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Feliciana Explorer • Tuesday, June 3, 2014 • Vol. 4, No. 22 • Published Weekly • Circulation 17,000 • felicianaexplorer.com • © 2014

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Ferguson Named Athlete of the YearSee WORKPLACE on page 2

See BUDGET page 4Jazz Ferguson

Feliciana Workplace Development Summit a SuccessBy James Ronald skains

“I’ve never seen a group this large or so enthusiastic about jobs and edu-cation in the Feliciana Parishes before in my life,” Johnny Arceneaux, a na-tive of the Felicianas told the Felici-ana Explorer. “I think what has made such an impression on people in the Feliciana’s was when the Baton Rouge Community College name was added to the Folkes Campus. People knew that big things were in the works for the area, so that is why we have such a large turnout.”

More than 60 people attended the three-hour Workforce Summit at the Folkes Campus in Jackson on May 28. BR Community College was out in force with at least 10 representatives, in addition to Arceneaux, including Dr. Andrea Lewis Miller, Chancel-lor BRCC, Dr. Monique Cross, Vice Chancellor, Dr. Kay McDaniel, Vice Chancellor, Phyllis C. Mouton, Vice Chancellor, and Toni Myer.

Jon Croft with Anvil Industries addresses the Workforce Summit about the industry needs for skilled workers.

Also, on the Summit Agenda were Martin Macdiermid, Jr., East Feli-ciana Chamber, Bobby Bourgeois, East Feliciana Economic Develop-ment Chairman, and Jon Croft with Anvil Industries in Slaughter. Several governmental officials of the Felici-anas were present, including District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla, Jr, Asst. DA Betsy Jones, Clinton Mayor Lori Ann Bell, Louis Kent, East Feliciana Parish Police Jury President, Tommy Womack, Zachary City Council-man, Woodville, Mississippi Mayor Tommy D’Aquilla, and District 62 State Representative Kenny Havard, who sponsored the breakfast that was catered by Danny’s 2 Go Specialty Meats at the Crossroads.

Jon Croft, President of the huge international company Anvil Indus-tries headquartered in Slaughter, was the first industry presenter. “There is

Milton: “Give us Rainy Day and Hold Us Accountable”By PatRicia stallman

The West Feliciana Parish School Board and Superintendent of Schools Hollis G. Milton decided May 27 to reconvene in a few days for a vote on the use of the system’s Rainy Day Fund for the 2014/15 school year.

The discussion follows the May 3 defeat of a property tax increase to benefit the schools, a proposition that failed by 376 votes, with 15,059 against and 11,083 for the tax.

Superintendent Milton noted that the district is “looking for $1 million in cuts,” of which $496,000 is al-ready earmarked, leaving $644,000 “in additional cuts for round two.” His concern, Milton said, is that “going further with cuts will affect student achievement.”

His job, he said, is to “protect the kids in the classroom.”

Using the Rainy Day Fund “gives us time to maneuver,” the superin-tendent said, “to see what happens with economic development” in the parish and to explore other options.

“The struggle is, we are in a Rainy Day. Until something re-shapes itself in the local or state economy, we don’t have financial stability. We have to deal with real-ity,” Milton said.

Reminding the Board of the pre-vious year’s decision to close the Tunica school rather than lose 15 positions and freeze salaries, Mil-ton pointed to reasons for the budget stress. The retirement system costs have gone up; insurance costs are up; students departing the system take their Minimum Foundation Program money with them; State

West Feliciana High’s Jazz Ferguson was announced as the Boys Athlete of the Year honor at an event held last Wednes-day night at the Louisiana High School Athletic Association of-fice complex.

“My coach and my Mom knew about this, but they never told me until earlier this week,” Ferguson said. “The whole ride here, and it was about an hour, I was nervous and thinking about it a lot.“It means so much to win an award like this. It makes me believe the hard work really does pay off,” he added.

Ferguson, an LSU football commitment, excelled in foot-ball, basketball, track and field and baseball.

2 Tuesday, June 3, 2014

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WORKPLACE continued from page 1

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a huge demand for the products that Anvil builds, but Anvil needs skilled craftsmen or we cannot grow. I think that I’m a good example of someone who did not go to college but pursued a craft career that has opened a lot of doors.”

“We have to open the silos of our mind and think out of the box,” Croft added. “Right now, I have 30 open or-ders to fill, but don’t have the people to fill the orders as quickly as I need to.” “We had one customer who of-fered to pay us $1,000 per day extra for every day that we delivered his product before the original delivery date we had quoted in our work order contract. With a lot of effort, we were able to deliver his product to him eight days early.”

“Some of the people working in the Anvil shop are bumping $30 per hour. I have one welder driving a Cor-vette,” Croft related. “If that is not a good advertisement of how a well-trained individual, who is dedicated to his job can succeed, I don’t know what is. I would certainly like to see more of my people driving Corvettes, especially people who came through a training program and then found fi-nancial success in our shop.”

“I remember watching a young man that I had recently hired in my shop trying to use a tape measure. He just couldn’t use something as simple as a tape measure. Instead of giving up on the young man, I sort of took him under my wing and began giving him lessons using a tape measure. His command of math was almost non-existent. Later, I taught this young guy to weld, and he is now a valuable

member of the Anvil work team.” Croft also pointed out his com-

mitment to help develop a machine training shop at the Folkes BRCC Campus: “We visited four different machine shop training programs. I was very impressed with what Dr. Doughty is doing down at the River Parishes Technical College Campus. I wanted to mirror the River Parishes machine shop. One thing that I have found, is that people will not go very far to go to school, but will drive a considerable distance to work at a good paying job.”

Toni Meyer talked about vision, challenges, and solutions to workforce problems. “We are looking for cor-porate work force solutions. BRCC is doing a “needs analysis” with the companies in our area. We like to do our “needs analysis” with a company from the CEO all the way down to the people who are operators or work in the shop. We want to determine for sure what skills are needed for what job.” We will not be offering courses of study unless there are jobs waiting to be filled.”

The 60+ registered attendees at the Workforce Summit at Folkes then participated in break-out sessions. The six breakout sessions included Industrial, Education (K-12), Health-care, Retail, Service, and Workforce, Economic Development and Govern-ment. In each breakout session, each member of the group was asked to comment on specific questions related to what was needed in the Felicianas.

Jim Hendericksen, well known Jackson resident who specializes in restoring old houses, pointed out the lack of skilled construction workers in the area. Hendericksen remarked, “It has amazed me the lack of skilled craftsmen in the Felicianas, all the way

from carpenters, cement finishers, electricians and plumbers. Before the area can grow, we must have a well-trained construction labor force.”

Dr. Monique Cross, Vice Chan-cellor of BRCC noted: “BRCC must provide industry with the education and training for the people they need to employ. We are tailoring our curric-ulum to produce the type of employ-ees that industries in our area need.”

“Many times a young student does not really know what they want to do, acquire a skill or go the traditional route to a four year college. Also, high school grades can be a consideration and their ACT scores may not be high enough to get into a four year college. BRCC has developed a neat program for these type students.”

“We call it our Tiger Bridge pro-gram. A student can enroll at BRCC, live in a dorm at LSU, attend class-es for a year at BRCC and then, if their grades are sufficient, those stu-dents can enter LSU after that year at BRCC,” Dr. Cross explained. “For a student who follows the Tiger Bridge program, after a year of study in basic curriculum at LSU, he or she can re-ceive a two year degree from BRCC.”

“This program works really well for many students. I think it is tough for a student to go to a four year col-lege for two years and then have to drop out for whatever reason. They only have two years of college credit, whereas under the Tiger Bridge pro-gram, they would have training in a skill and a two year degree.”

Johnny Arceneaux, in closing out the Workforce Summit, noted: “We’ve made a great start but we must keep this rolling. In the future, when I call you, I won’t just be asking you to come to a meeting, but to do some thing specifically.”

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East Feliciana Parish School Board Outlines Future Plans By PatRicia stallman

The East Feliciana Parish School Board opened its recent meeting at in Clinton. Present were Superinten-dent of Schools Henderson Lewis, Jr., Ph.D., as well as Board President Michael Ray Bradford, and Board Vice President Mitchell Harrell. In attendance were School Board Mem-bers Broderick Brooks, Sr., Beth Daw-son, Olivia Harris, Debra Haynes, Paul Kent, Rhonda Matthews, Rufus Nesbitt, and Richard Terrell. Also present were District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla, 20th Judicial District, and School Board Administrative As-sistant Irma Bendily. In the audience were Nancy Zachary of the Louisiana Workers Compensation Corporation, Tommy LeJeune, C.P.A. with Faulk and Winkler, Bill Dart of Dart Insur-ance, Clinton, and Reese Williams, of Cajun Injector products. Not present were Board Members Ben Cupit and Melvin L. Hollins.

Sales Tax Department reports distribution of March monies

As the “single sales tax collector “ for East Feliciana Parish, the School Board collects the parish sales tax and distributes it to the parish School Board and the police jury.

The Sales Tax Department of the School Board reported a March 2014 collection total of $721,455.30, of which $432,837.18 went to the Police Jury and $288,582.12 to the School Board.

Of the School Board total, 50 per-cent goes to the General Fund and 50 percent to the Maintenance Operation and Special Revenue Fund.

Dart informs School Board of $94,081 dividend

Bill Dart, of Dart Insurance, Clin-ton, said, “The check this year is so much money, I almost had to have someone help me carry it in here.” He then announced a 2013 Workers Com-pensation dividend refund of $94,081, the largest single-year refund in the last 10 years. From 2003 through 2013, the yearly refunds total $403, 814, with the lowest amount $9,334 in 2008.

The Louisiana Workers Compen-sation Corporation, Dart said, is the largest writer of Workers Compensa-tion policies. “We need the strongest, most stable carrier,” Dart said, “so that if an employee is ill or hurt over a long period, the money will be there.” For LWCC to make a profit, “losses must

be low level.” At least as important, however, is the “length of time you’ve been with LWCC.” Dart thanked the Board “for the cooperation I’ve re-ceived from your central office; when a rep comes out to address safety is-sues, you cooperate.”

Dr. Lewis calls transitional year a “very exciting time for our dis-trict”

Dr. Henderson Lewis, Jr., noting that the State Department of Educa-tion has recognized 2013—2014 as a “transitional year,” discussed as-sistance for fourth- and eighth-grade students who do not meet the promo-tional standards for LEAP. First, those students will attend a five-day-per-week summer school, which begins Wednesday, May 28, after which, at the end of June, they will retake the State tests. In August, the school sys-tem learns the results. At that point, if the students again do not meet the standards, educators will decide, on an individual basis, whether the stu-dents will receive a waiver and move on to the next grade.

“We will very carefully look at each individual student,” Lewis said, “and those who move on will do so with support.”

Formerly unsuccessful students will receive special help in mathemat-ics and English Language Arts. Lewis explains that educators “refer students who do not pass summer school re-quirements to the School Building Level Committee of their school for review and recommendation on edu-cational setting.”

Those attending high school have five years to complete the curricu-

lum. The school system may designate some students 9T, which denotes a transitional, remedial plan for mathe-matics and English. Educators, Lewis said, will look at the age of the students and will work with overage students to help them finish high school in three years. These students will receive op-portunities to take all classes as part of a career pathways plan and to take on-line classes, which they can complete, Lewis said, “at their own pace.” Of the students who have struggled with the State test and summer school, those who advance to the ninth grade will receive mentoring through plans that the guidance counselors develop, with assistance from on-campus edu-cators.

The superintendent noted that these options “will motivate students, espe-cially those one or two grades behind, to catch up and complete high school

in three years.”When Board Member Rufus Nes-

bitt asked about students who leave school before graduating, Lewis an-nounced that he plans to meet with a company that is already working with the West Feliciana Parish school sys-tem. These employees “go into the community,” Lewis explained, and work first to locate the students who have left school and then to encourage them to return to school. A fee occurs only when the company “recovers stu-dents and puts them back in school.” At that point, the company continues to monitor the students’ attendance. Payment comes from the State MFP (Minimum Foundation Program) funds that follow each student.

During the meeting, the superin-tendent emphasized his understanding of students as individuals, as persons with individual educational needs that educators in East Feliciana strive to meet.

Bell discusses 2014—2015 school day start times

School officials have decided to keep the 7:45 a.m. school day start time. School Board Official James Bell reported that buses pick up chil-dren as early as 5:25 or 5:30 a.m. to reach the schools by 7 a.m., a ride that totals one and a half hours one way, or three hours daily. “We will be finding ways to correct this problem,” Lewis said. “We know this has to change.”

“Transfer buses” refers to buses that transfer high school students from the Clinton side of the parish—Blair-stown, Clinton, Ethel, and Slaugh-

Pictured above: Tommy J. LeJeune, C.P.A., Faulk and Winkler, left, speaks with East Feliciana Parish School Board President Michael Ray Bradford, Administrative As-sistant Irma Bendily, and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henderson Lewis, Jr. Photo by Patricia Stallman.


BUDGET continued from page 1

money has gone down; and the lo-cal economy has not yet rebounded. Milton said that the big cost is per-sonnel. “We’re not going to make up $635,000 with little cuts.”

Board Member Kevin Beau-champ, who expressed concern that use of the Rainy Day Fund may simply put off hard decisions, also agreed that he saw “no easy way around” the budget woes “if the sales tax doesn’t take off, if some-thing doesn’t come in here to gener-ate a tax base.” But what happens, Beauchamp asked, “when you have an emergency and your money’s gone?”

Apologizing for the loss of the property tax increase, Milton said that, without the use of the emer-gency fund, the Board might have to consider options such as a charge for pre-kindergarten,” a program he strongly believes should include all children.

Milton cautioned that the Board must “make decisions now so that August’s return to school is seam-less” for the children. The real struggle comes, he said, “if we de-

lay. Give us ideas of what to cut, or give us Rainy Day and hold us ac-countable.”

Without a timely decision on Rainy Day, the superintendent said, he must continue to put off other

At the May 27 West Feliciana Parish School Board meeting, Jaimee Pangburn, left, Josh Norton, and Caroline Alberstadt announced the formation of the Foundation for Public Education. The group has already begun raising money to assist the school system.

pressing decisions. Should a teacher retire, for example, he may not have the money to hire a replacement; therefore, delaying the Rainy Day decision may mean the loss of ex-cellent teaching staff.

Use of the fund, Milton said, gives him seven or eight months to make up the needed money instead of “a few weeks.”

Board Member Amanda McKin-ney said, “We’re talking five years down the line for economic devel-opment to kick in,” assessed the system’s current position as “be-tween a rock and a hard place.”

When McKinney said “our kids can’t afford to get behind,” Mil-ton responded that he believes “the achievement gap will grow” with-out use of the fund. Vice President Milton Coats reminded the Board, “All the kids are our kids.”

At that point, volunteers Jaimee Pangburn, Josh Norton, and Caro-line Alberstadt informed the board that the foundation they have es-tablished to assist with costs has already received donations. Norton said, “You didn’t want to pay for a tax? Okay. We’ll give you a tax deduction! Whatever your position on the tax, we’re all for helping our students. Reach out to me; I’ll meet with you!”

The Board decided to give its members a few days to consider the decision before taking a vote.

The West Feliciana Parish School Board recognized Killian Williams-Morantine, right, high school art teacher, who will serve on the Louisiana Art Educators Associa-tion Board of Directors for 2014-15. The May 27 school board agenda notes that he will also serve “on the committee that will interface with the National Art Education Association for the 2015 National Conference.” Congratulating her husband is Kelly Williams-Morantine, also an art teacher for the West Feliciana schools. Both earned degrees at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

West Feliciana Parish Superintendent of Schools Hollis Milton recognized the achieve-ment of middle school student Emma Beauchamp, left, for her prize-winning poem, “The Place I Love the Most.” Beauchamp’s work took honors in the 4H Youth Wetlands Poetry Contest.


Before

After

Jackson Board of Trustees Holds Monthly Meeting, Discuss Ongoing ProblemsBy PatRicia stallman

Longtime Jackson Mayor Charles Coleman opened May’s monthly town meeting at the Fir-estation. In attendance were Board of Trustees Members Mitch-ell Harrell, Don Havard, John Henry McCrory, Jim Parker, and Rafe Stewart. Also present were Town Attorney Andrew “Andy” D’Aquilla and Town Clerk Sandy Smith.

Among the residents present were: Dianne Wilson, Glinda H. Jenkins, Valerie Milligan, Brenda Norflin, Florence Stewart, Ora Veal, and Martin Macdiarmid.

Ongoing trash pickup prob-lems

Board Member Jim Parker ad-dressed the town’s problems with parish trash pickup and advised members of the public to tele-phone the East Feliciana Parish Police Jury Maintenance Depart-ment in Clinton at 683-3104 to request pickup. From the audience came, “How many times you got to call?”

Rafe Stewart noted that he had had concerns about the trash when Channel 9 in Baton Rouge arrived to cover the Battle of Jackson re-enactment recently. Stewart report-ed that Police Jury Manager John J. “J.R.” Rouchon has said that the new policy is: “If the trucks drive by trash and have room, they’re supposed to pick it up.”

When audience members pressed, “What if they don’t?” several aldermen advised, “Call the Police Jury and ask for J.R.” or “Call Jackson’s Police Jury rep-resentatives Dwight Hill and Keith Mills.”

Mayor Coleman: two new fire station bays and a new water well

Mayor Charles Coleman dis-cussed the coming addition of two bays for the Jackson Fire Station and the resulting need to find a use for the dirt and the crepe myrtles the project will remove. The of-fice of Jackson Fire Chief Richard Dudley reports that the fire depart-ment has secured funding for the project, has advertised for bids, and will announce the exact cost and start date soon.

Mayor Coleman discussed the need for a new water well and the $688,250 cost for the project. The town has recently paid off a simi-lar $80,000 loan from the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund and

hopes to receive a new loan with a 25 percent forgiveness clause. Several audience members asked whether the new well will mean increased water costs for residents. Board Member Stewart answered that the town’s goal is to keep utility costs the same. “The cost hasn’t increased in many, many, many years. If it has to increase, we’ll try to see it’s by the smallest increment possible.”

Dianne Wilson: cleanup of property and removal of dilapi-dated structures

Jackson resident Dianne Wil-son, reminding the board that an attorney had sent the mayor a letter asking for action against the trash-strewn and dilapidated properties in Jackson, asked, “What do I do when I have a complaint?” Stew-art replied, “Now that our attor-ney has told us how to address the problem, we can. I know they’ve got trees growing up through cars” on some of the land in question.

The town ordinance sets forth a process for responding to citizen complaints while allowing the five property owners in question every opportunity to remedy their prob-lems. That process includes the towns sending each owner a notice of the problem and allowing time for its correction. If the owner does not take action, the town calls the owner to the Mayor’s Court for another opportunity to explain the problem and agree to correct it. At

this point, the town can fine the property owner. Finally, should the owner fail to comply with the town’s requirements, the matter can go to district court for manda-tory enforcement.

After the meeting, several al-dermen stressed that the town must follow, with regard to any person against whom others file complaints, the procedure that the ordinance details.

Glinda H. Jenkins: College Street stop sign problems

When Jackson resident Glinda Jenkins reported, “Every day I

go up College toward the elderly home, and if I don’t slow down and stop, people will run over me!”

Mayor Coleman quipped, “Then stop!”

At that point a member of the audience said that Department of Transportation and Develop-ment representatives had told him some years back that people driv-ing north on College (Highway 952) from Chartre (Highway 10) are not required to stop, whereas those driving south on or turning left onto 952 are required to stop. Mayor Coleman and other board members, while commenting that “lawful people do stop” and that a stop sign, like a red light, means stop, agreed that “we’ve had cars go into houses, we’ve had wrecks there.” Town Attorney Andy D’Aquilla said he will look into the matter so that the town can educate the populace. “One lane has to have the right of way, and the other two must stop,” said D’Aquilla, who promised to visit the site of the stop signs and con-sult DOTD.

Maintenance ReportMaintenance Supervisor Alan

Passman reported the purchase of a new motor for the water well af-ter having the old one “rebuilt six times.”

Town Marshal’s ReportMayor Charles Coleman deliv-

ered Marshal Fred Allen’s report of 10 speeding tickets and five ar-rests during April.

A view of the stop signs from College Street looking south toward Chartre. At the left, a truck turns west and south onto College after stopping on Wilson, as a car traveling north on College makes the curve east onto Wilson. Residents of the town report a his-tory of problems at the site. Photograph by Patricia Stallman.


Milestones Births • Engagements • Weddings • Awards Obituaries • Anniversaries • Reunions

Myers, Sartin to wed June 21William and Jill Myers are hap-

py to announce the engagement and forthcoming marriage of their daughter, Molly, to Brian Sartin, son of Michael and Karen Sartin. The couple will be married on Saturday, June 21 at 6 p.m. in the evening at First Baptist Church of Zachary.

Molly is a graduate of Zachary High School and is the owner of the Molly Myers Dance Academy. She is the granddaughter of Brenda Isemann and late John Isemann, late Huey Myers, and Calvin and Ann Boudreaux.

Brian is a graduate of Louisiana State University and is a Senior Fi-nancial Advisor at Merrill Lynch. He is the grandson of Syble Sartin and late A.J. Sartin, Carrie Guil-beau and late Earl Guilbeau.

Cupit, Hebert to wed June 20Amanda Brooke Cupit and Travis

Aaron Hebert will wed, in a 7 p.m. cer-emony on Friday, June 20 at St John the Baptist Catholic Church.

The bride-elect is the daughter of Raphael & Lisa Cupit of Zachary. She is the granddaughter of Patricia Free & the late George Free of Zachary and James & Shirley Cupit of Clinton.

Amanda is a graduate of Zachary High School and Southeastern Loui-siana University. She is employed as a teacher with Zachary Community Schools.

Her fiancé is the son of Cindy He-bert of Baton Rouge and Monty Hebert of Baton Rouge. He is the grandson of the late Robert Milton Robinson and the late Viola Mae Robinson of Zachary. Travis attended Zachary High School and Cornerstone Christian Academy. He is employed with Turner Industries.

East Feliciana Retired Teachers Award Scholarship

The East Feliciana Retired Teachers met on Tuesday, May 27 for their regular sched-uled meeting in the board room of the East Feliciana Parish School Board. President Sonja Terrell opened the meeting by turning it over to Beth Dawson, chairman of the scholarship committee. She introduced the winner of the $200 scholarship, Augusta Ceasar. Ceasar graduated from East Feliciana High last week with a 4.0 grade point average and many honors. She is planning on attending Southeastern University and majoring in Elementary Education. Some of her other accomplishments this year were that she was selected as Volunteer of the Year for Jackson Elementary. When she finished her classes she went over to the elementary school and helped daily. She was a cheerleader, president of the Student Government, Senior Class Vice President, Beta Club member, and Educational Talent Search member. She was also dual enrolled and already has six college credits. Following the scholarship presentation, a very worth-while program was made by Kimberly Gaines of Pelican State Credit Union on identity theft. Everyone brought home practical suggestions that the retired teachers plan to put into practice. Assisting Ms. Gaines were Katherine Scales and Lisa Burdlee. The teachers really enjoyed the refreshments that Pelican State provided. The group discussed two projects that they plan to put into action. They plan to start a voter registration drive this summer and they hope to get their legislative representative to pass a bill concerning the welfare of the public safety next year concerning identity theft. Pictured are Kimberely Gaines, Augusta Ceasar, Lisa Burdlee, and Katherine Scales.


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EF SCHOOLS continued from page 3

ter—to the Jackson side’s East Felici-ana High School, and middle school students from the Jackson side of the parish—Jackson, Norwood, and Wil-son—to the East Feliciana Middle School.

The buses that are not transfer buses pick up elementary and middle school students on the Clinton side of the parish and deliver them to Clinton or Slaughter Elementary School or East Feliciana Middle School; other buses pick up high school and elemen-tary students on the Jackson side of the parish and deliver them to Jackson El-ementary School and to East Feliciana High School in Jackson.

Board Member Paul Kent said, ‘If the routes are that long, we have a problem.”

Bell replied, “We’re re-addressing the routes.”

Lewis added, “We now use GPS in-formation every time a student boards. Ultimately, we want to see how we can reroute so that the trips going to school and home will be less than three hours on a bus every day.”

Board Member Debra Haynes asked if officials could “find a way to stagger the start times.” Board Mem-ber Richard Terrell pointed to the diffi-culty of such a long ride for Pre-K and kindergarten children. Kent noted that if children are “catching a bus at 5:25, they must be getting up really early.”

Lewis then pointed to the district’s need for qualified bus drivers, as East Feliciana lacks a backup driver, should a driver call in sick.

Board Member Olivia Harris

asked, “Do we pay enough to attract qualified people?” to which Lewis re-plied, “Not at this time.”

Lewis noted that Slaughter Com-munity Charter School has again in-quired about bus transportation for its students and that his office is looking into the possibilities.

Board reviews the issuance of stipend checks to employees

With the assistance of Tommy J. LeJeune, C.P.A., Faulk and Winkler, the Board briefly discussed the inclu-sion, in the May 21 payroll checks, of “a stipend check to eligible cer-tificated employees and eligible sup-port staffers” not funded by the State Legislature’s House Bill 1. Stipend funding for some employees will come from the State’s HB1 and for the others from East Feliciana School System funds. Board Member Kent suggested stipend funding from “ad valorem collections, which are cer-tainly exceeding our expectations.”

Sports complex, private school, and Cajun Injector request lease

LeJeune informed the Board that it does indeed have the authority to lease the former Clinton Middle School Building to a “private individual” or a “for profit individual” as long as the amount of the lease is “a fair value.”

The Board then reviewed the three requests it has received: 1) a sports complex, 2) one wing of the build-ing for a private school for youth in the parish, and 3) the cafeteria and additional space for the production of Reece Williams’ Cajun Injector prod-ucts.

School Board President Michael Bradford asked for clarification of “what we can do and what we can’t do,” to which Board Member Olivia

Harris added, “and what we shouldn’t do.” Board members noted that al-lowing a private school to expand and take more MFP dollars was not in the interest of the public school system. Bradford called for a vote to reject the private school’s request, to which the response was a unanimous “yes.” Noting that leasing to Williams “is a benefit to us,” Bradford asked that Bell also contact the sports complex repre-sentatives.”

After the meeting, Williams said, “I’d love to find a spot to do it all here at home.” Because, he says, he’s “had to move fast,” he is outsourcing to Cargill for the processing of turkeys and to a Dallas company for the pro-duction of marinades. Warehousing is in Jackson, Mississippi. Williams explains that QVC, which helped him “build the brand,” has recently asked him “to come back in.”

Harrell addresses the East Felici-ana High sports track

Cautioning that the East Feliciana High School track “is actually a dan-ger to the athletes,” Board Member Mitchell Harrell asked Bell what re-pairs would cost.

Bell responded, “Best case scenar-io is $88,000,” but said that he would “bring back a hard estimate” that would include asphalt resurfacing.

Harrell quipped, “We did get $94,000 today” from the Workers Compensation dividend. “Just want to remind y’all.”

Board sets public meetings June 3 and August 5

The Board gave public notice of the budget hearing Tuesday, June 3, 2014, at 4:30 “to review the proposed amendments of the operating budgets for the year ending June 30, 2014, and

adoption of the June 30, 2015, oper-ating budgets” and a public hearing August 4 at 4:30 to address setting the 2014 millage. Public hearings take place at the East Feliciana Parish School Board Central Office Board Room, 12732 Silliman Street, Town of Clinton, Louisiana.

Edna Thomas introduces Shemi-ca Davis, Employee of the Month

Parish Schools Director Edna Thomas, presenting the Employee of the Month award to Clinton Elemen-tary Para-Professional Shemica Davis, said, “She meets all challenges head on with determination and a smile.” Davis replied, “All that I do, it’s all for the kids. I love them, and I love this parish.”

School Board’s recognition in-cludes Student and Teacher of the Year

At a banquet May 8 at the Early Childhood Learning Center in Clinton, the superintendent and School Board members honored 2014 Students of the Year: Sierra Sterling, East Felici-ana High School; Cedric Anderson, East Feliciana Middle School; Joshua Smith, Clinton Elementary School; Lily Antor, Slaughter Elementary School; Mya Matthews, Jackson El-ementary School; and Tristyn Sexton, Slaughter Community Charter School.

The 2014 Teachers of the Year are: Victoria McMullen-Dunn, East Feli-ciana High School; Rachal Connell, East Feliciana Middle School; Linda Terrell Gibbs, Clinton Elementary School; Nicole Netterville, Slaughter Elementary School; Laura Moody, Jackson Elementary School; Ricketa Turner, Slaughter Community Charter School; and Adrian Dunn, East Felici-ana Enrichment Academy.

Documents

Feliciana Explorer June 3