Port Allen, Louisiana

February 15, 2017

                                                             

A regular meeting of the West Baton Rouge Parish School Board was held this date with the following membership:

 

Present:             Jason P. Manola, President, Toby Sarradet, Dr. Atley D. Walker,Sr., Ronald P. LeBlanc, Leon N. Goudeau, Rose A. Lee Roche’, G. Alden Chustz,Jr., Michael A. Maranto, Teri Bergeron

Absent:              Craig Sarradet

 

Colin Williams, Devall Middle School student, and Karla Garcia, Port Allen Middle School student, lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

The next item was approval of the minutes of the regular board meeting held on January 18, 20l7.

 

Whereupon, the following resolution was offered by Dr. Walker and seconded by Mrs. Bergeron:

 

Be It Resolved, That the minutes of the regular board meeting held on January 18, 2017, be approved as presented.

 

The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:

Aye:                   Mr. Toby Sarradet, Dr. Walker, Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Goudeau, Mrs. Roche’, Mr. Chustz, Mr. Maranto, Mrs. Bergeron, Mr. Manola

Nay:                   None

Absent: Mr. Craig Sarradet

 

The next item was educational presentations: 

 

a) Mr. James Jackson, Principal of Port Allen High School, introduced Mrs. Alexis Daniels, PAHS teacher, recipient of the 2017 Maitland P. Simmons Memorial Award for new teachers to be awarded at the National

Conference of NSTA in Los Angeles, California

  

b) Recognition of Averie Hebert, 7th Grade Student @ BMS; 1st Place Winner/Grades 6-8 Division, State Art Contest at the Louisiana School Boards Association Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana

 

The next item was the Superintendent’s Report:

 

Superintendent Watts announced that February 6, 2017 – February 10, 2017 was School Counselors’ Week.

 

The next item was introduction of the following items on the Consent Agenda:

 

8.    Assignment of Committees for 2017 and 2018/Jason Manola (Finance Committee Report 2/7/17)

 

9.    Consideration of request for approval of the following appointments to the RFQ Committee for the Bond Issue as recommended by Mr. Watts: Katie Gunter, Grover Harrison, Tony Clayton,  Jared Gibbs, Jeff Kershaw, Wes Watts (Finance Committee Report 2/7/17)

 

10.  Consideration of request for approval of the appointment of the Financial Advisor for the Bond Issue/Jim Ryan, Governmental Consultants, Inc. (Finance Committee Report 2/7/17)

 

11.  Consideration of request to approve and adopt the monthly expenditures and financial reports as presented by Jared Gibbs, Supervisor of Business Services (Finance Committee Report

       2/7/17)

                                                                                                                                                           

The Chairman declared the floor open for public comment.

 

Whereupon, on motion of Mr. Toby Sarradet and seconded by Mr. Goudeau, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:

 

Be It Resolved, That the board does hereby approve and adopt Consent Agenda items #8, #9, #10, #11 as presented.

 

The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:

Aye:                   Mr. Toby Sarradet, Dr. Walker, Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Goudeau, Mrs. Roche’, Mr. Chustz, Mr. Maranto, Mrs. Bergeron, Mr. Manola

Nay:                   None

Absent: Mr. Craig Sarradet

 

The next item was End of Consent Agenda Item #12: Discussion relative to the addition of a Director Position/Wes Watts

 

Whereupon, Mr. Watts informed the board that he was changing Mr. Jeff Kershaw’s job title from Supervisor of Maintenance to Director of Facilities and Building Services with the salary to be paid on the Specialist Degree Classification.  He also requested that the job title and job description for this position be approved by the board.

 

The Chairman declared the floor open for public comment.

 

Whereupon, the following resolution was offered by Mr. Toby Sarradet and seconded by Teri Bergeron:

 

Be It Resolved, That the board does hereby approve the job title and job description for the Director of Facilities and Building Services position as recommended by Mr. Watts, and

 

Be It Further Resolved, That the board does hereby accept and approve the recommendation by Mr. Watt’s to change Mr. Jeff Kershaw’s job title from Supervisor of Maintenance to Director of Facilities and Building Services with the salary to be paid on the Specialist Degree Classification.

 

The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:

Aye:                   Mr. Toby Sarradet, Dr. Walker, Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Goudeau, Mrs. Roche’, Mr. Chustz, Mr. Maranto, Mrs. Bergeron, Mr. Manola

Nay:                   None

Absent: Mr. Craig Sarradet

 

The next item was End of Consent Agenda item #13: Consideration of request to approve the appointment of the Program Manager for the Bond Issue/Wes Watts.

 

Whereupon, Mr. Watts reported that seven (7) candidates had been interviewed and the recommendation for Program Manager is Mr. Earl Kern, Kern Consulting, LLC.  Mr. Kern will have an office in West Baton Rouge Parish. 

 

The Chairman declared the floor open for public comment.

                                                                                                                                                           

Whereupon, the following resolution was offered by Mr. Chustz and seconded by Mr. Toby Sarradet:

 

Be It Resolved, That the board does hereby contract the services of Mr. Earl Kern, Kern Consulting, LLC, to serve as Program Manager for the Bond Issue.

 

The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:

Aye:                   Mr. Toby Sarradet, Dr. Walker, Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Goudeau, Mrs. Roche’, Mr. Chustz, Mr. Maranto, Mrs. Bergeron, Mr. Manola

Nay:                   None

Absent: Mr. Craig Sarradet

 

The next item was End of Consent Agenda Item #14: Consideration of request to approve and adopt the School Calendar for 2017-18/Wes Watts.

 

Whereupon, the following resolution was offered by Mrs. Bergeron and seconded by Mr. Maranto:

 

Be It Resolved, That the board approve and adopt the School Calendar for 2017-18 as presented by Mr. Watts.

 

The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:

Aye:                   Mr. Toby Sarradet, Dr. Walker, Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Goudeau, Mrs. Roche’, Mr. Chustz, Mr. Maranto, Mrs. Bergeron, Mr. Manola

Nay:                   None

Absent: Mr. Craig Sarradet

 

The next End of Consent Agenda item was #15: Executive Session/Review of Expulsion Appeals.

 

The Chairman declared the floor open for public comment.

 

Whereupon, the following resolution was offered by Mr. Chustz and seconded by Mrs. Bergeron:

 

Be It Resolved, That the board does hereby declare itself in Executive Session to review an expulsion appeal for a certain student enrolled in Cohn Elementary School.

 

The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:

Aye:                   Mr. Toby Sarradet, Dr. Walker, Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Goudeau, Mrs. Roche’, Mr. Chustz, Mr. Maranto, Mrs. Bergeron, Mr. Manola

Nay:                   None

Absent: Mr. Craig Sarradet

 

Upon termination of the Executive Session, the following resolution was offered by Mr. Goudeau and seconded by Mr. LeBlanc:

 

Be It Resolved, That the board declare itself in Open Session.

 

The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:

Aye:                   Mr. Toby Sarradet, Dr. Walker, Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Goudeau, Mrs. Roche’, Mr. Chustz, Mr. Maranto, Mrs. Bergeron, Mr. Manola

Nay:                   None

Absent: Mr. Craig Sarradet

 

The Chairman declared the floor open for public comment.

 

Mr. Manola explained that there would be no action unless the board would not uphold the recommendation for expulsion presented by Cohn Elementary School administrators and the Supervisor of Child Welfare and Attendance.

 

There was no recommendation from the board to deny the expulsion, therefore, the expulsion was upheld as recommended by the Cohn Elementary School administrators and the Supervisor of Child Welfare and Attendance.

 

The next End of Consent Agenda item was Executive Session/Review of Expulsion Appeal #2.

 

The Chairman declared the floor open for public comment.

 

Whereupon, the following resolution was offered by Mr. Toby Sarradet and seconded by Mrs. Bergeron:

 

Be It Resolved, That the board does hereby declare itself in Executive Session to review an expulsion appeal for a certain student enrolled in Port Allen High School.

 

The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:

Aye:                   Mr. Toby Sarradet, Dr. Walker, Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Goudeau, Mrs. Roche’, Mr. Chustz, Mr. Maranto, Mrs. Bergeron, Mr. Manola

Nay:                   None

Absent: Mr. Craig Sarradet

 

Upon termination of the Executive Session, the following resolution was offered by Mr. Toby Sarradet and seconded by Mrs. Bergeron:

 

Be It Resolved, That the Board declare itself in Open Session.

 

The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:

Aye:                   Mr. Toby Sarradet, Dr. Walker, Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Goudeau, Mrs. Roche’, Mr. Chustz, Mr. Maranto, Mrs. Bergeron, Mr. Manola

Nay:                   None

Absent: Mr. Craig Sarradet

 

The Chairman declared the floor open for public comment.

 

Mr. Manola explained that there would be no action unless the board would not uphold the recommendation for expulsion presented by Port Allen High School administrators and the Supervisor of Child Welfare and Attendance.

 

There was no recommendation from the board to deny the expulsion, therefore the expulsion was upheld as recommended by the Port Allen High School administrators and the Supervisor of Child Welfare and Attendance.

 

The next End of Consent agenda item was Organizational Items: Committee Meeting Date:

March 7, 2017;   Board Meeting Date: March 15, 2017.

 

The next End of Consent Agenda Item was any other business unanimously approved by the board for consideration.

 

The Chairman declared the floor open for public comment.

 

Whereupon, the following resolution was offered by Mr. Toby Sarradet and seconded by

Mr. LeBlanc:

 

Be It Resolved, That the meeting be adjourned.

 

The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:

Aye:                   Mr. Toby Sarradet, Dr. Walker, Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Goudeau, Mrs. Roche’, Mr. Chustz, Mr. Maranto, Mrs. Bergeron, Mr. Manola

Nay:                   None

Absent: Mr. Craig Sarradet

 

 

Wesley Watts                                                        Jason Manola                             

Wesley Watts                                                        Jason Manola

Secretary-Treasurer                                              President