Monroe City School Board of Education
2006 Tower Drive
Monroe, Louisiana 71201
MINUTES
The Monroe City School Board met in regular session, Tuesday, July 27, 2022 at Monroe City School District Central Office, 2006 Tower Drive, Monroe, Louisiana 71201. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by President Brandon Johnson. Prayer and Pledge was offered by Board Member Betty Ward Cooper.
Agenda Item 1C – Roll Call
Present: Mr. Rick Saulsberry, Jennifer Haneline, Mr. Daryll Berry, Ms. Betty Ward Cooper, Mr. Brandon Johnson, and Mrs. Sharon Neal Greer
Absent: Mr. Bill Willson
Action Item 1D – Adoption of the Agenda
President Johnson noted that items B and C need to be added for new business.
On a motion by Ms. Haneline and seconded by Mr. Berry, the Board approved the agenda with the addition added to the agenda Item B approval of Insurance and Item C rejection of uninsured motorist to new business. The motion carried on a unanimous vote.
Item 2 – Presentation- Ouachita 4-H Tara Garlington
Mrs. Garlington gave an update on the 2021-2022 school year. The club focus was to choose health food, fun and fitness. She taught lessons on reading food labels and different food groups that are needed in the daily diet located on myplate.gov website. Next year focus will be on mental health with several different curriculums to choose from for younger groups and high school students. This year Berg Jones Elementary, Barkdull Faulk Elementary, and Cypress Point Elementary were participating schools and recently added was Madison James Foster Elementary and working on others. Mrs. Garlington will be attending the next Principal’s meeting. She stated a student from Berg Jones Elementary participated and enjoyed the summer camp that was completely paid for by Pelican Scholarship. Pictures are located on their Facebook page and will send pictures. She stated they still have the same programming and are still going strong. The Junior Leader Club is for the older youth, middle to high school, handouts were given and explain what the Junior Leader club is. They not only do community service but learn about the people that they serve. The HYPE coalition (healthy young people empowerment) is new where older youth try to promote healthy living in our community. (She provided handouts to explain). A silly walking track has been installed at the Charles Johnson Park which is located by the zoo along with a tetherball set. The other three are installed at other locations. This comes from the work of the Coalition planning and helping write the grant along with other things. They also have livestock, photography, shooting sports program such as archery pistol rifle and shotgun along with other variety of options. The Ag awareness program will be back in full force this year and she hope for a separate Ag event just for the schools. Camps that do team building promote leadership opportunities, financial literacy, contest and more. She stated feel free to ask any questions or email her. Mrs. Cooper thanked Mrs. Garlington for being here and stated she is a big fan of the program and was involved with it in junior high and high school. She stated it made a difference in her life and want to see more of it in our schools. She asked Mrs. Garlington what the Board can do. Mrs. Garlington responded, she can reach out to the principals and reiterate what she presented and let them know about the different opportunities that are available. Mrs. Cooper asked Dr. Vidrine, what are the principals telling you as to why they don’t have a program in their school. He responded, finding a sponsor to participate and do the activities with the students. Mrs. Garlington stated the schools get a copy of the newsletter by email and followed up by leaving a voicemail for principal and currently waiting for feedback. Mrs. Cooper asked if the sponsors had to be teachers or outside the school. Mrs. Garlington stated she wouldn’t say no to a parent, but teachers are preferred because they know the students, their discipline, and more in tune with parent communication. Dr. Vidrine stated the parent can be but would have to go through the background checks.
Action Item 3 – Consent Agenda
On a motion by Mr. Berry and seconded by Mrs. Greer, the Board approved June 7, 2022, board meeting minutes; Awarding Bid #SFS23-01 Bread Product; Awarding of Bid # SFS23-02 School Food Products; Awarding of Bid #SFS23-03 -Paper and Cleaning Supplies; Awarding Bid #MC23-01 Instructional Supplies; Awarding Bid #MC23-02 Janitorial Supplies; Adoption of Resolution to adjust Board travel mileage rate. The motion carried on a unanimous vote.
Action Item 4A – Adoption of Millage Rates for 2022
Public Comment: Vickie Kutzer asked what the reason is for raising affordable point. Dr, Vidrine responded, the 2013 bond that was passed and sold in 2015, 2016, 2017 the cost covers the bond payment only and had to be raised to cover that cost. Mrs. Krutzer asked why the cost has gone up, do we not have enough sales tax and money coming in to pay it as it is now. Dr. Vidrine responded, it is whatever covers the cost for that payment for the year, the bond must be set at that amount. Mrs. Krutzer asked will this specifically go to the bonds that were in 2013 and 2014. Dr. Vidrine responded, in the years of 2014, 2015, 2016 or 2014, 2015, 2017. Mrs. Krutzer asked Dr. Vidrine, do you know how much it will be generated Dr. Vidrine responded, he does not know that information and tried contacting Davona, but she was out on vacation and will get the information needed. Mrs. Krutzer asked Dr. Vidrine how much you can go up on the millage. He stated it is a law and does not know the exact amount.
On a motion by Mrs. Haneline and seconded by Mr. Berry the Board approved to adopt the millage rates for 2022
Action Item 4B – Insurance
On a motion by Mrs. Haneline and seconded by Mr. Berry the Board approved to adopt the change in the insurance policy increased rate.
Action Item 4C – Uninsured Motorist
On a motion by Ms. Haneline and seconded by Mr. Berry the Board approved to reject the uninsured motorist coverage as recommended and designate Dr. Vidrine to sign on behalf of the Board.
Agenda Item 5A – Financial Reports
* financial reports can be viewed in BoardDocs on the website
* Currently working on the budget
* Fuel, food, and Entergy cost is causing a lot of issues. They are trying to figure out where the numbers sit to cover dollar amounts. They have been working on this for the last two months and the numbers are changing every day.
* The policy meeting will be on August 8th at 5:00pm
* Summer camps were phenomenal for us across the district with our students
Mr. Johnson asked Dr. Vidrine to give a time frame on the four percent raise. Dr. Vidrine stated it depends on if you are 9, 10, 11, or 12 months. Twelve-month employees go in affect July 2022 ten and 11 month take effect in August 2022 and nine months will be given in September. Mr. Johnson noted they will begin work on the ribbon cutting for the new Martin Luther King Jr. Junior High School
Agenda Item 5C – Report of Board Members
Ms. Haneline noted on July 19th she had the opportunity to meet with Superintendent Vidrine, Mr. Sam Moore, and a community mental health provider to discuss the status of Mental Health Resources within our system. They want to make sure they are quality providers that’s pulling students out of their necessary academic day. It was previously discussed, and she believed it was approved additional mental health providers that are dedicated and will be housed at each of the Junior High Schools. It discussed the possibility of going back to the Monroe Police Department to discuss the school resource officers. She wants to make sure we have extra support in the schools. They talked about putting together a resource list for the parents and students in our district. There is now a national hotline for suicide/mental health crisis and the number is 988. Ms. Haneline recognized 4-H providers and other community programs. She thanked them for sticking with us and getting principals back on board. Policies that have come from state legislation will be addressed along with a couple of policies that will have word changes made to make sure that it’s more inclusive and ensuring that it addresses issues particularly eliminated around gender. The policy meeting is scheduled for August 8, 2022, at 5:00pm.
Mr. Saulsberry – no report
Mr. Berry – no report
Mrs. Cooper recognized Mrs. Ann Johnson, new to our community. Mrs. Cooper asked everyone to mark their calendars for August 16th, 17th, or 18th for the curriculum meeting at 5:00pm. She will report back with the exact date. Partnerships to help with our literacy problem and special services partnerships will be discussed. Mrs. Cooper thanked her constituents for district 5 and for having confidence in her to serve four more years. Mrs. Cooper shared information on the Regional Conference she attended on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in New Orleans.
Mrs. Greer noted Louisiana has approved federal approval to issue the P-EBT for the summer of 2022 for students that qualify for free and reduce meals. Mrs. Greer asked Dr. Vidrine if he knew if they had started sending this information out. Dr. Vidrine stated it’s pulled from our database. Mrs. Greer stated she attended the Regional Conference in New Orleans as well and shared information. She encouraged everyone to work together, make it happen and think about the best interests of our students.
Mr. Johnson thanked everyone for coming out. He thanked district 6 for continuing faith and trust in him as their board member. He noted one thing from the conference that was important to him and would like to see us do is hire an agency or someone to come in and train our schools for active shooters. Mr. Johnson asked Dr. Vidrine about training this year. Dr. Vidrine responded, training will be given before school starts. Mr. Johnson expressed his concerns about students understanding what to do and how to move. He stated he wanted something to protect our students and to be proactive.
Agenda Item 6 – Future Meetings
Board Meetings – August 16, 2022 and September 6, 2022, at 6:00pm
Action Item 7 – Executive Session
On a motion by Ms. Haneline and seconded by Mrs. Cooper, the Board convened in executive session at 6:35 p.m., to receive and canvass the results of the annual Superintendent’s evaluation. The motion carried on a unanimous vote.
Reconvene in open session
The Board reconvened in open session at 6:54 p.m. with no action taken.
Action Item 8 – Recess/Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the board, the meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m.
Bottom of Form
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Bottom of Form
____/Brandon Johnson/____ _/Brent Vidrine/__________
Brandon Johnson Dr. Brent Vidrine
Board President Superintendent
Note: These minutes summarize the final decisions made by the Board at the referenced meeting. This meeting was also audio recorded and that recording is available for review by contacting the board clerk at tonya.robinson@mcschools.net
