001procedure. An individual speaker who appears at a schoolboard meeting to speak on an agenda item must register prior to the meeting and will be allotted three minutes to speak on agenda item prior to school board discussion of said agenda item. I will now call to order the Jefferson Paris school board agenda meeting on Thursday, February 12th. I would like to remind everybody we are live streamed and the link is at the top of the page. Miss Debbie, would you do roll? >> Sure. Mr. Arseno >> here, >> Mr. Borlon >> here, >> Mr. Brook House >> here, >> Mr. Dobson here, >> Mr. Doies here, >> Mr. Fry, Miss Jones, Miss Paula Lashern >> here, >> Miss Summer Lashern here, >> Mr. Patterson >> here, >> Mr. Petri, Mr. Tronhan, Mr. Walker, >> here. >>
002You do have a quorum, sir. And I have had no requests for public comment. >> All righty. I'd like to call to do the prayer Miss Skyler Shidna and the pledge of allegiance by Brenley Nunees. Dear Jesus, we thank you for the opportunity to gather as a community dedicated to the success of every student. Please grant this board the wisdom to make decisions with clarity and the compassion to always put students first. We pray for unity across our district and safety within our classrooms. Help us to work together with respect and integrity to build a brighter future for us all. I pray that you bless our teachers, our families, and our leaders. Tonight in your name we pray. Amen. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
003republic for which it stands. >> One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Y'all can stay right there, ladies. is one second. >> You'll get to do the minutes. >> Love that. >> Now's the time where y'all get to do your speech. You'll have five minutes. >> Get ready to go. Just Yeah, I know. I didn't mean to cause panic. First of all, but y'all are so y'all are so I got to meet y'all the other day. Uh, first of all, um, thank you so much for all the great questions that y'all had about education, about the school board, about how the school board works. Um, whenever I left, I told Mr. Ocellet that for for a group that has never been here before, and I was amazed over the type
004of questions you had. Uh, and you can tell that comes from your class and how much time you spend with them. U, we would love, I know y'all are on your journey to to decide what you want to do, but you are I'm I'm hoping and praying that you want to stay right here in Jeff Davis Parish, become a teacher and u and we have spots for you. Uh I want to give y'all a coin. Um doing something like this takes a little courage, right? Little bit, right? Anyway, so that's what these are called. These are called courage coins. So I want to give her everyone one. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you all and thank you all for uh for coming tonight. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I'm I'm done. So I'm sure
005>> I know >> I will now need a motion and a second to approve >> a motion by Mr. Walker, a second by Mr. Phil Arseno. Any board discussion? Hearing none, we now go to a vote. All in favor say I. >> All oppose. I have it. Motion passes. I'd like to call Miss Simeians to come up to the front and introduce our presentations today with the Lacasine High School Ed Rising Program. >> Good evening everyone. We have with us um members of the Lacasin High Ed Rising program and and their instructor, Miss Natalie Tron. Our um educators rising program is an opportunity for students who are interested in careers in education. It's a chance for them to explore teaching through hands-on experience, mentorship, and leadership opportunities. It gives our school district a unique opportunity
006to grow its own future educators to enter the workforce. And as Mr. Hall said, hopefully right here in Jeff Davis Parish. Um, it provides insights into the profession and helps them to develop some of the necessary skills to become an educator. And I think um if this is the time you will hear from some of those students now and um their instructor, Miss Natalie Tro. >> Thank you. >> Great. >> So in front of you, you're going to have a packet of a presentation that we did at MCNE. I don't have the time to go through this whole packet with you, but it explains how our school took this and made it for us. It's really hard to sell the idea of being an educator to somebody, especially in this today. But we sell the
007idea of being a leader because everyone has to be a leader before you can be anything else in your life. So without any other things going, I'm going to go ahead and let them speak for themselves. >> Hi. Uh good evening. My name is Anane Freeman and me and my classmates are part of the second cohort for Ed Rising at Lacazine High. Um we do a lot of presenting most of the time and in December we had the opportunity to go to Magnes. Um some of us were presenting in competitions and others were taking a group of sophomores selected by teachers and students in our class to tour the campus. Um we presented in I believe public speaking and one that was very big was children's literature. Children's literature gave us an opportunity to explore
008writing. Education is not always in the classroom. Uh books have a really heavy part in that as well. For this competition, we made a book focusing on the lower elementary students. Last year's class made a book full of short stories built around different life lessons. I'll pass this along. Preparing for this year's competitions, our group played off of the original, forming a story line about self-love. We used the example of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly to express that you should never let others expectations determine your potential. Our first advising class won second place with their book and following after we won third. So also one of the occasions we worked within our school was Red Ribbon. Throughout the week, we put together presentations going to multiple middle school classrooms and presenting to them what
009the dangers of drugs were and how you can stay away from them. Um we showed how they had a negative impact in on your mind and on your body. We had many activities for the classrooms and one of them that was a really big hit was we had each student got five candies in a little cup and they all had different colors. We passed them around the classroom and we went through round round through round. Throughout the rounds, their the kids documented their colors and at the end we all compared colors and the colors had different meanings and one of the colors led to an overdose. Um, and it really just showed the students how how much danger you're getting in for you do take part in those activities. Um, we were praised by many
010teachers and students who explained to us that they didn't know that drugs could have such a hard impact on your life. One concept in particular I love about our ad rising class is that it doesn't teach us how to be teachers. It teaches us how to be leaders. Missn teaches us how to be teachers by teaching us how to teach ourselves first. You wouldn't want a psychology professor teaching you how to paint the Mona Lisa, would you? Have you ever heard the phrase, "The older you get, the wiser you are." That's because your knowledge is gained by your experience. I enjoy public speaking, but I've only ever done five minute speeches. However, through Edrising, I was given the opportunity to give a 10-minute TED talk to three judges. I would have never imagined I was
011giving a TED talk, let alone to actual people rather than just my wall in my room. However, through Ednat's Ed Rising class, it has taught me that my experiences do not have to end where they are. If I can do a five-minute speech, then I can do a 10-minute speech. If I can talk to three judges, then I can talk to a boardroom full of people. And that's the thing about Miss Nat's room. It has taught me and all the other students at LHS that we all can do what we thought we could. Thank you. >> So, as you can see, Ed Rising is far beyond what you ever could imagine. And at Lacazine, of these four, only one really wants to be a teacher right now, but everyone knows that teaching is an option
012because teaching is just leading. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Y'all have any uh have any touching for the board members as this is maybe the first time y'all been in front of the board? I know y'all been doing some going around and looking at everything, but you have all of our attentions right now. Y'all want to ask us any questions or anything? >> I don't have any questions. >> No, sir. Thank you. >> Hold on. >> I went to school with your dad, your teacher's dad. >> Really? >> He went to Geretti. >> Yeah, I did, too. Yeah. >> Well, it's nice to meet you. >> I really think y'all should ask Mr. Walker as one of y'all board members. So >> he he read y'all's whole book. We're just passing it around to
013>> Why are they picking on me tonight? >> Like the book? >> He liked it. >> Yeah, it was awesome. Do you have any copies of it? >> We only made one copy for our competition. It was a little expensive to make a copy of a book. So we only made >> the artwork in there. >> Um it's a mixture of myself and >> that's pretty good artwork. Very nice. >> Teaching is a great profession. >> It really is. It's the most rewarding. do a good job and continue your business, you have a job at 40 years old, right? >> But if you don't, you know, we I was principal long time. We had to get them out. But it is a great profession for a young lady or a young man. >> Absolutely. >>
014Proud of you. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Enjoy the rest of the board meeting. >> We're excited. >> I will now like to call up uh Mr. Chris, Reese, Skip Brousard, our newly elected district 37 state representative for my out of the box. >> I hate to follow these young ladies. What's up? >> They speak a lot better than me. I can tell you that. In fact, they're going to go a lot further in life also. But, uh, for those of y'all that don't know me, I am Skip Rousard. Uh, Greg said I got three minutes to speak, so probably have about two extra minutes. But, uh, it's been a great journey the last six weeks, man. I've covered so much territory, learned so much stuff from going to the
015port of Lake Charles to see how important that was to talking to farmers to police jurors to school board members, mayors, fire chiefs. I mean, unbelievable what you can learn when you get out there and talk to folks. Uh, and I've always pledged if I won, when I won, I'd start to listen more than speak so I can see their concerns. Uh, went to the Capitol Tuesday, met with Speaker Devil. We um put down the committees I'd like to be in, but when you're the new guy, you don't get the committees you want. U told John I did put education. He said good luck. That's one of the hardest ones to get on. But uh like I told him, even if we're not on it, you can still talk to the folks that are on
016it. Obviously, I'm a big advocate of education and the first responders. U Troy did a great job. We just hope to make our own footprints and uh keep the parish going forward in the district. Um, the people obviously spoke on which direction they want to go. So, we're going to do our best to to make y'all proud. I'll answer any questions, but I won Saturday. So, keep that in mind. I can't answer many. So, >> thank you. >> Sure. Any questions? >> Thank you for coming. >> All right. Well, thank y'all. >> Thank you. >> All right. For the record, we'll be calling Sk. >> All right. What's your phone number? You want to hand it out? Hey, it's on the website. I'll be glad to give it to you. >> All right. All right,
017guys. We'll now uh go into our board committee reports. I'd like to turn it over to Miss Paul, our finance committee chairman. Ch. >> Thank you, Mr. President. The finance committee met on Tuesday night and we would like to make the following following recommendations. Number one, consideration of accepting the following donations. LJS Services LLC $1,500 to Lacine, I'm sorry, Lake Arthur High School girls basketball expenses. Welsh High School PTO 3000 to Welsh High School Awards Day expenses. Welsh High School PTO $348 to Welsh High School for an ice maker for the front office and approximately 85 large gift bags of Christmas bags from Gifting Grace. a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support homeless children. The bags were donated to students in Jeff Davis Parish Schools identified as being homeless by the McKenna Vento program.
018>> So, I got a motion by Miss Paul, a second by Mr. Greg Bordon. Any board discussion? Hearing none, we will go to a vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose? Eyes have it. Motion passes. >> Grant permission to the superintendent or his designate to employee contractors, painters, and part-time summer workers. Got a motion by Miss Paul and a second by Miss Mr. Phil Arseno. Any board discussion? Hearing them, we will go to a vote. All in favor say I. >> All oppose. >> Eyes have it. Motion passes. >> Third, consideration to grant permission to Jenny's side. Got a motion by Miss Pauler, a second by Miss Summer. Any board discussions? Hearing none, we'll go to a vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. >> I s motion
019passes. >> Lastly, consideration for Jennings Elementary School to enter into a service contract with I got a motion by Miss Pauler, a second by Mr. Phillip Arsenal. Any board discussion? Hearing none, we'll go to a vote. All in favor say I. All opposed. Eyes have it. Motion passes. >> This concludes our report. >> Thank you. Uh we'll turn over to insurance with Blake Petri. Uh there was no report. Buildings and Grounds Committee, Mr. David Os. >> No report, sir. >> Thank you, sir. We will now turn the meeting over to Mr. Russell Walker, who is the chairman over the policy committee. Policy Committee request from the policy um okay consideration of the following approving the following policy changes recommended for F forArt Consulting. >> I got a motion by Mr. Walker, a second by Mr.
020Greg Border. >> Any board discussion hearing? None. We will go to a vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose. Eyes have it. Motion passes. Uh transfer mini transportation committee Mr. Greg Borlaw >> no report >> 16 second section Mr. Charles Brook house >> no report >> war two Mr. Phil Arseno >> no report >> uh legislative on Greg Bordon >> just got one report we have a new state legislator we gonna be relying on him >> okay and remember his phone number is on >> yeah I got his phone number >> okay >> long range planning Mr. Falter on the report. Food service committee. Miss Summer Majour. >> No report. >> All righty. That will conclude our committee reports. We'll now turn the meeting over to our tax sale report by
021Miss Amber Miller. >> Hey y'all. >> Smile. >> Yeah, it's still green. I haven't changed it back to black yet. So, we're just going to stick with that for right now. Um, for January 2026, we collected for the school board 1,39,000 and some change, which is $194,000 over the same month last year. So, year to date, we're at 7,17,000 and some change, which is $516,000 over the same time last year. Um, we, this one was kind of increased a little bit. You'll see the audit collections. We collected about $60,000 from um cars that were registered to couch that should have been registered here. And um so we got that money back. And this time we have done it once before. Usually we don't we just take the excess tax collected for the difference from the
022um customers and keep it um because it's always really little amounts for the c the taxpayers that pay their registration. But this time, um, the average amount overpaid by customers to Kau is about $250 a piece. So, we are sending checks. We are getting those kamaru and we're sending about $8,000 back to people in the parish that paid over what they should have paid. So, a little late for Christmas, but we tried. But, um, that's what we have going on right now. And I was talking, I know y'all have the LSBA conference coming up. Um, I was talking with Lefouch today. There is going to be a tax presentation and she's going to go through basics with everybody and det. So, if y'all go, y'all might want to check. >> Okay. Does anybody have any
023questions? >> Is there anything that gets sent out to remind people on April 1 about the halfsent sales tax that would mean? >> Yes, sir. I have two extra people right now working through the 6,400 something letters we're sending out. We're going to post it on our website. I'm going to get with these lovely ladies over here to hopefully post something in the newspaper and um it is on the LATA which is our tax association for the states website the parish e file everything like that. Yes. >> So I just want to remind everybody that's going to be coming up before the next board meeting. So if anybody gets any phone calls or anything it does start April 1st of this year at midnight. All right. Now moving on to new business. I'll need a
024motion, a second to consider approving the following annual 2026 20227 child nutrition program. I got a motion by Miss Philip Arsson. >> Second by Miss Summerjourer. Any board discussion? Hearing none, we'll now go to a vote. All in favor say I. All opposed. I motion passes. I need a motion and second to consider approving the 2026 2027. Got a motion by Miss Pauler. >> Second by Miss Summerleger. Any board discussion? If y'all need to see it bigger, guys, they they got the bigger one somewhere on y'all's desk just in case. >> Just helping anybody else that need some help. >> Everything with your glasses. >> You know what I'm saying? I mean, >> y'all have any discussion? Y'all see any we need to work on? Y'all are good. Awesome. We'll now go to a vote.
025All in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose. >> I have it. Motion passes. >> Number three. Need a motion, a second to consider approving the following out of state travel. Uh, Lacine High School 11th grade students and sponsor. I got a motion by Mr. Greg Bordalong. Second, >> a second by Mr. Phil Arsenal. Any board discussion? >> Hearing none, we will now go to a vote. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Eyes have it. Motion passes. Uh, number four, considering approving the following resolution. A resolution, excuse me, ordering and calling a special election to be held in the parish of Jeff Jefferson Davis State Louisiana to authorize the renewal of a sales tax and use tax therein, making applications to the state bond commission, and providing for other matters in connection
026there. >> Got a motion by Mr. Phil Arson second. >> Second by Mr. Russell Walker. Do we have any board discussion on this? >> Hearing none, we'll now go to a vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose. Eyes have it. Motion passes. Number five, consider the of approving the following as non motion. >> Motion by Mr. Miss Summerleger. >> Second by Mr. Walker. Any board discussion? Hearing none, we'll go to a vote. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. I have it. Motion passes. We have someformational pieces here for you. Condolences are extended to the family of Miam Paul, Central Elementary teacher, retired in 1996 with 16 years of service. Also to Russell Rusty Phelps, JHS teacher and coach, retired in 2023 with 27 years of service. And Mr. Jerry
027Hartwell, a Lake Arthur High School teacher and coach. He retired in 2017 with 17 years of service. >> We need to correct. I'm going to correct in the minutes. Mr. Phelps, it was 34 years. >> So, Mr. Phelps is 34 total years at Jennings High School as a teacher and a coach >> for his whole career. >> Or his whole career. >> Correct. Uh, the LSBA 2026 annual convention will be held in Baton Rouge on March 29th through the 31st, 2026. The 5th annual 2026 JB JD Special Olympic sports tracking field event will be held on March 19th, 2026 at Lake Barker High School. I will now turn it over to Mr. John Hall for any superintendent notice. Yeah, we u we got some new donation from public service commission. Get some water heaters. You
028have to be a Delta customer to to get them and then they have to be a certain age. We have some going to and these are $15,000 water heaters. They're really big. Um Lake Lacazine High School, Lake Arthur Elementary School, Welch High School, and Jennings High School. Uh those are the ones who who we sent in. Uh it as of now they haven't given me the final approval that we got them, but it's looking looking real good. Uh so um want to let y'all know that was that was good. We have we had to get it ready in like less than 24 hours and turned in, but we made it in on time. And anyways, I'll keep everybody posted when we get the confirmation that we actually got them. >> Can I entertain a motion
029with that? Hey, I want to ask something real quick. On our next meeting, can you ask the architect to come and give us some progress report on our constructions in Lake Author? >> Yeah, we need that. >> Got it. >> Debbiey's box right there. She's got a motion to >> I got a motion by Mr. >> Mr. David Doies. I got a second by Mr. Charles Brooks. Any board discussion? >> Hearing none. We'll go to a vote. All in favor say I. >> All oppose. I have a motion pass. Meetings adjourned. >> I need ladies for coming.