tell

098you that when it looks like today our revenues are up about $5 million on ad valorem That's a solid number. We know that we're pretty much finished with those collections, but that's your that revenue that's in that January to December which you get checks at the end of January. Currently and I don't know whether or not I'm going to wood or just wait and see, but currently our sales tax collections to date >> [clears throat] >> compared to last year are also up million more. This is going to be one that as our board and administration moves forward with recommended expenditures, I would not recommend tying too much of your recurring expenses based on anything with the sales tax. One of the months it went up a pretty good bit and what we were told

099may have had something to do with some equipment that wasn't taxed. Uh so, that was just a one-time pop. Last month it was up again. As all of you know, there have been a lot of announcements [music] made and there are more to come in terms of capital projects that will take place in Greenville County. We will get some residual impact, which will be positive, from Hyundai announcements, the Kia announcements, which those are in uh Spartanburg County, but they're bordering us. Shih Tech's already made their announcement. They're already doing their expansion. It's already done. There are other expansions going to arrive. This will lead to some bumps in sales tax that may be pretty significant over the next few years. But again, once those construction pieces are done, those sales taxes are going to go

100back down to normal, so to speak. And your ad valorem taxes are going to kick in until these 10-year exemptions roll off. And on these mega projects, those exemptions are going to probably all be 100%. Shih Tech will be the first one, you know. Uh we have gotten that application in yet. As you know, it's Sue Sue for Janet, Cheryl, and House President. We'll get with that all together and I'll keep you posted as we go along with each department. So, I do want to state that we are extremely confident that between the increase in our local revenues and the conservative nature that we took with capital outlay this year, that our general fund fund balance will find itself in a very healthy place once this fiscal budget year all comes to a close. The

10111th payroll was issued this week. So, June 29th, the final payroll for this fiscal year ends. And then sometime in August and July or August, you have closeouts that have to be done as far as all other purchasing outside of salaries for this fiscal year. So, I want to thank you all first because everyone has been really great with recommendations that we made as an administration. We did accomplish some of your recommendations into all of this as well. And that conservative piece of it really I believe is going to grow and like I mentioned initially back in February, we we need to do one more conservative year on the capital outlay side and then I think we're really going to be in a great spot for that following fiscal year. When it comes to the

10226-27 master salary schedule recommendations, before I I would make any recommendations, students I've spoken about is quite a bit. We really need to see this next 3 or 4 weeks pass, get some of these expenditures out of the way to determine whether or not we want to make any recommendations as far as some type of retention stipend. The old traditional 13th check, we will not be recommending. Although all money is going into that sales tax fund that that has come out of in the past, your expenses on the Metro Zone continue [clears throat] to go up. And we have been and you have been in particular very adamant about not raising premiums on our employees for health insurance programs and not raising premiums for retirees. So, as that fund builds, that fund drops. You know,

103the negative more revenue in there. I do feel as though the general fund fund balance more than likely will be able to support some type of retention stipend. Uh we'll make that recommendation more than likely. Uh it'll look a little bit different if we do recommend it because the past years it was given in May and we had people who quit in the summer after they said they were coming back and quite a bit of money was never recovered. So, we do have an idea about how we can do that and make that distribution. But we do need to let this budget be accounted for before we cross that and I'm going to tell you I am absolutely disturbed that our employees would bring home less in their pay based upon what happened with the

104new break and based upon what's going with the government and the legislation. And if we have the money to support to make up that difference, I will absolutely make a recommendation that we do that. >> Let me Let me ask a question. Did you see this morning that each faculty member is up in their salaries like $6,000? >> Yes. Each faculty member is doing a salary >> Well, the question that I was wondering what's >> I'll I'll give you the impact. So, their starting teacher pay is $50,000. Our starting teacher pay is $60,500. Their $600 or $6,000 raise, if it gets approved, still puts them $4,500 behind us in the end starting teacher pay. And I can also tell you as our employees progress in the salary schedule, with the incentives that are there and

105with the work that you did a couple of years ago increasing the steps for people that have been here a long time, our salary accelerated the more that you are here with us. And so, for instance, when we talk about this in a minute, but we have something similar based on their performance evaluation, which are pretty generous. You know, if you're a band teacher that gets evaluated scores, you get a $1,200 stipend, but you lose three steps off of the salary schedule, which is $1,800 more. So, that's a $3,000 pop in one year for that dude. >> Yeah, I just want the public Yes. to know because when that was announced this morning, I already had like, "Oh, they're getting $6,000 more." And I was like, "What?" And I'm like, "I'm going to a meeting,

106okay?" I said, "And but I want I want the public to understand that we already start off high." >> Correct. >> This is the same thing. That means they get like 9,000 something stipend last month, but their salary schedule was built around you might get that, you might not. And it's totally dependent upon their tax collections. Their starting teacher pay is like 44,000. So, they're significantly behind us in starting teacher pay. So, yes, even with what we are recommending, we will be 4,500 still ahead in just starting teacher pay. I I do think that as we hold conversations with people who question things like that, I think it's also important that we remind people of the benefits. All the known increase in premium for health insurance, all of them are 15, 20 years. That's unheard

107of. And the benefits are extremely rich. And when I speak to other superintendents, when they're looking at their salary schedules, they're looking at ours. Because of all of the different types of enhancements that are in there. You know, I was just at teacher leader summit this weekend. We had four different round tables that were just superintendents. And we discussed, you know, part of it some salary schedule things, and even talking with Powdersville, she talked there with us. That superintendent is telling me, I can't believe some of the stuff that I'm having in this salary schedule. So, it's a very rich one. I think what we have to watch as we move ahead and Mr. Stewart and I have had multiple conversations around at some point there will be new board members. There will be a

108new superintendent. That all of this have to be kept in mind of what types of revenues are recurring and what types are not. Because if you start borrowing non-recurring revenues, wealthy as we are, and I'll say it, wealthy as we are, you can end up in the deficit really quick. You know, because when you talk about giving this $4,000 raise that we gave last year, that's close to a $6 million annual recurring expenditure. You know, you're not talking about small money. But I do want to say that I do think we will be able to come to make some type of statement recommendation to the board. As far as the salary schedule itself for 2025-2026, uh there's a few things that I do want to just put on your radar. I'll probably follow up with

109an email to you about these because there's a few items that I think we need to address. First, is the steward and our administrative staff that just kind of been looking through the document to see if there's technical errors, clerical errors, spelling errors, anything like that to get all of that cleaned up. But a few other items that we're looking at right now is this 2-day X uh couple of weeks ago. Do we do anything as far as a stipend for nationally board certified school nurses? So, in looking and researching in our salary schedule, we do have a stipend that goes to nationally board certified teachers. That stipend is $5,000 a year. That is a very rigorous program to actually get national board certification. So, do school nurses have a similar type. We do pay

110the stipend to school counselors as well that falls under the umbrella of teachers. But, we have many other types of certifications stipends that are active in our salary schedule. You know, those include some certifications for some school food service workers. They include some certifications for some maintenance employees. But, we probably have more stipends like that for the support side than we have on the certified side. So, I did a little research and there are national board certifications for other classifications of employees as well. School psychologists, for instance. Speech therapists, for instance. Uh that do require a lot of very rigorous work in order to keep those things active as well. So, we made some recommendations around certifications in those national board areas. We also took a look at while approaching that topic in our finance

111department, for instance. There are no certification supplements in the salary schedule for something such as last year in the association of school business officers. And national certification there. These are very rigorous types of programs that people go through to get those certifications. And it's really high level high performance professional development to earn those types of things. And our people really have no incentive to put that type of time and effort into getting those certifications. Another issue that Uh, we're looking at this, when it comes to the salary schedule. We need to update it on the teacher evaluation system that has changed. So, back in 2012-13, that one all came into effect. You had to have a salary schedule that reflected performance pay, so on and so forth. So, the current salary schedule has salary supplement

112for if you score a proficient on your eval. And if you score a highly effective on your eval, you will get a stipend. You will get step increases based upon whether you're a band teacher that gets the highly rated scores, or if you're not a band teacher, you get SLTs. At that time, it was a four-point scale. And you were highly effective if you had a 3.5 to a 4.0. So, you were way up there in terms of that performance. And then, you were considered to be proficient if you were a 2.5 to 3.49. If you're ineffective, which would be below one, then you can't get any salary increases. Salary gets lowered. The new system that went into effect is now a five-point evaluation system. And they added the category of exemplary. Well, now on

113that scale, if you have a 4.5 to a five, that should be really highest performing individuals. Then it goes to 3.5 to a 4.49. That's the highly effective range. According to this current system, if you have a 3.5, you're performing average, basically. So, I think we need to come back to you with a recommendation to make some adjustments on how those payouts are done based upon the newly adopted evaluation system. Uh and we really need to make some adjustments in how that works. Uh Mr. Bowen and I had an opportunity to talk through this a little bit earlier this week. This was a big discussion in our superintendent round tables, at teacher leader summit, because you shouldn't have people who have a 3.5 getting the same performance incentive as somebody making a 4.5. It's just

114it's not equitable. So, we're going to make some recommendations to kind of correct for that when we do that next master salary schedule. We will come to you to you with those recommendations. Uh one of the other things, you know, I have been told, I have not seen the allocation yet, that the legislature will allocate differentiated compensation dollars. Again, these are the funds that we use to provide incentives such as math teachers K-12, 7th-12th grade math, 7th-12th grade science. Those are the critical shortage areas as defined by the state and the LDoe. Once we get additional guidance from that, we'll have to come back to you. So, that'll probably come after the salary schedule is adopted next year, student as we've done the last few years. The last item that I want to mention is

115this past school year, we increased the amount of reimbursement that we give to teachers for teachers who are going back to school and who've been working on their certifications and upper master's degrees and so forth. That has been coming out of Title One funds. We have no tuition reimbursement budget at all like in all levels of classes that the employees Mr. Stewart and I have also discussed this, you know, you know, our rapid school expense, you know, and if we have people who are trying to enhance their skills that are in positions outside of the teaching part, we've got no mechanism, you know, we've got secretaries that work in our school district who have associate's degrees who really might want to go back and get their bachelor's degree. You know, we've got people who work

116in other departments that may have a bachelor's degree that would like to get a master's degree. We've got nothing in place to try to support those employees at all. So, we're looking at, you know, ways that we can potentially budget to help us afford because the cost of additional education keeps going up and we have employees I think that are wanting to enhance their skills. Uh we have a couple of people in public positions that are that are bachelor's degrees that want to come teach for us now. And they've done that on their own. You know, so Mr. Stewart has I think identified a source of revenue that we receive that could support this. That's common like you know how we have credit cards and we might get 2% reason and rebates back. We've got

117something similar with some type of pay deal. You may be explaining that to us that provides you with incentives to buy. >> Yeah, since we're going to keep this short and the rebate you receive those percent rebates. And so those rebates can actually apply a large portion of this reimbursement assistance that we're speaking of uh on certain projects and like over a 30-year uh it it may be fully funded. >> So how do we know once we have recommendations that you know we may want to move forward with it? Because I think these would have a very minimal impact on the budget, especially again we're getting a pretty substantial amount of money back just with paying on this. So it could be a recurring fund source to support something like that. Uh I think Mr.

118Stewart, unless you can think of anything else on this item >> I was That covers everything on my end. >> Okay, thank you. Any any more any comments? >> You know, I think it's a great idea that you know, give the opportunity for this to happen in order for us to assist and push that. Going back to you know, going faster skills or education opportunities. >> Absolutely. Okay, next up is discuss the North Temple Field baseball and softball dressing room status. Dr. Bogan. >> Yes, as you know last board meeting we had a request to kind of talk through this a little uh under the but this final So, North View of the high school baseball, softball renovation and then we got the stadium renovation that's kind of coming in these phases. The softball baseball

119piece of it, the baseball field was put into playable condition once the school once the school opened dressing rooms there to get I don't think they had softball that first year that we were just in junior varsity, but the following year there was a demand for softball and then we did a project that was about seven or eight hundred thousand dollars and a few work items got added there but the dressing rooms weren't part of that. So, the football project thing was the next big one that took place. Of course, that is in pretty much, you know, complete with a few items but So, basically what what I've done is gotten with Fusion and kind of looked at what types of things, you know, can we do to ultimately address the needs for the baseball

120and softball teams out in that area. And when we approved the football project it came significantly over budget. So, at the time we approved the bid award we added five hundred thousand dollars to that budget and we valued engineer two items out. One of which was like the special color of the track but then we said no, we're going to be standard throughout the district for tracks. One item that was valued engineered out also we included the storage here that's at all the other campuses for trucks, equipment for the cleaning. It's a storage building specifically designed to hold that stuff. So, the building that was built on the campus was for the weight room and then there was another part of it that was the shell of the building that currently the equipment for the

121turf cleaning and all the associated equipment for that is housed in there, which is adjacent a part of the weight room building. So, a plan for down the line to address the dressing room concerns would be to go ahead and I'm not saying today, but in the future construct the building for the turf cleaning equipment and then take the shell of the building that is being used now and that you regularly and convert that to dressing rooms for baseball and softball. That proposition overall is just kind of relatively inexpensive in the big picture compared to these big large projects. Uh the total estimated cost of the whole thing right now would be about $307,000. It's probably a little more than that when you take into uh any consideration professional fees or uh some of the

122furniture and other equipment that may come with that. I'm not making any recommendation today. This is not a financial outlay. But, I do want to add that to our future way forward now. We met in February. We talked about the projects in the 26, 27 fiscal year. And just to kind of recap that for everybody, the parking lot stadium, that was huge priority that we needed to get done because the turf or the track was in such bad shape that we needed to get done. We had a budget of 2.8 [music] million. That came in under budget, but we kept that set at 2.8 because we don't know what they're going to find. I know they found that bond stone. You all probably remember talking about issues where there was something beneath. So, but that

123project is well on the way. The bottom of that is going to be paid out of the 26, 27 budget. We also indicated that we need to change two roofs, 190 West 190 High, with an estimated cost of 2 and 1/2 million. And we've got seven boilers that need to be replaced to the tune of about 1.4. So, as Stewart and I had talked to you back in February that we want to stay in that 7 to 8 million dollar range when it comes to the capital improvement projects out of the 26, 27 budget. Currently, the stadium and parking lot, the two roof projects, and the eight boilers or seven boilers, that's 6.7 million. So, we're approaching that 7 million mark on that. But, we also had discussions around a huge need, which is adding

124non-essential to the MSA West cafeteria. So, that was listed on the regular so to speak with that document that I gave you all over there to read. That current estimate is about 2 and 1/2 million dollars. We have been discussing this issue every two weeks. We have a update meeting with with our architects and with finance and with Mr. Miller and Ebony and Brandon. And we got the tunnel location for that. We may be able at some point in the spring make a recommendation on that, but that would be expense out of the 27-28 budget. Because that tunnel work would need to begin at the point that the kids get out of school and get the bulk of what they need to do done that would, you know, work school operations. That last week of

125May, all of June, all of July. Because it probably will be a non-construction project where some of this will still be happening. So, that part wouldn't be part of the 26-27 just budget. But, other thing that I've been talking and you know, they're waiting for you know, the proper funding to recommend moving forward is a new middle school at the high school park. You know, that's been on that radar for quite some time now. I'm telling you, that is a need. But, the building that they're located in, uh we walked through it. Those of y'all that came and we walked through it, you seen it. Uh so, that's still out there on the radar. The second story of this building, that's still out there on the radar where we have special ed located and they're

126doing well in there at this point. Um I think you can wait another year, but that's there. You probably would have to extend the parking over here before even starting to begin construction on the second floor to get it usable for the special ed department. We also have on our radar doing early childhood at Crescent. or pre-K? Currently, they get relocated in the building. It's working. The bathroom facility situation is not the most ideal. So, I do think down the line, having those pre-K classrooms done would probably be the best option. So, I'm going to add this item for addressing the needs just so that I'm aware of all of this and knowing that we've got some things to utilize that the board would need to consider. >> Dr. B, did you say the alternative

127radio channel on the list? >> I didn't mention that, but that is as well. So, we are relocating uh RLA to the RPCC campus. You know, I think that'll work well for a couple of years. But, if this program really grows with that early college option, uh we're going to stay with the early college. We had already talked about options in RLA potentially putting a building over here on the lot. That is I just cannot see putting a school, especially with some of our kids that attend the alternative program were runners. That is a no-go. That person in that room will be tracked because people people find a way to get through things, you know, whether it's over the wall or got something that's going on over there. We've got to keep adding things with

128some of these younger kids. I do think that in the future you have potential to do some property that you already own out towards RPCC and parking lot in that area to do something. Um and like I mentioned in one of my last updates, the mayor is very interested in the following that David brought to you on Railroad Avenue. Once they do their budgeting and so that's one of our railroad where we could potentially do a sale and if we could have that contract. While we were talking about Mayor Holmes, we will recommend to more meetings that you approve a resolution to purchase the property of White Castle adjacent to the baseball field. I mean, yeah. For a future project over there for baseball and softball, the last step of this the council has to

129approve the the zoning and the subdivision for the abstract board. So, we'll have that resolution on the next month of June. The reason I mentioned all of this is this particular item here is I think comprehensively you can't look at that by itself. But it is a need that has to go into with all of these other things that have been out there for quite a while. >> Hey, I'm going to be thanking but I want this fortune and I've been asking for a cover for the walkway where the kids get off the bus. They're getting soaked. There's no cover for the park room. The bathroom the whole football facility. I'm grateful for what we have. We did not get any locker rooms and I mean dressing rooms and a field house and bathrooms and

130all that. Our the our gate for the villagers is a table and a chair. So, we got a piece of what everybody else got. We didn't get the full facility upgrades. So, there's a lot of more that needs to be addressed that has not been addressed and I'm not going to deal with the board no more to get it addressed. So, I'm going to ask the board members to maybe not come back to please keep in mind that North Little Rock School District does not need the what everybody else in the Maritime and it's just not right. You know, I'm not asking for things that are frivolous or just because it's things that are needed. You know, like the equipment the equipment that the room at Hope Academy equipment we had shipped out in the

131beginning and we were talking about that. Now, it's going to cost us more. And we would already have the equipment that the rest of the kids would be wrestling but now we have to redo some things that cost us more money. So, I don't know who's saving any money by cutting these items out of the budget. >> I don't know in the long run if you're going to save anything but we were responding to the budgetary situation at that time. You know, our June fund balance really sunk to far too low for where we needed to be at. That's why we're asking to have this approach. Each year be a little more conservative, let it build back up and then you will have funds to deal with these large projects. And that really was more

132of a response of hey, the auditors of the town must be spending way more than what you got coming in for consecutive years. >> Right. And I'm not picking on this one but you know, we just we just got in the welding room in there. We're busting kids from North Little Rock School District to Portland to the welding class and we couldn't weld kids and I'm like making them bad thing for them. They didn't It's just the idea of the difference in what's being provided in one school and what's being provided in the other. And that's it. >> I think I'm going to go with with this outcome. I share both watching this. Can this two gentlemen make a motion to adjourn this meeting and I second it? Retreat is adjourned. Thank you.