[00:00:01]
[A. Notice and Instructions: ]
WE NOW HAVE A CLOMP OF BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT IN THE ROOM.LET ME READ MY NOTICE AND INSTRUCTIONS.
WHAT PUBLIC WILL BE ALLOWED TO ATTEND AT A REDUCED RATE OF 75% CAPACITY OF THE CENTRAL OFFICE BOARD MEETING ROOMS, MEETING SPACE.
ONCE THE CAPACITY HAS BEEN REACHED, AND I'LL JUST MAKE THIS MENTION BECAUSE IT WAS BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION, PAY ATTENTION TO THE LITTLE, JUST LIKE IF YOU GO TO THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE OR SIT IN ANY WAITING ROOM, WE HAVE SOME SEATS SO WE CAN HELP PEOPLE SOCIALLY DISTANCE.
SO PAY ATTENTION TO THE LABELING OF THE SEATS.
YOU KNOW, PEOPLE WANT THE SAME FAMILY, ET CETERA, UH, SIT TOGETHER FINE, BUT IF YOU'RE NOT IN THE SAME FAMILY OR HOUSEHOLD RALLY, EXCUSE ME, THEN, UM, PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF THE SOCIAL DISTINCT SEATING ARRANGEMENTS WE HAVE FOR YOU FOR SAFETY.
ADMISSION INTO THE MEETING SPACE WILL BE CLOSED.
ONCE WE REACHED THE 75% CAPACITY, ALL AUDIENCE MEMBERS ARE REQUIRED TO WEAR A MASK AT ALL TIMES, MASS WILL BE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
THE REGULAR MEETING SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER 16TH AT 5:00 PM WILL BE STREAMED LIVE VIA YOUTUBE.
A LINK TO WATCH THE MEETING CAN BE FOUND ON BOARD DOCS LOCATED ON THE SCHOOL BOARD'S WEBSITE.
A PERIOD FOR, FOR WRITTEN PUBLIC COMMENT WILL BE PROVIDED BEFORE THE MEETING, AS WELL AS BEFORE EACH ACTION IS TAKEN BY THE BOARD ON AN ITEM, INDIVIDUALS WISHING TO MAKE A PUBLIC COMMENT ABOUT ANY OF THE POSTS ACTION ITEMS. WE'LL NEED TO CLICK ON THE AGENDA ITEM, INPUT, DOTS, AND SUBMIT VIA THE HIGHLIGHTED PUBLIC COMMENT.
ITEM DETAILS ONLINE COMMENTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC REVIEW.
SO WE DO NOT READ THEM HERE DURING THE MEETING.
WE ONLY TAKE LIVE COMMENTS HERE DURING THE MEETING, BUT THEY ARE ON THE OFFICIAL RECORD.
OKAY? SO WE'RE NOT TAKING THEM FOR GRANTED MEETING OPENING.
[B. Meeting Opening:]
OUR INVOCATION WILL BE BY THE ILLUSTRIOUS BOARD MEMBER BOARD, UH, UH, MICHAEL GO DAY.AND OUR PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE LED BY CADET, LIEUTENANT COLONEL GARCIA RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ WOODLAWN HIGH SCHOOL, A COVENANT BAG, COLONEL ERIC KEYES, SENIOR ARMY INSTRUCTOR.
IN THIS SEASON OF JOY, WE HAVE MANY THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR.
WE ARE THANKFUL FOR OUR TEACHERS AND FACULTY WHO WORKED SO HARD TO EDUCATE OUR STUDENTS BOTH IN KNOWLEDGE AND IN LIFE TO OUR STAFF, INCLUDING ALL SCHOOL BOARD AND TRANSPORTATION WORKERS WHO CARE FOR FEE AND TRANSFER OUR STUDENTS WITH TO ENSURE THEIR WELLBEING AND SAFETY FOR THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO GIVE US THE RESOURCES AND SUPPORT TO CARRY OUT THESE TASKS FOR THE FAMILIES WHO ENTRUST THEIR CHILDREN TO OUR CARE AND PLAY THE LARGEST PART IN THE EDUCATIONAL WORKLOAD THAT WE HAVE TODAY.
AND FINALLY TO THE STUDENTS THEMSELVES WHO BRING JOY TO OUR LIFE, WORK WITH THEIR SPIRIT, ENERGY, AND LOVE OF LEARNING.
AS WE GO ABOUT THIS WORK, MAY THEIR WELLBEING BE AT THE CENTER OF ALL THAT WE DO AND ALL THAT WE UNDERTAKE AND MAY WE DO ALL WE CAN TO HELP EACH AND EVERY STUDENT REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL.
WE ALSO ASK THAT YOU BEAR UP IN YOUR ARMS, THE FAMILY OF OUR PRESIDENT, DAVID TATLIN, DEALING WITH THE RECENT DEATH OF HIS MOTHER IN YOUR NAME.
WE PRAY AMEN THAT EVENING, EVERYONE, AND, UH, HAPPY HOLIDAYS.
UH, MY NAME IS COLONEL ERIC KEYS.
I'M THE SENIOR ARMY INSTRUCTOR FOR WOODLAWN HIGH SCHOOL JR.
I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF INTRODUCING YOU TO CADET LIEUTENANT COLONEL INF GARCIA.
SHE IS A SENIOR AT WOODLAWN HIGH SCHOOL AND SHE'S IN OUR FOURTH YEAR OF THE, THE JR ROTC PROGRAM THERE.
SHE RECENTLY EARNED HONORS AT THE TOP LEADERSHIP EDUCATION AND TRAIN LEVEL, A LEVEL FOUR, GERALD GC CADET IN THE EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH.
THIS IS OUR THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR THAT SHE'S EARNED HONORS AS THE TOP CADET I HAD AN F IS, UH, SHE PLAYS VIOLIN AND WOODLAWN HIGH SCHOOL ORCHESTRA.
SHE'S A, THE CADET BATTALION COMMANDER FOR THE WOODLAND PANTHER BATTALION.
UH, SHE TAKES HONORS ADVANCED PLACEMENT AND DUAL ENROLLMENT CLASSES WHERE SHE MAINTAINS A 4.3 GPA AFTER HIGH SCHOOL.
HER PLANS ARE TO ATTEND, ATTEND LOUISIANA
[00:05:01]
STATE UNIVERSITY AND MAJOR IN ENGINEERING AND MINOR IN MUSIC.COULD THAT GARCIA, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
PLEASE JOIN ME FOR THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE.
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL MOVING FORWARD WITH THE WHAT I, OH, YES.
UM, CAN YOU COME STAND BACK UP? I JUST WANT TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY FROM OUR BOARD AND OUR SUPERINTENDENT TO COMMEND YOU FOR SUCH BEING SUCH A FINE EXAMPLE OF LEADERSHIP AND, AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AT WOODLAWN HIGH SCHOOL, AND YOU JUST DO A FINE JOB REPRESENTING US SO WELL.
AND, UM, WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHAT ALL IN YOUR FUTURE.
AND PLEASE ACCEPT THIS AS A TOKEN OF OUR APPRECIATION FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK AND ENDEAVORS.
I HAVE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO THANK THE WOODLAWN HIGH SCHOOL, UM, JAZZ BAND THAT WOULD JUST PLAYED FOR US.
THAT WAS TREMENDOUSLY AWESOME AS WELL, AND AS WELL.
AND THEY HAVE ONE MORE DAY OF EXAMS TOMORROW THAT THEY'VE GOT TO GET HOME AND STUDY FOR RIGHT NOW AND, UH, SAID THAT THAT'S WHERE THEY WERE HEADED.
SO THANK THEM FOR THEIR HARD WORK AS WELL.
MADAME SECRETARY DISTRICT NINE, PRESIDENTS ADMIN DISTRICT FOUR, MS. PR VICE-PRESIDENT COLLINS PRESENT DISTRICT ONE.
MR. BLUE HERE, THE DISTRICT TWO, MR. LANA'S DISTRICT THREE, MR. HOWARD DISTRICT FIVE, MS. WARD JACKSON RESIDENT DISTRICT SIX, MS. DYSON DYSON DISTRICT SEVEN, MR. DISTRICT EIGHT, MS. BARNARD PRESENT.
WE HAVE A QUORUM MOVING FORWARD WITH
[C.1. Meeting Minutes]
ITEM C ONE.THE MEETING MINUTES RECOMMENDED ACTION APPROVAL OF THE SCHOOL BOARD MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 18TH, 2021 REGULAR BOARD MEETING AND THE NOVEMBER 4TH, 2021 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING AS PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL, MOVED BY BARNARD BOARD MEMBER BERNARD AND SECONDARY BY BOARD MEMBER.
ALL RIGHT, MADAM SECRETARY, PLEASE CALL THE VOTE.
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO? OH, I'M SORRY.
I'M JUST, I'M JUST SO READY FOR THE HOLIDAY.
I'M SEEING NO REQUEST TO SPEAK FROM THE BOARD SEEING NO, UH, PUBLIC COMMENT BACK TO THE BOARD, SEEING THE REQUEST TO SPEAK.
CAN WE DO A ROLL CALL? VICE-PRESIDENT MADAM SECRETARY, PLEASE CALL THE ROLE DISTRICT ONE.
[00:10:03]
DISTRICT THREE.VICE PRESIDENT COLLINS DISTRICT FIVE.
MR. MOTION CARRIES MOVING FORWARD WITH, UH, ITEM D
[D.1."Students of the Year"]
ONE BREAKING THE RECOGNITIONS OF STUDENTS OF THE YEAR.UH, BECAUSE WE HAD, UM, WE HAD BOARD MEMBERS QUESTIONS AND OUR BOARD WORKSHOP ON THE IMPORTANT SUBJECT OF DUAL ENROLLMENT.
UH, THOSE STUDENTS THAT WERE PRESENT FOR THE STUDENT OF THE YEAR RECOGNITION, WE ALL IN THE MIDST OF FINALS.
AND SO WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY ARE ABLE TO FOCUS ON THEIR STUDIES.
SO WE WILL HAVE THOSE AWESOME STUDENTS BACK AT THE JANUARY MEETING.
AND NOW WE WILL MOVE FORWARD WITH THE HOLIDAY GREETING
[D.2. Holiday Greeting Card Contest Winners]
CARD CONTEST, WINNERS AND EVEN VICE PRESIDENT COLLINS MEMBERS OF THE BOARD.I WORK FOR MR. JOE FROWN, THE FIND ARTS DEPARTMENT.
HE WAS UNAVAILABLE TO ATTEND THIS EVENING.
SO I'M SUBSTITUTING FOR HIM AND HE SENDS HIS HOLIDAY GREETINGS TO ALL ON THE BOARD.
I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT EVERY YEAR EBR SCHOOLS HOST A HOLIDAY CARD DESIGN CONTEST FOR ALL STUDENTS IN THE PARISH.
THIS YEAR, WE HAD A RECORD NUMBER OF ENTRIES APPROACHING 200, UH, THANKS TO ALL STUDENTS WHO PARTICIPATED THE FIRST PLACE ENTRIES IN EACH CATEGORY ARE MADE INTO CARDS FOR THE EBR OFFICE AND SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS USE.
AND BECAUSE OF SO MANY ENTRIES TO FIRST PLACE WINNERS WERE PICKED FOR THE ELEMENTARY AND THE MIDDLE, AND THEN THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVELS.
I AM PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THIS YEAR'S WINNERS AS FOLLOWS, YOU KNOW, ELEMENTARY CATEGORY FROM RYAN ELEMENTARY, DR.
MELVIN HOLLAND'S PRINCIPAL AND MS. FANNY BROWN, THE ART TEACHER, FIFTH GRADER FROM RYAN ELEMENTARY, MAYA MCRAE.
ALSO FROM OUR ELEMENTARY DIVISION FROM WILDWOOD ELEMENTARY, MR. DANIEL, B EDWARDS PRINCIPAL AND MRS. JENNIFER MAYER, OUR TEACHER THIRD GRADER AND T N ALICE.
HE IN OUR MIDDLE SCHOOL CATEGORY.
BOTH STUDENTS ARE FROM MCKINLEY, MIDDLE ACADEMIC MAGNET SCHOOL, DR.
TANGELA ROWAN PRINCIPAL AND MR. ALAN MORTON TEACHER.
WE HAVE FIRST MS. ISABEL FLOWERS AND ALSO FROM MCKINLEY MIDDLE ACADEMIC MAGNET SCHOOL, MS. NUNEZ AND IN A HIGH SCHOOL CATEGORY.
AGAIN, TWO STUDENTS, BOTH FROM THE SAME SCHOOL, BATON ROUGE MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL, MRS. NANETTE AND MCCANN PRINCIPAL.
AND MR. CHETAN ATESH TEACHER, WE HAVE ISIDORA.
HI IS AND WE HAVE MS. RACHEL RUST AND THESE ARE YOUR HOLIDAY CARD WINNERS FOR THE 20 21, 20 22 STUDENTS.
FIRST AND FOREMOST, THIS IS TRULY AN AWESOME MOMENT TO BE HONORED IN FRONT OF NOT ONLY OUR BOARD, BUT ALSO OUR ENTIRE COMMUNITY WHILE I HAVE THE RECOGNITION OR THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF CELEBRATING MISS MAYA.
I SAY AGAIN, ALL OF YOU DOING A PHENOMENAL JOB AND ON BEHALF OF OUR SUPERINTENDENT AND OUR ENTIRE BOARD.
[00:15:01]
MISS ANTIONNE, IS THAT CORRECT? AND ALICE.AND WE HAVE TO, FROM THE WONDERFUL MCKINLEY, MIDDLE MAGNET, ISABELLE AND USC AND OF COURSE WE'RE THE BULLDOGS FROM BATON ROUGE HIGH.
IT GOES, I HAVE A DORA, BUT I DON'T RACHEL, RACHEL RUSS BEAUTIFUL WORK.
WE'RE GOING TO TAKE ONE BIG GROUP PICTURE READY, THREE .
AND AS THEY EXIT, I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I APPRECIATE THE CHRISTMAS CARDS.
AND I WAS SO PROUD AS I PUT MINE IN THE MAILBOX THIS PAST TUESDAY.
UH, SO THANK YOU STUDENTS FOR, UM, FOR YOUR AMAZING, AMAZING TALENT AND I RECEIVED A TEXT MESSAGE.
WAS VIPS ABLE TO MAKE IT IN OUR NEXT
[D.3. VIPS "Partners in Education"]
ITEM ON THE AGENDA IS VOLUNTEERS IMPORTANCE EDUCATION.SO MOVING FORWARD WITH ITEM D THREE RECOGNITION OF THE VOLUNTEERS AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PARTNERS IN EDUCATION FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER TAYLOR PORTER, BROOKS AND PHILLIPS LAW FIRM.
THIS IS MY FAVORITE ONE IN MY MAP WITH THE TEMPTATIONS I'M GIVING, WE'LL GIVE IT A COUPLE OF MORE SECONDS.
I DID GET A TEXT MESSAGE, UM, FROM, UH, THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF VIPS SAYING THAT, UM, THEY WERE IN ROUTE AND IT WAS A COUPLE OF MINUTES AGO.
WE DON'T NEED TO VOTE ON SINCE THERE'S A CHANGE.
WHILE WE ARE SORTING THROUGH THAT, ARE THERE.
[00:20:03]
OKAY, SO THEN MOVING ON WITH ITEM D FOUR.[D.4. Association of Energy Engineers 2021 Regional Energy Management Award]
D FOR ASSOCIATION OF ENERGY ENGINEERS, 2021 REGIONAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT AWARD RECOGNITION OF EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM FOR BEING AWARDED THE ASSOCIATION OF ENERGY ENGINEERS, 2020 21 REGIONAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT AWARD, UM, SUPERINTENDENT, UH, VICE-PRESIDENT A SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS.MY NAME IS DON SALTWATER, AND I AM THE DIRECTOR OF THE ENVIRONMENT ENERGY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.
AND IT IS MY HONOR TO, TO PRESENT THE ASSOCIATION OF ENERGY ENGINEERS, REGIONAL INSTITUTIONAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT AWARD FOR 2021 TO THE EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM.
THE ASSOCIATION OF ENERGY ENGINEERS IS AN INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY THAT EACH YEAR SEEKS OUT THE GOOD WORK THAT'S BEING DONE IN ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND RECOGNIZE THOSE ORGANIZATIONS THAT STAND OUT FROM THE REST.
THE INSTRUMENT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM HERE WAS SELECTED ABOVE OTHER ENTRIES FROM ACROSS REGION FOUR FOUR, WHICH INCLUDES 13 STATES.
A PROGRAM IS BEING RECOGNIZED FOR SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS ACHIEVED SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 2007.
SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS ARE, UH, REDUCING THE, THE DISTRICTS ENERGY USE AND ELECTRICITY, ELECTRICITY, AND NATURAL GAS AND ITS CARBON FOOTPRINT BY 33%, UH, THAT TRANSLATED INTO A LITTLE OVER FOUR $48 MILLION IN CUMULATIVE.
YOU TOTALLY COST AVOIDANCE, UH, OVER THAT TIME AND THAT'S MONEY THAT HAS BEEN FREED UP TO SUPPORT OTHER EDUCATION, THE EDUCATIONAL PRIORITIES, AND AS, UH, SOME ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION EARLIER THIS YEAR, THE SCHOOL DISTRICT RECEIVED THE 2021 ENERGY STAR PARTNER OF THE YEAR AWARD FROM THE, UH, THE EPA.
SO AS THE AWARD PLAQUE READS IT'S, UH, FOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN DEVELOPING, ORGANIZING, MANAGING, AND IMPLEMENTING AN OUTSTANDING INSTITUTIONAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.
SO CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SCHOOL DISTRICT.
THANK YOU SO MUCH, SUPERINTENDENT, WOULD YOU WANT TO, UH, ACCEPT THE AWARD? ALL RIGHT.
[E. 1. Monthly Financial Report]
WITH ITEM E ONE, THE MONTHLY FINANCIAL REPORT BOARD MEMBER GO THERE.I WOULD JUST LIKE TO ASK THE, UH, FINANCE FOLKS, YOU KNOW, WE DIDN'T PASS THE, UH, RESOLUTION ON, UH, REVENUE ANTICIPATION BONDS, AND I JUST WANT TO GET AN UPDATE ON THAT.
W W DO WE LOOK LIKE WE WILL NEED TO EXERCISE THAT, OR WILL WE HAVE THE SUFFICIENT FUNDS THAT WE COULD NOT HAVE TO EXERCISE THAT LOPEZ YOU'RE EXCITED.
[E. 2. Personnel Changes]
FORWARD WITH ITEM E TWO PERSONNEL CHANGES, AND AGAIN, THIS IS SOMETHING FOR INFORMATION ONLY, AND MOVING FORWARD WITH ITEM[F. 1. Update from Superintendent]
F ONE, RECEIVE AS INFORMATION UPDATE FROM US SUPERINTENDENT.UM, SO, UH, USUALLY, UH, WHAT I ALWAYS DO WHEN WE GET TOO CLOSE TO THE HOLIDAYS IS TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT WE'VE ALL ACCOMPLISHED IN A SEMESTER.
UM, IT HAS BEEN A LOT, UM, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE COMING OFF COVID SO ONE, WE ALWAYS SAY WE'RE SO EXCITED TO ALL BE HEALTHY.
UH, FIRST AND FOREMOST, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, WE'RE EXCITED THAT OUR FAMILIES ARE ENGAGING MUCH MORE TOGETHER.
UM, WE HAD OUR WINTER WONDERLAND THE OTHER DAY WAS SO GREAT TO HAVE A LOT OF ACTIVITIES.
AS YOU KNOW, WE HAVE BEEN WORKING HARD TO DO MORE THINGS IN OUR, OUR, IN ALL OF OUR COMMUNITIES.
AND IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE CONTINUE TO ENGAGE
[00:25:01]
IN THAT.SO I THOUGHT IT'D BE GOOD TO DO A COUPLE OF THINGS IS JUST TO HIGHLIGHT WHAT WE'VE ACCOMPLISHED TOGETHER, JUST SO WE CAN BREATHE.
I KNOW SOMETIMES WE ARE ALWAYS IN THE FOREST, UM, DOING A LOT OF THINGS, BUT IT DOES TAKE AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY TO DO THIS WORK.
AND SO, UM, I THOUGHT IT'D BE GOOD TO JUST, UH, LAY OUT SOME OF THOSE AS, UH, WITH THE BOARD AND ALL OF OUR 6,000 EMPLOYEES, BECAUSE IT DOES TAKE A VILLAGE TO DO THIS WORK WITH OUR PARTNERS.
AND SO A COUPLE OF THINGS THAT WE WERE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH THIS YEAR, UM, THAT INCLUDES THE BOARD AS WELL BECAUSE THEY VOTED ON, UM, WE ADDED 1064, PRE-K THREE AND FOUR SEATS TO SERVE MORE FAMILIES IN OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM.
AS YOU KNOW, WE WANT IT TO HAVE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION THAT HAS BEEN HUGE, AND WE'RE CONTINUING TO GROW, UH, THAT, UH, THROUGHOUT, UM, OUR MAJOR GOAL.
WE NOW SERVE OVER 6,000 CHILDREN IN EARLY CHILDHOOD IN EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH.
AND I THINK THAT'S SOMETHING WE SHOULD BE EXCITED ABOUT.
ANOTHER THING THAT WE DID WAS WE CREATED A STRATEGIC PLAN WITH CLEAR KPIS AND WHAT WE CALL OUR FOUR CORNERSTONES.
AND SO NOW WE HAVE CLEAR TARGETS WE'RE CHASING TO ENSURE THAT WE CAN, UH, MONITOR AND, UH, MAKE SURE WE KEEP OURSELVES ACCOUNTABLE, UH, THAT WE ARE EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN, PROVIDING CUSTOMER SERVICE AND MAKING SURE THAT WE'RE DEVELOPING OUR PEOPLE AND AROUND OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE.
UM, AND SO WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT THAT.
WE'VE COMPLETED A FACILITIES USAGE PLAN, WHICH WILL BE MOVING TOWARDS A MASTER PLAN SOON, BUT WE'RE GLAD THAT WE STARTED TO DO THAT, UH, TO BUILD TRANSPARENCY ACROSS OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM.
UH, WE REORGANIZE OUR DISTRICT INTO FIVE REGIONS AND THOSE FIVE REGIONS HELP US TO ALIGN OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS CLOSER TO SCHOOLS.
SO WE CAN BE THINKING MORE ABOUT NEIGHBORHOODS, UM, AND HOW WE SUPPORT THOSE NEIGHBORHOODS AND CHILDREN THROUGHOUT ALL OF OUR COMMUNITIES.
UM, SO THAT WAS VERY HUGE FOR US AND ORGANIZING OURSELVES.
WE PROVIDE A 625 SEATS FOR FREE SUMMER ENRICHMENT, UM, WITH ATHLETIC SKILLS DEVELOPMENT, UH, OVER THE SUMMER, THAT WAS PRETTY HUGE BECAUSE THOSE CHILDREN, IF THEY WEREN'T PLAYING SPORTS, THEY COULD HAVE BEEN DOING SOMETHING ELSE.
SO WE PLAN TO EXPAND THAT MORE OVER THE SUMMER, AND ALSO DID A LOT OF WORK AROUND LITERACY AND GETTING KIDS TO READ.
I KNOW THEY WANTED TO PLAY SPORTS, BUT WE GOT TO GET UP AND READ A LITTLE BIT IN THE SUMMER.
SO, UM, SO WE, WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT THAT.
WE CONVENED OVER 65 MONTHLY ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETINGS WITH THE FOLLOWING GROUPS.
UH, WE HAD OUR STUDENT GROUPS, IF YOU GET A CHANCE TO GO TO THE TWITTER PAGE, YOU'LL SEE ME.
WE PUT IN SOME OF OUR STUDENT MEETINGS ON THERE, AND I'LL BE INTRODUCING EVERYBODY TO OUR STUDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL BECAUSE THEY ARE WORKING ON A CAUSE WHICH THEY'LL BE COMING TO THE BOARD TO PRESENT, UH, WHICH WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT THAT.
UM, IT'S THE FIRST TIME YOU'VE HAD A STUDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL GROUP THAT ADVISES US ALSO IN ALL THE SAME SET OF ISSUES THAT WE ALL TALK ABOUT.
UH, WE ALSO THINK WHAT'S OUR PARENTS, PRINCIPALS, OUR TEACHERS AND STAKEHOLDER GROUPS THAT WE'VE ESTABLISHED TO, UH, CONNECT AS WELL.
WE ESTABLISHED A TALENT ACTION, COLLABORATIVE COMPRISE IN THE BUSINESS EDUCATIONAL AND GOVERNMENTAL LEADERS WHO ARE INVESTED IN THE SUCCESS OF EDR SCHOOLS, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, TAKES AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY TO DO THIS WORK, NOT JUST ONLY THE SCHOOL SYSTEM.
AND SO WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT THAT.
UM, WE ESTABLISHED A CITY-WIDE LITERACY INITIATIVE, UM, WITH OUR COACHES WHO'VE BEEN WORKING.
UM, WE HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT THAT WE'LL BE MAKING IN JANUARY, UH, TO THE CITY, SO I WON'T LEAK IT OUT, BUT, UH, UH, IT DOES HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH LITERACY.
SO WE LOOK FORWARD TO PRESENTING THAT ACROSS THE CITY.
UM, WE'VE ALSO BEEN DOING A LOT OF WORK AROUND EXPANSION OF SUPPORTING MORE OF OUR, UM, ESL LEARNERS.
UM, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, I KNOW SOMETIMES PEOPLE DON'T THINK ABOUT IT, BUT WE HAVE, UH, MANY FAMILIES, UM, IN PARTICULAR COMMUNITIES WHERE THEY SPEAK DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.
AND SO WE, AND ALSO ARE COMING FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES.
SO WE'VE DONE A LOT OF WORK ON TRYING TO, UM, CONNECT WITH THEM MUCH MORE AND EXPAND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THEM.
UH, AND WE'VE ALSO BEEN PUTTING A LOT OF EFFORT IN INCREASING OUR SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL LEARNING.
YOU'LL BE HEARING MORE ABOUT THAT.
I KNOW THAT WAS, UH, SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT TO THE BOARD AROUND MAKING SURE THE RECONNECT AROUND SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL LEARNING.
UM, EVEN I HAD A MR. SHANNON OR GENERAL COUNCIL EXCITED ABOUT THAT.
AND SO, UH, WHAT WE ARE HOPEFUL THAT WE'LL BE PRESENTING TO THE BOARD, UH, SEL WORK.
OH, I KNOW WE'VE BEEN CONNECTING TO OUR PARENT GROUPS AROUND IT.
THEY'VE BEEN TRULY EXCITED ABOUT THAT.
AND SO WE'RE EXCITED TO, UH, BE, UH, TALKING ABOUT THAT.
UH, THE OTHER PART, I THINK WE'VE DONE REALLY GOOD AND WE'RE CONTINUING TO, UM, UH, IMPROVE IN THAT AREA IS A SCORECARD, UH, PARENTS AND FAMILIES OUT CAN GO ONLINE TO LOOK AT ACTUAL SCORECARD TO SEE OUR PERFORMANCE UH WE'VE THAT HAS BEEN FILLING IN NICE, NICELY, AND IT'S LED BY OUR ACCOUNTABILITY TEAM, ANDREW KOSKIE AND HER TEAM, UH, THAT MAKES SURE THAT WE'RE BEING TRANSPARENT ABOUT WHAT WE'RE DOING.
AND ALSO MOVING TO OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEM TO CONNECT WITH THE OPEN CHECKBOOK WITH THE MAYOR'S OFFICE AND TRYING TO OPEN THAT UP.
UM, AND WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT THAT.
UH, AND THEN, UH, ONE OTHER THING I THOUGHT WOULD BE GOOD TODAY WAS ALSO TO ANNOUNCE, UH, WHICH I'LL ASK OUR CHIEF OF TECHNOLOGY, MS. AMY JONES TO COME UP, UH, MS. JONES WILL BE
[00:30:01]
PRESENTING TO YOU, UH, TO TODAY OUR BRAND NEW EBR SCHOOLS WEBSITE, UH, WHICH SHE WILL SHARE WITH YOU.UM, AND ALSO, UH, SHE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT AN APP THAT ALL SCHOOLS IN THE DISTRICT WILL HAVE.
UH, SO FAMILIES CAN HAVE ACCESS RIGHT ON THEIR CELL PHONE, AROUND A WHOLE LOT OF STUFF.
AND, UH, I DON'T WANT TO TAKE HER THUNDER AWAY FROM HER, FROM HER, BUT I WILL ALLOW HER TO, UH, GO AHEAD AND, UM, PRESENT THAT TO YOU, AMY.
MADAM VICE PRESIDENT COLLINS, BOARD MEMBERS, DR.
NRCS, UM, ALONG WITH, UH, CHIEF OF COMMUNICATIONS AT ALEC STUBS, WE WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT TO YOU THE WEBSITE THAT IS A JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN OUR DIVISIONS, UH, THE WEBSITE, MANY PEOPLE MAY WONDER WHY DID WE GO TO A NEW WEBSITE, GET THIS MOVING.
SO WHY ARE WE UPGRADING OUR CHANGES NEED TO REFLECT OUR NEW OUTLOOK? SO WE'RE VISITING WITH YOU AND INVITING YOU TO TAKE A NEW LOOK AT OUR WEBSITE.
UH, JUST AS THE BOARDROOM LOOKS A LITTLE DIFFERENT.
WE WANTED THE OUTLOOK FROM THE, UH, THE OPENING PAGES OF OUR DISTRICT TO BE NEW AS WELL.
SO, UH, RIGHT NOW I WANT TO THANK, UH, THE TECHNOLOGY TEAM.
THAT'S SITTING IN THE BACK ROOM, UH, DOING PRODUCTION IN THE BOARDROOM, BUT I ALSO WANT TO THANK THE, UH, GRAPHIC DESIGNERS AND THE WEBMASTERS.
WHO'VE DONE A HERCULEAN LIFT, UH, WHEN DR.
CAME TO US AND SAID THAT HE WOULD LIKE A FRESH NEW VISION FOR THE DISTRICT THROUGH OUR WEBSITE.
WE SAID, LET'S TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE.
SO LET'S, UM, WE, WE STILL HAVE THE SAME DOMAIN NAME, EBR SCHOOLS.ORG, BUT WE HAD SOME THINGS IN MIND.
UM, AND ONE OF THOSE WAS CUSTOMER SERVICE.
SOME OF OUR GOALS THAT WE HAD WERE TO MAKE THIS A USEFUL TOOL FOR OUR FAMILIES, COMMUNITY, AND STAFF, ONE OF OUR GOALS, AS WELL AS WE DEVELOP THIS NEW WEBSITE WAS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE KEPT IT SIMPLE.
WE WANTED TO REDUCE THE AMOUNTS OF CLICKS THAT IT TOOK FOR FOLKS TO GET TO RELEVANT INFORMATION AND ALSO GET RID OF SOME OF THOSE DEAD LINKS AND DUPLICATED PAGES THAT WE WERE FINDING ON OUR OLD WEBSITE, WE HAD OVER 200 PAGES ON OUR OLD WEBSITE.
AND SO WE'VE GREATLY REDUCED THAT NUMBER IN ORDER TO MAKE IT EASIER TO NAVIGATE.
UH, WE ALSO WANTED TO BRING IT INTO ADA COMPLIANCE.
THAT'S A BIG, UH, IT'S A NECESSARY THING TO KEEP US COMPLIANT WITH, UM, OUR CIVIL RIGHTS CODES, AS WELL AS ADA COMPLIANCE.
SO YOU'LL WHEN I DEMONSTRATE IT, I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS THERE AND IT'S EXCITING FOR THE DISTRICT.
WE ALSO WANT IT TO BE SURE THAT IT, THE WEBSITE WAS RESPONSIVE ON ALL DEVICES.
WE KNOW THAT MOST OF OUR USERS ARE COMING TO US FROM THEIR MOBILE PHONES OR FROM THEIR TABLETS.
AND SO YOU'LL SEE WHEN YOU NAVIGATE TO THE WEBSITE FROM THOSE DEVICES, THAT THE WEBSITE FITS BEAUTIFULLY INTO THOSE TEMPLATES.
AND THEN FINALLY, WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT THE PUBLIC FACING WEBSITE WAS EASY FOR OUR STAKEHOLDERS, OUR FAMILIES, OUR COMMUNITY, AND ALSO FOR THE STAFF.
SO WHAT WE'VE DONE IS CREATED AN INTRANET FOR STAFF.
THAT'S FAR MORE STREAMLINED WITH LESS GRAPHICS THAT HAS ALL OF THE RELEVANT DATA THAT THEY NEED AT THEIR FINGERTIPS.
WE KNOW THAT SOME OF THROUGH THE ANALYTICS FOR OUR WEBSITE, THAT SOME OF THE TOP HITS WERE FROM STAFF TO CHECK THEIR EMAILS, TO CHECK PAYROLL LOG-INS BENEFITS, THOSE SORTS OF THINGS.
SO WE'VE PUT THOSE AT THE FRONT PAGE OF THE INTRANET AND MADE THAT ACCESSIBLE FOR THE STAFF.
SO I'D LOVE TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SOME OF THE BENEFITS, UM, HERE AS WELL.
SO, UH, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TO US WAS TO BRING THIS IN-HOUSE.
UM, THE OLD WEBSITE WAS DEVELOPED BY A CONSULTING GROUP, UM, AT COST TO US, EVERY TIME WE MADE A CHANGE, UH, WE WERE FORCED TO PAY THOSE, UM, THAT GROUP, UM, BY THE HOUR.
AND SO IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO US THAT WE BRING THAT IN-HOUSE AND UTILIZE THE TALENT THAT WE ALREADY HAD ON STAFF TO BOTH DESIGN AND THEN BUILD THAT ENTIRE WEBSITE FROM THE GROUND UP.
AND, UH, I THINK WE WOULD BE REMISS IF WE DID NOT THINK, UM, OUR GRAPHIC DESIGN TEAM, AS WELL AS OUR WEBMASTERS, WHO, UM, AS AMY ALLUDED TO, DID A HERCULEAN EFFORT TO CREATE THIS WEBSITE IN BREAKNECK SPEED.
AND, UM, WE ALSO WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT AS WE MOVED TOWARDS THIS NEW AND FRESH BRANDING THAT YOU SEE ALL AROUND YOU HERE IN THE BOARDROOM, UM, THAT THE WEBSITE ITSELF WAS ALSO ALIGNED TO OUR BRAND STANDARDS.
SO AGAIN, UH, WE MENTIONED THAT, UH, ADA COMPLIANCE WAS A BIG THING, BUT IT ALSO WILL SUPPORT OUR STRATEGIC PLAN IN THE CORNERSTONES THAT WE HAVE THROUGH OUR KPIS, ESPECIALLY AROUND, UM, OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE.
SO THOSE WILL BE REFLECTED THROUGHOUT AS WELL.
SO AS A SUPERINTENDENT, NARCY ALLUDED TO, WE HAD SOME STUDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETINGS AND WE ROLLED THIS PREVIEW OUT
[00:35:01]
TO THE STUDENTS AND CAPTURED SOME OF THEIR FEEDBACK.WE SHOWED THEM THE CURRENT WEBSITE, WHICH JUST SO HAPPENED.
ONE OF THE YOUNG MAN FROM TARA HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE BOARD MEMBERS NAMES AND AFTER MANY CLICKS HE GAVE UP.
SO WHEN WE WALKED HIM THROUGH THE NEW WEBSITE AND SHOWED HIM WHERE, HOW, HOW EASY IT WAS TO FIND YOU GUYS, HE WAS VERY IMPRESSED AND VERY EXCITED.
SO, UM, WE ALSO HAD SOME STUDENTS FROM, UH, ARLINGTON BATON ROUGE MAGNET, AND FROM LIBERTY HIGH, WE HAD STUDENTS FROM, UM, EBR READINESS.
SO YOU CAN SEE THEIR COMMENTS.
THEY WERE ALL FAVORABLE THAT THE STUDENTS WERE SO EXCITED THAT WHEN WE DEMONSTRATED THAT ADA COMPLIANCE THAT, UH, WHEN IT SHOWED THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FONTS FOR DYSLEXIA, WHEN WE COULD, UH, TARGET ONTO THE PAGE FOR, UM, HIGHLIGHTING FIELDS, YOU CAN CONTRAST CHANGE FROM DARK TO LIGHT.
SO THERE'S SO MANY THINGS THAT CA THAT WERE JUST AMAZING TO THOSE STUDENTS THAT JUST MADE IT FEEL LIKE THAT WE CARED ABOUT THEM, AND THAT'S THE IMPRESSION THAT THEY TOOK AWAY FROM THAT.
SO LET'S TAKE A QUICK LOOK@AVRSCHOOLS.ORG.
OUR BANNER HAS BEEN FRESHENED SHOWS THOSE THREE STUDENTS.
SO THE YEAR THAT WE'LL VISIT IN JANUARY, OUR WELCOME EXPERIENCE WILL LINK INTO A WELCOME VIDEO WITH SORT OF A, UH, OVERVIEW OF HOW TO USE THE SITE.
AND THEN FINALLY, OUR HOPPY HA HAPPY HOLIDAYS, A BANNER THAT WILL CHANGE IN AS THE NEW YEAR GOES ON.
AS YOU SCROLL DOWN, YOU'LL SEE THESE FOUR CORNERSTONES KPI, UH, EXCELLENCE, AND, UM, ALL OF THE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, OUR, UH, CUSTOMER SERVICE, OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE, AND ALSO EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT.
AND THOSE ARE HYPERLINKED TO OUR SCORECARD.
SO YOU CAN TAKE A LOOK AT, UH, THE DECEMBER SCORES AND THINGS THAT WE HAVE UPDATED FOR, UM, THE RELEVANT KPIS THAT ARE WERE DUE THIS MONTH OR THIS SEMESTER.
AND IF WE GO BACK AND SCROLL FURTHER DOWN, YOU'LL SEE THAT WE HAVE OUR NEWS AND EVENTS SPOTLIGHTS, OUR TWITTER FEED, OUR FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM FEEDS.
AND THEN FINALLY AT THE BOTTOM, YOU'LL SEE A CALENDAR OF EVENTS AND THEN THE BOTTOM, WHICH KEEPS US COMPLIANT WITH ALL OF THE, UM, THINGS THAT ARE NECESSARY FOR ALL WEBSITES TO HAVE ONE THING I WANT TO NOTE RIGHT HERE AT THE BOTTOM, IF YOUR STAFF, THERE'S AN EMPLOYEE LINK THAT WILL TAKE YOU TO OUR INTRANET.
AND THEN THERE'S ALSO A FEEDBACK BUTTON RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE, UNDER THE TWITTER SOCIAL FEEDS THAT WILL TAKE YOU TO A FEEDBACK FORM THAT ANYONE CAN ANONYMOUSLY PROVIDE US SOME FEEDBACK ON WHAT WE'RE, WHAT YOU'RE SEEING.
IF WE'RE MISSING, ANYTHING THAT YOU THINK IS RELEVANT AND IMPORTANT.
IF WE HAVE SOME, UM, DATA THAT YOU LIKE.
SO WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR SOME FEEDBACK, BUT LET'S GO UP TO THE ABOUT SECTION, THE SECOND TAB ON THE MENU LANGUAGES.
LET'S OPEN UP THAT ABOUT TAB AND WE'VE BROKEN THESE, UH, THESE THREE HYPERLINKS WILL GO INTO, UM, OUR LEADERSHIPS.
AND IF YOU'LL GO AND SCROLL ON DOWN, YOU'LL SEE A DR.
NARCISSUS WELCOME INTO THE, UH, INTO THE DISTRICT, HIS BIO, A FAVOR, LET IT LOAD.
AND WE'LL SEE, THERE'S A FAVORITE QUOTE.
THERE HERE'S OUR EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM.
AND IF YOU'LL HOVER OVER ANY OF THE MEMBERS, THERE YOU GO.
MISS DUPRAY CLICK ON HER BIO, AND YOU CAN READ HER BIO.
YOU CAN CLICK IT DOWN TO THE BOTTOM.
WE CAN X OUT OF THERE, AND LET'S GO FURTHER INTO THE BOARD MEMBER SECTION AND ALL THE MEETING AGENDA ITEMS, THE BOARD DOC LINK, AND OUR BOARD MEMBERS LET'S CLICK ON ONE OF OUR BOARD MEMBERS.
AND THEN LET'S CLICK ON THE ACCESSIBILITY LINK IN THE BOTTOM.
YOU SEE THE WHEELCHAIR IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT-HAND CORNER.
AND JUST TO GIVE AN EXAMPLE, CLICK ON THE CURSOR LINK.
AND SECOND TIME, WE'LL GET YOU INTO THAT.
A READING PANE VIEW, CLICK TWICE, LET'S GET OUT OF THAT VIEW AND THEN GO UP TO THE DYSLEXIA, FRIENDLY ON THE RIGHT, AND YOU'LL SEE THAT IT WILL, UH, CHANGE THE FONT INTO A DYSLEXIC FRIENDLY FONT, WHICH MERELY CHANGES THE D'S AND THE F'S AND THE P'S AND THE Q'S.
AND SOME OF THOSE THINGS THAT NEED MORE VISUAL ATTENTION SO THAT YOU CAN READ MORE CLEARLY.
YOU CAN ALSO ENLARGE THE FONTS.
AND IF YOU GO UP TO THE TOP, THERE'S A CONTRAST.
IF YOU NEEDED TO SEE IT IN REVERSE CONTRAST, OR IN FURTHER CONTRAST, KEEP GOING, YOU'LL SEE THAT YOU CAN EVEN VIEW
[00:40:01]
IT IN BLACK AND WHITE.AND THEN YOU CAN JUST GO BACK TO ORIGINAL AND X OUT OF THAT.
SO YOU CAN SEE ALL OF THE ADA COMPLIANT MEASURES THAT WE'VE TAKEN IN OUR WEBSITE.
YOU CAN ALSO SEE THE MULTIPLE LANGUAGES THAT ARE AVAILABLE IN BOTH THEIR LANGUAGE, AS WELL AS THE FLAG THAT THEY REPRESENT.
SO WE COULD CLICK ON ANY OF THOSE LANGUAGES AND SEE THE TRANSITION INTO FRENCH AND SO FORTH SO THAT THOSE ARE ON ALL PAGES.
AND NOW LET'S CLICK OUT OF THAT AND GO ON TO SCROLL THROUGH PAST OUR LOVELY BOARD MEMBERS AND INTO OUR STORY.
LET'S GET BACK INTO ENGLISH SO THAT I KNOW WHAT THEY'RE SAYING.
ALL RIGHT, IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR STORY GETS US TO OUR MISSION.
OUR VISION ALSO GETS US INTO A WORD CLOUD OF ALL OF THE SUPER RELATIVES AND THE DATA FACTS ABOUT OUR DISTRICT.
AND THEN FINALLY, YOU CAN SEE THE STRATEGIC PLAN.
LET'S NOT CLICK ON IT, BUT IT WILL CONNECT YOU TO THE PDF DOCUMENT.
AND THEN FINALLY AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE, WE'VE KIND OF KEPT IT ALL ON ONE PAGE.
WE HAVE OUR FIVE REGIONS REPRESENTED AND WE CAN OPEN UP THE NORTH.
AND EACH OF OUR SCHOOLS IN THE NORTH REGION ARE HIGHLIGHTED HERE, UH, HYPERLINKED TO THEIR WEBSITES, WHICH WE ARE TRANSITION FOR.
SO AS, AS WE'VE GOTTEN THIS HERCULEAN TASK UNDER OUR BELT AND GET ALL THE KINKS WORKED OUT, WE'LL START WORKING ON EACH OF THE SCHOOLS WEBSITES TO REFLECT THE BRANDING.
UH, RIGHT NOW WE'RE WORKING WITH GETTING ALL OF THEIR LOGOS IN THE RIGHT COLOR SCHEMES AND THOSE SORTS OF THINGS.
AND THEN WE'LL BUILD A TEMPLATE SO THAT THOSE SCHOOLS CAN BE JOINED INTO AND HYPERLINKED HERE.
LIKE, LET'S GO UP TO THE FAMILIES PAGE AT THE TOP ON THE MENU BAR AND OUR INFORMATION ON THE FAMILY'S PAGE.
WE'LL GET YOU TO CLICK ON THAT ONE.
AND THESE ARE ALL HYPERLINKED TO STRAIGHT TO THESE RESOURCES FOR ENROLLING STUDENTS IN OUR J CAMPUS SYSTEM.
IF YOU WOULD CLICK ON THAT, THAT WILL TAKE US TO OUR ENROLLMENT PROCESS.
IF YOU WANT TO REGISTER YOUR STUDENT, JUST CREATE AN ACCOUNT AND YOU CAN REGISTER YOUR STUDENT, AND IT WILL LET YOU KNOW, BASED ON YOUR ADDRESS, WHAT IS YOUR SCHOOL NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL? AND THEN FROM THERE, YOU CAN GO INTO CHOICE AND SEE WHAT'S ALL AVAILABLE FOR YOU.
SO LET'S HEAD BACK ALL OF THE REST OF THESE, THIS EXPLORE EBR SCHOOLS.
THAT'S THE BEAUTIFUL BROCHURE THAT YOU SEE IN ALL OF DOCTOR'S OFFICES AND ALL OF THE PLACES AROUND TOWN THAT HAVE CATALOG OF ALL OF OUR SCHOOLS IN ALL OF THE, UM, THE WONDERFUL THINGS THAT THEY OFFER, WHERE THEY'RE LOCATED THEIR PRINCIPALSHIP.
THEN WE HAVE THE VIPS GET INVOLVED.
WE CAN GO STRAIGHT TO BUS ROUTES AND FIND OUT, UH, WHAT BUS YOU'RE SH YOU SHOULD BE RIDING.
AND ALL OF THE THINGS THAT FAMILIES WOULD FIND USEFUL, UH, FORMS AND FEES.
WE'LL JUST TAKE YOU TO ALL OF THE FORMS THAT FAMILIES FIND, UH, HELPFUL AND USEFUL.
AND WE'LL JUST MOVE ON FROM THAT.
YOU CAN EXPLORE AT YOUR LEISURE.
LET'S GO ON UP TO THE DIVISIONS ON THE MENU BAR.
AND YOU'LL SEE, THIS IS ONE OF THE LARGEST CHANGES THAT WE'VE MADE.
THESE DIVISIONS ARE BASED ON THE LEADERSHIP TEAM AND THE DIVISIONS THAT SIT ON EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP.
SO WE HAVE THE DIVISIONS OF OPERATIONS, SPECIALIST SUPPORT AND SPECIAL PROJECTS, AND ALL OF THE REST OF THE, UM, MEMBERS OF THE CABINET.
AND YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY ONE OF THOSE, UM, HEAD TO TECHNOLOGY.
WHY NOT? NAH, ONE HAS A BANNER PHOTO THAT COMES FROM OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM.
THIS IS FROM OUR E-SPORTS UP IN NORTHEAST AND GO ON DOWN AND YOU'LL SEE THAT IF YOU'RE, IF THE DIVISION HAS A PROGRAM, IT WOULD BE LISTED IN THE MIDDLE THERE, BUT TECHNOLOGY DOESN'T, IT HAS TWO DEPARTMENTS.
THE DEPARTMENTS WILL BE LISTED AND HYPERLINKED TO THE, UM, THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS AND ALL THE INFORMATION THAT YOU NEED TO FIND THERE.
OR YOU CAN CLICK STRAIGHT TO THE DIRECTORY AND SEE WHO'S, UH, THE CHIEF OF THAT DIR OF THAT DIVISION, AND THEN THE, UH, DIRECTORS WITHIN OR OTHER LEADERSHIP WITHIN EACH OF THOSE DIVISIONS.
AND THEN FINALLY, UH, I THINK THAT TAKES US TO THE END OF THE ENROLL.
LET'S HEAD OVER, DOWN TO THE, AND WE'LL JUST BRIEFLY SHOW YOU THE STAFF SIDE, AND THEN NOW GET OUT OF YOUR WAY, UH, GO TO EMPLOYEES.
AND FOR THIS STREAMLINED APPEARANCE FOR OUR STAFF, YOU'LL SEE THAT THE TOP THREE GETTERS ON THE, ON THE CURRENT WEBSITE ARE CHECKING YOUR EMAIL, RESETTING YOUR PASSWORD, AND LOGGING INTO PAYROLL, UH, FOR OUR, UH, QUICK TO FIND THINGS, LET'S JUST GO TO THE DIRECTORY LINK UP AT THE TOP, AND YOU CAN SEE FROM A LEADERSHIP DIRECTORY, THAT THESE
[00:45:01]
ARE YOUR COMMON CONTACTS AND THEN A CONTACT DIRECTORY OF ALL THE DIFFERENT PROGRAMS AND DEPARTMENTS WITHIN THE SYSTEM.BUT IF YOU CLICK UP UNDER UP THE QUICK LINKS THAT THE, UH, LEADERSHIP DIRECTORY, I JUST WANT TO POINT THIS OUT, BUT SOMETIMES RIGHT THERE, THIS IS A DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE LEADERSHIP IN EACH OF THE DIVISIONS.
AND YOU CAN BLOW THIS UP ON YOUR COMPUTER AT HOME, BUT THIS WILL GIVE YOU A LOT OF CONTACT INFORMATION THAT PEOPLE FIND VERY USEFUL AND AT THEIR FINGERTIPS.
SO LET'S JUST HEAD BACK TO THE WEBSITE.
AND I THINK WE CAN WRAP UP THE, UM, THE WEBSITE.
SO LET'S HEAD BACK TO THE POWERPOINT AND TO THE NEXT.
SO THE MAIN THINGS THAT WERE NEW IN THIS WEBSITE ARE THAT WE HAVE DIVIDED THINGS INTO THE DIVISIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM.
WE HAVE A CLEANER, SECONDARY LANGUAGE SUPPORT FEATURE, AND A FRESH NEW STYLE.
NEXT ONE THING THAT WE WANT TO BE MINDFUL OF IS THAT SOME OF THE THINGS THAT, UH, HAVE BEEN IN TRANSITION HA MAY TAKE A LITTLE LONGER TO COME ACROSS BECAUSE WE HAD TO HUNT MORE THAN 200 PAGES AS MS. STUBBS ALLUDED TO, UH, TO DIG THROUGH AND MAKE SURE THAT WE HAD ALL OF THE APPROPRIATE DATA THAT WAS LEGALLY NEEDING TO BE THERE.
I'VE ALSO SENT OUT AN ALL CALL TO ALL DIVISION CHIEFS, AND THEY HAVE ALERTED THEIR STAFF THAT IF, UH, AUDIT THEIR PAGES ON THE OLD WEBSITES OR SEE IF THERE IS ANYTHING MISSING ON THE NEW WEBSITE OR THE INTRANET.
AND AS THEY, UH, BRING THAT DATA BACK TO US, YOU'LL SEE THIS AS A LIVING DOCUMENT, THIS WEBSITE.
SO WE WILL UPDATE THOSE AS WE GET THEM.
SO IF THERE IS SOMETHING THAT YOU SEE MISSING, THERE IS THAT FEEDBACK FIELD THAT WE'D APPRECIATE SOME INFORMATION FROM, BUT AS, UM, IF WE HAVE YOU LINK BACK TO THE OLD WEBSITE, WHICH IS UNDER ARCHIVE DOT EBR SCHOOLS.ORG, UH, THERE WILL BE A POP-UP THAT SAYS, PARDON OUR PROGRESS.
UH, WE'LL TRY TO GET THAT DATA UP ONTO THE NEW WEBSITE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
SO WE APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE AS WE GET THROUGH THAT.
SO THAT'S OUR WEBSITE, AND I JUST WANT TO REALLY QUICKLY TOUCH ON THE STATUS OF OUR SCHOOL INFO APP THAT, UH, DR.
NARCIS ALLUDED TO IT IS ALREADY ACCESSIBLE AND FOR DOWNLOAD IN BOTH ANDROID AND THE IOS, APPLE, UM, VERSIONS.
AND I'VE GOT SOME, UH, SCREENSHOTS OF WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE FROM THE HOMEPAGE THAT HAS BEEN REBRANDED.
IT HAS A LOT OF GOOD INFORMATION IN THERE.
WE HAVE 13 SCHOOLS THAT ARE LINKED IN THERE RIGHT NOW THAT HAVE BEEN USING THIS APP FOR YEARS.
AND THEY WILL TESTIFY RIGHT HERE IN FRONT OF YOU THAT THEY WOULD NOT GET RID OF IT.
SO, UH, WHAT OUR GOAL IS IS TO GET EVERY SCHOOL INVOLVED IN THE SCHOOL AT PROCESS.
SO THEY CAN ALL HAVE THAT EASE OF COMMUNICATION THAT, UH, PUTS IT RIGHT IN EVERYONE'S HAND BECAUSE IT'S, IT'S MOBILE.
AND THAT'S WHAT MOST OF THE FAMILIES ARE USING THESE DAYS.
ANY, ANYTHING ELSE WE CAN DO? WE WE'RE HERE TO HELP? WELL, I REMEMBER DYSON, I JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR THIS THOROUGH, UH, UPDATE, AND THIS IS WONDERFUL.
WE'VE BEEN NEEDING THIS FOR A LONG TIME.
I'M SO, SO EXCITED THAT WE'VE GOT THE, UM, W WE'RE NOW IN ALIGNMENT WITH, WITH THE LAW AND WHAT WE NEED TO BE DOING AS FAR AS, UM, EASY ACCESS FOR ALL, AND LOVED, LOVED THE DYSLEXIA AND THE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.
AND IT'S, IT'S REALLY SOME GOOD STUFF.
UH, ONE LAST THING I WANTED TO INTRODUCE IS THAT FOR NEXT BOARD MEETING, OR HOPEFULLY NEXT BOARD MEETING HAVE TO BE EVEN FURTHER IN COMPLIANCE.
WE WILL HAVE A SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETER HERE, AND THEY WILL BE DISPLAYED ON THE SCREEN AT ALL TIMES.
AND, UH, WE'RE JUST SAYING THAT WE WISH ONE OF OUR FAVORITE CONSTITUENTS SISTER KURANDA, CORALEE WAS PRESENT THOSE WATCHING, WHO KNOWS THIS, THE KURANDA QUARTERLY.
WE BELIEVE THAT THIS IS ONE THING, WELL, SISTER QUARTERLY, WE APPRECIATE YOUR PRESENCE.
AND WE BELIEVE THAT THIS IS ONE YOU WOULD STAND IN FAVOR OF SEEING NO OTHER BOARD REQUESTS TO SPEAK.
UH, VICE CHAIR OF THE COLLEGE IS ONE LAST THING.
UM, THIS IS JUST A WINTER BREAK REMINDER, JUST A REMINDER TO OUR COMMUNITY THAT THE DISTRICT OFFICES AND SCHOOL SITES WILL BE CLOSED FOR WINTER BREAK FROM DECEMBER 20TH UNTIL STAFF RETURNS ON JANUARY 3RD.
UM, AND SO WE JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE SHARE THAT WITH EVERYONE.
UM, BUT PLEASE, IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANYTHING, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO SEND EMAILS.
[00:50:01]
EMAILS PERIODICALLY, AND I, AND, AND, UH, JUST TO HAVE OUR STAFF, OUR 6,000, PLEASE, PLEASE GET SOME REST AND ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS.THAT'S MY UPDATE, VICE PRESENT.
CAUSE THANK YOU, SUPERINTENDENT.
[G. 1. Presentation]
ITEM G ONE, A PRESENTATION FROM MR. HAFFNER ON THE REDISTRICTING PROCESS.THANK YOU, MATT AND VICE-PRESIDENT MEMBERS OF THE BOARD SUPERINTENDENT.
GOOD SEEING THIS EVENING, VERY FESTIVE THINGS EARLIER TODAY.
THE STUDENTS REALLY HAVE A GOOD TIME DOING THAT, UH, IN THE INTEREST OF BREVITY.
I KNOW YOU'VE HAD, UH, UH, SOMEBODY ADDITIONAL THINGS ON THE AGENDA.
UH, WHAT I WANTED TO PRESENT TO YOU, UH, AS WE PREPARE TO MOVE INTO THE PROCESS OF YOUR REDISTRICTING IS TO SHARE SOME DOCUMENTS WITH YOU THAT YOU CAN REVIEW BETWEEN NOW.
AND WHEN WE HAVE OUR, UH, FIRST REDISTRICTING WORKSHOP, ONE OF THEM IS A SUMMARY OF THE ADDITIONAL CRITERIA.
SOME OF YOU ALL HAVE BEEN THROUGH THIS PROCESS BEFORE YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH IT.
UH, SOME OF Y'ALL HAVE NOT, SOME OF THE PUBLIC ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH IT, SO WE WANT TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE.
UH, THE MAIN THING THAT ON THE CRITERIA ON THE FEDERAL SIDE IS THAT AT THIS POINT IN TIME, WE DO NOT HAVE SECTION FIVE PRECLEARANCE REQUIREMENTS.
BUT ONE THING THAT HAS NOT CHANGED IS THAT WE STILL HAVE TO FOLLOW A SECTION TO THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT TO MAKE SURE THAT WHATEVER PLAN IS ADOPTED BY THIS BOARD IS IN FULL COMPLIANCE WITH SECTION TWO OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT.
NOW, THE DOCUMENT IS WITH SOME OF THE STATE CRITERIA ARE SOME DISTRICTS THAT CAUSES MORE ISSUES THAN OTHERS.
IT MOSTLY DEALS THOUGH WITH PRECINCTS AND ALLOWABLE BOUNDARIES FOR YOUR, UH, PRECINCT BOUNDARIES AND DISTRICT BOUNDARIES.
UH, AND LASTLY IS THE REDISTRICTING WORKSHOP INFO SHEET.
I LIKE TO USE A VERY INFORMAL WORKSHOP SETTING.
IT'S WORKED VERY WELL FOR ME OVER THE LAST 30 YEARS, BECAUSE IT ALLOWS A FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION BETWEEN ALL THE PARTIES, INCLUDING THE PUBLIC, BECAUSE THIS IS THE PUBLIC'S PLAN.
YOU HAVE THE LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY TO ADOPT, BUT IT'S THEIR PLAN TO ELECT THE LEADERSHIP OF THIS BOARD FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS.
SO IT'S VERY IMPORTANT FOR THEM TO BE INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS.
AND THIS ALLOWS THEM TO HAVE A LOT OF INPUT SUGGESTIONS AND SEE WHAT'S TAKING PLACE AS FAR AS DISCUSSIONS.
AND, UH, IT'S KIND OF THING THAT I FIND WORKS WELL.
WE DON'T REQUIRE A QUORUM BECAUSE SOMETIMES BOARD MEMBERS CAN'T MAKE IT.
AND WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN STILL HAVE THE, UH, HAVE THE SESSION, UH, BUT IT IS ADVERTISED AS A PUBLIC HEARING, JUST LIKE ANY OTHER TIME THAT YOU MAY HAVE A QUORUM.
UH, SO THE NEXT THING WOULD BE THAT I THINK IS COMING UP LATER FOR A YEAR CONSIDERATION IS THE TENTATIVE TIMELINE.
UH, I'VE SET SOME DATES, UH, GENERALLY PICKED YOUR OFF MEETING DATES ON THURSDAYS.
I KNOW AS A BOARD MEMBER, UH, PREVIOUSLY AND OTHER BOARDS, I WORKED WITH A LOT OF TIMES, YOU KIND OF RESERVE THAT ON YOUR CASE TO THE THURSDAY OF THE WEEK TO TAKE CARE OF THINGS.
SO I DID IT ON YOUR OFF MEETING DATE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE THIRD FIRST ONE, WHICH WOULD BE THE 6TH OF JANUARY.
SO I WANTED TO GET THOSE FOR YOU.
A LOT OF THIS WE'LL TALK ABOUT IN MORE DETAIL AT OUR FIRST SESSION, BUT, UH, THIS IS GOING TO BE A PROCESS.
KEEP IN MIND, AS WE DEVELOP THROUGH ONE OR MORE PLANS, IT'S GOING TO BE A WORK IN PROGRESS UNTIL SUCH TIME.
WE GET A GENERAL CONSENSUS WITH THE BOARD AS TO WHICH PLAN THEY WANT TO MOVE FORWARD WITH.
I'M GENERALLY ANTICIPATING, AS YOU SEE ON THAT TIMELINE SOMETIME PROBABLY AROUND APRIL OR MAY, IT GIVES US A LITTLE BIT OF A FUDGE FACTOR WITH REGARDS.
OUR STATUTORY DEADLINE IS GOING TO BE IN JUNE.
SO WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE AMPLE TIME TO DISCUSS EVERYTHING AND WORK UP A PLAN.
SO THAT'S ALL I HAVE FOR YOU THIS EVENING, JUST IN INTEREST OF TIME.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, JUST LET ME KNOW.
AND YEAH, YOU SHOULD HAVE A, IT MAY BE LATER ON IN YOUR AGENDA.
I SEE THAT I'M IN TWO PLACES ON THE AGENDA.
IT'S CALLED TIMELINE FOR REDISTRICTING AND APPROVAL.
I PICKED UP SOME DATES, UH, STARTING WITH TODAY AND GOING ALL THE WAY THROUGH WHAT I ANTICIPATE TO BE A POTENTIAL ADOPTION DATE.
NOW, KEEP IN MIND, THESE ARE TENTATIVE.
YOU MAY HAVE THINGS COME UP THAT YOU WANT TO CHANGE A DATE.
I MAY END UP HAVING SOMETHING THAT I WON'T BE ABLE TO MAKE IT, CAUSE I MAY HAVE ANOTHER CLIENT WITH A FINAL ADOPTION THAT I NEED TO BE AT THEIR MEETING, BUT YET KIND OF ON THE CALENDAR I THINK WILL ALLOW US ALL TIME TO PLAN AROUND IT.
THAT'S ALL BOARD MEMBER WHERE JACKSON AND THEN BOARD MEMBER,
[00:55:01]
UM, DYSON.UH, WILL YOU HAVE THE BENCHMARK PLAN AT THE FIRST MEETING IN JANUARY? YES.
THANK YOU, BOARD MEMBER DYSON.
I AM JUST, UM, WANTING TO KNOW, I SEE YOU'VE GOT LIKE TWO DATES IN JANUARY TWO IN FEBRUARY TWO IN MARCH.
UM, BUT WHAT I'M A LITTLE BIT CONCERNED ABOUT IS THIS, THESE APRIL DATES AS BEING PRETTY FAR OUT AND PRETTY CLOSE TO, YOU KNOW, ELECTION QUALIFYING AND ALL OF THAT.
SO I WAS JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT IF THERE'S A WAY TO COME UP WITH A TIMELINE THAT WOULD, UM, BE COMPLETE BY MARCH.
I WOULD SUGGEST PERHAPS THAT MAY BE, LET'S GET A COUPLE OF THE WORKSHOPS BEHIND US AND LET'S SEE HOW THE DISCUSSIONS ARE GOING.
UH, THAT'LL PROBABLY GIVE US AN IDEA HOW MUCH PROGRESS WE MAY BE MAKING OR MAY NOT BE MAKING.
AND THEN WE CAN MAYBE TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE LAST MONTH OR TWO AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS AS NECESSARY.
I DO LIKE DOING IT AS A GROUP CAUSE YOU CAN'T MOVE ONE DISTRICT BOUNDARY WITHOUT AFFECTING THE OTHERS AROUND IT.
SO I LIKE HAVING EVERYONE AS A GROUP SO YOU CAN SEE IT, DISCUSS IT, AGREE AMONG YOURSELF WHETHER YOU WANT IT OR NOT, BUT THERE MAY BE SOME OF THESE DATES THAT WE MAY NEED TO MEET IN SMALLER GROUPS, MORE ON YOUR REGIONS TO BE ABLE TO WORK OUT ISSUES THAT ARE PERTAINED TO THAT PART OF THE PARISH, NOT NECESSARILY THE REST OF IT AND I'LL USE KEEPING EVERYONE ELSE WAITING.
SO WE'LL SEE HOW THAT FIRST ONE, MAYBE THE SECOND ONE GOES AND THEN WE KIND OF TAKE IT FROM THERE.
AND OF COURSE I'LL BE TAKING A LEAD FROM THE BOARD AS TO WHAT YOU MAY WISH TO, UH, HAVE, YOU KNOW, AS FAR AS SMALL GROUPS OR CONTINUE WITH FULL GROUPS.
OH, I, IN THESE THAT YOU HAVE PROPOSED, ARE THEY LIKE HERE OR AT THE IRC OR ARE THEY GOING AROUND IN THE COMMUNITY? THAT'S REALLY GOING TO BE UP TO WHAT THE BOARD'S PROFITS IS.
UH, YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTER HAD GREAT TECHNOLOGY FOR THAT.
IT'S REALLY GOOD IF THEY CAN GET UP AND SEE ON THE SCREEN, UH, WITH THE MAPS ARE, CAUSE SOMETIMES THEY'RE KIND OF DETAILED, SO YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO SEE THEM CLOSE.
UH, BUT I LOVE YOUR NEW BOARDROOM.
UH, YOU HAVE SOME GOOD, UH, MONITORS HERE, WHICH MAKES IT EASY AS WELL.
SO IT'S REALLY GOING TO BE A MATTER OF, OF THE BOARD'S PREFERENCE, BUT SOMETHING THAT HAS GOOD VIDEO QUALITY AND EASY TO WALK UP TO AND NOT HAVE TO LOOK AT A SCREEN UP ON THE CEILING.
SO WE'LL JUST HAVE TO TALK AMONGST OURSELVES AND GET A FEEL FOR HOW WE WANT TO DO THAT.
WE CAN TALK ABOUT THAT AT THE FIRST, AT FIRST WORKSHOP, KIND OF SEE HOW IT WORKS, SEE HOW THE, THE, THE VIDEOS WORKING AND, AND THE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION, THAT KIND OF THING.
SO W WE'LL, WE'LL FINE TUNE THIS TO MEET YOUR NEEDS AND THE DISTRICT'S NEEDS AS WE MOVE FORWARD.
BUT I WANTED TO GIVE YOU THAT AT LEAST A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF HOW I LIKE TO APPROACH US BECAUSE IT, UH, IT REALLY, UH, ENCOURAGES COMMUNICATION BETWEEN BOARD MEMBERS, MYSELF AND BOARD MEMBERS AND THE PUBLIC AMONG ALL THE PARTIES.
WE'LL REMEMBER BALLOON, THANK YOU.
AND, UH, JUST LOOKING AT THE DATES AND I GOT THE, YOU SAID YOU TRIED TO, UH, MATCH IT ON OR OFF THURSDAY.
SO I TAKE IT THAT YOU ARE SOMEWHAT FLEXIBLE WITH DATES, UM, IF NECESSARY, UH, UM, BUT, UM, IN BETWEEN THESE TENANTED DATES YOU'VE GOT, UH, IS IT, UH, WITH YOUR PROCESS, IS THERE ANYTHING GOING ON IN BETWEEN THESE WORKSHOPS? UH, AS FAR AS FROM MY STANDPOINT, THAT GENERALLY IS, UH, GENERALLY I MAY BE TAKING COMMENTS, DISCUSSIONS, THINGS THAT I'VE HEARD, MAYBE DISCUSSIONS AMONGST SOME OF Y'ALL THAT I'VE HEARD, THAT HAVEN'T NECESSARILY BEEN EXPRESSED IN PUBLIC, BUT IT'S SOMETHING I MAY WANT TO MODEL TO SEE IF A CONCERN OR A SUGGESTION MIGHT WORK THAT I CAN INCORPORATE INTO OUR NEXT DISCUSSION.
SO USUALLY I'M PRETTY BUSY IN BETWEEN JUST TRYING TO CATCH UP AND INCORPORATE THINGS FROM THE WORKSHOP.
BUT AS FAR AS ACTUAL DATES, PARTICULARLY AS WE MOVE FURTHER OUT, THESE ARE KIND OF, UH, YOU KNOW, KIND OF A SHOT IN THE DARK TRYING TO COME UP WITH SOME KIND OF FRAMEWORK, BUT IT'S GOING TO BE SOMEWHAT FLEXIBLE DEPENDING ON WHAT THE BOARD WANTS TO DO AND, UH, AND HOW EVERYTHING COMES TOGETHER.
RIGHT? WE GOT HOLIDAYS AND SOME OF THIS STUFF.
SO WE'RE TRYING TO WORK AROUND IF WE NEED TO MOVE OVER TO A, UH, LIKE ON THE SIXTH I'M PROPOSING, WE HAVE ONE PRIOR TO YOUR REGULAR MEETING ON THE SIXTH TO KIND OF KICK THINGS OFF, UH, GO OVER SOME OF THIS CRITERIA IN MORE DETAIL, TAKE A LOOK AT THE BENCHMARK PLAN.
[01:00:01]
GIVE YOU, LET ME SHARE SOME OF MY THOUGHTS AS TO WHAT I'M SEEING, AS FAR AS YOUR DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF, OF THE DISTRICT.HAVE YOU GIVEN ME SOME OF THAT FEEDBACK AND THEN WE'LL SET IT UP FOR THE 27TH, BECAUSE I'LL PROBABLY HAVE SOME MORE THINGS TO PROCESS BY THEN.
NOW THESE, THESE WORKSHOPS, ARE THEY, UH, DO YOU HAVE A CERTAIN LENGTH YOU LIKE TO USE OR, UM, ARE, OR THE TIME ALLOTTED FOR THE EACH INDIVIDUAL WORKSHOP? DO YOU 60 TO 90 MINUTES? UH, BY 90 MINUTES, A LOT OF TIMES PEOPLE ARE GETTING TIRED.
SOMETIMES I GET TIRED TO GET CRANKY.
AND, UH, SO I NORMALLY DON'T LIKE TO GO MORE THAN 90 MINUTES, BUT IF WE'RE ON A ROLL AND WE WERE REALLY MAKING SOME PROGRESS ON MAYBE SOME, UH, PLAN MODEL, THAT'S LOOKED LIKE THE NUMBERS ARE WORKING AND WE WANT TO GO LONGER AND I'M GOING TO TAKE MY CUE FROM YOU.
UH, BUT IF IT'S, IF IT'S GETTING TO THE POINT WHERE IT'S NOT PRODUCTIVE, THEN WE'LL PROBABLY GO AHEAD AND CLOSE IT OUT AND THEN REGROUP AT THE NEXT ONE.
THANK YOU, MR. HEFNER, UH, AS WE GO THROUGH THIS, BECAUSE THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THE COMMUNITY.
I HOPE WE'RE GOING ABLE TO HAVE THESE MEETINGS EITHER HERE AT THE PDC OR SOMEWHERE WE HAVE VIDEO CAPABILITY, BECAUSE I THINK THESE MEETINGS SHOULD BE BROADCAST TO THE PUBLIC, THE WORKSHOPS, AND, UH, ALSO HAVE VIDEOS AVAILABLE.
YOU KNOW, IF WE BROADCAST IT, WE HAVE VIDEOS AVAILABLE TO DO THAT.
AND IN THE SPIRIT OF MAKING SURE THINGS KEEP MOVING WELL ALONG, UH, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A LOT OF MEETINGS AND THERE'S A LOT OF MEETINGS IN BETWEEN WEEKS OF BOARD MEETINGS WHERE WE TEND TO HAVE OTHER BUSINESS SCHEDULE.
SO I WOULD HOPE WE COULD ALSO HAVE AT LEAST THE BOARD.
I THINK ONLY THE BOARD MEMBERS HAVE THE ABILITY TO PARTICIPATE BY ZOOM, SINCE IT IS A WORKSHOPS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL MEETING.
SO I DON'T KNOW GENERAL CONCEPT.
I THINK WE COULD DO THAT, BUT MAKE SURE THAT IF A BOARD MEMBER CAN ATTEND, THE BOARD MEMBER WOULD HAVE A ZOOM OPTION TO BE ABLE TO ATTEND.
AND OF COURSE EVERYTHING WOULD BE RECORDED SO EVERYONE COULD SEE EVERYTHING.
BUT, UH, I, I JUST WANT TO MAKE THIS OPEN, BUT, UH, MAKE SURE WE KEEP THE EXPEDIENCY GOING ON THE THING.
SO I DON'T WANT ONE OR TWO PEOPLE NOT BEING ABLE TO BE THERE, UH, TO HOLD US UP WHEN THEY COULD HAVE PARTICIPATED BY, BY ZOOM.
I APPRECIATE THE COMMENT ACTUALLY.
I'VE DONE SOME OF THEM BY ZOOM AND ACTUALLY IT WORKS OUT PRETTY WELL.
IT WORKS OUT BETTER THAN I THOUGHT WE DON'T FIGHT AS MUCH ON ZOOM DUDE.
THE ONLY PROBLEM IS IT'S A LITTLE HARDER THOUGH, TO HEAR A LOT OF THE DIFFERENT COMMENTS AND MAKE SENSE OF IT, BUT IT DOES HELP THOUGH.
I CAN PUT THE MAP UP ON THE SCREEN AND WE CAN ACTUALLY DISCUSS IT, MOVE IT, SEE IF IT'S WHAT THEY WANT OR NOT.
I JUST DON'T WANT US TO GET HELD UP IF, SAY TWO PEOPLE CAN'T COME AND THE REST OF US COULD, I DON'T WANT THOSE TWO PEOPLE TO FEEL LEFT OUT THAT THEY WERE BYPASSED OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT.
SO I JUST WANT TO MAKE PARTICIPATION AS EASY AS WE CAN AND MAKE THE TRANSPARENCY AS MUCH AS WE CAN SO THAT THE PUBLIC CAN SEE WHAT'S GOING ON.
AND, UH, JUST TO BE CLEAR, UM, LETTING US DISCUSS THE TIMELINE, WHICH IS A LATER AGENDA ITEM BECAUSE IT'S TANGENTIALLY GERMANE, BUT ALSO BECAUSE PERHAPS THAT MEANS ONCE WE GET TO THE TIMELINE ITEM, THEY WILL BE LESS NEED FOR QUESTIONS AND COMMENT, GENERAL COUNSEL SHABBAT.
TO ADDRESS MS. DYSON'S CONCERN.
I BELIEVE IT WAS ANOTHER BOARD MEMBER HAD A CONCERN ABOUT DATE, TIME, AND LOCATION.
AND WHEN WE ADOPT THE TIMELINE LATER IN THE MEETING, MY RECOMMENDATION WOULD BE TO ADOPT THE TIMELINES OR TEMPLATE ALLOWING FOR FLEXIBILITY AS TO DATE, TIME AND LOCATION.
AND THAT WAY WE CAN ADJUST AS NEEDED.
AND MR. GILDA ALSO LOOK INTO POLICY REQUIREMENTS AROUND IT, MEETING IN PERSON THAT MAY REQUIRE A MOTION OF THE BOARD OR, UM, SOME OTHER ACTION, BUT WE'LL TAKE CARE OF THAT.
Y'ALL HAVE A GREAT, OH, I'M SORRY.
I MEAN, I'M STILL A BOARD MEMBER THAT ACTUALLY WITH, WITH, UM, MR. , UM, SUGGESTION OF THE ZOOM AND, AND ONCE WE GET TO DOWN TO THAT ITEM AND ALL WE CAN, I LIKE THE IDEA OF, UM, EITHER HERE OR PVC OR MAYBE SOME OF EACH OR WHATEVER.
SO THAT, THAT SOUNDS REALLY GOOD.
AND NOW BOARD MEMBER WHERE JACKSON, THANK YOU.
UH, IN THE, UH, IN THE RECENT PAST, WE'VE HAD A LOT OF, OF, UH, REQUESTS FOR SOME BACKGROUND, UM, ON REDISTRICTING AND BASICALLY KNOWING WHAT THE FOUNDATION IS THAT WE'LL BE WORKING FROM AND A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORICAL, UH, VALUE AS TO, YOU KNOW, WHAT WE'VE DONE IN THE PAST, KIND OF HOW WE'VE GOTTEN TO WHERE WE ARE.
SO, YOU KNOW, I'D APPRECIATE SEEING THAT IN THE VERY EARLY ON, OKAY.
I'LL PROBABLY HAVE TO PULL SOME RECORDS IF YOU WANT TO GO PASS YOUR 2010, IF YOU WANT TO GO TO LIKE THE 2000 OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, I DON'T NEED TO PULL SOME RECORDS
[01:05:01]
BASICALLY FROM 22 TO 20 10, 20 10.I'LL BE ABLE TO SHOW YOU ACTUALLY, SOME OF YOUR CHANGES IN, BY DISTRICT FROM 2010 TO 2020, I CAN EVEN SHOW YOU PARISH WIDE OUTSIDE OF YOUR DISTRICTS, WHAT IT'S DONE AT THE BLOCK LEVEL AND THE PRECINCT LEVEL MORE OR LESS THE PLANS THAT, THAT WE'VE ADOPTED FROM, FROM THERE.
THAT'LL BE, THAT'S PART OF THE DETERMINATION, WHICH I THINK YOU'VE ALREADY TAKEN A LOOK AT, BUT NOW WE'RE GOING TO BE TALKING ABOUT THAT.
CAUSE WE NEED TO GET EVERYBODY ON THE SAME PAGE TO START WITH, TO HAVE THE SAME SOLID FOUNDATION.
SO AS WE BUILD ON THAT FOUNDATION THROUGH PLAN DISCUSSIONS, EVERYBODY CAN STAY.
CAUSE I KNOW SOME ARE JUST CONCERNED THAT WE MIGHT BE JUST TRADING PRECINCTS AND IT'S A LOT MORE TO REDISTRICTING AND THEN JUST, YOU KNOW, SWAPPING OFF PRECINCTS HERE AND THERE.
WE GOT TO TAKE A LOOK AT WHICH CHANGES YOU MAY HAVE HAD IN THE COMMUNITIES AND MAKE SURE THAT WHATEVER PLAN THAT WE COME UP WITH AS A GROUP, UH, IS REFLECTIVE WITH THE NEEDS OF THOSE COMMUNITIES, ARE THAT THEY'RE REPRESENTATIVE OF THOSE NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY.
BASED ON THE 20, 20 CENSUS IN 2010, I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR DISTRICTS ARE REFLECTIVE OF THE DEMOGRAPHICS.
I AGREE WITH YOU A HUNDRED PERCENT.
THAT'S WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT THIS PROCESS.
IT'S, IT'S A VERY OPEN AND PEOPLE CAN ASK THOSE KINDS OF QUESTIONS.
AND IF I DON'T HAVE THE INFORMATION RIGHT AWAY, I WILL HAVE IT BY THE NEXT WORKSHOP.
AND THEN, UM, UH, MR. HAFFNER, WE'VE KIND OF BEEN HAVING, AS WE'VE BEEN DEALING WITH REDISTRICT IN MOSTLY FOCUSING ON MALAPPORTIONMENT, WHICH IS AN IMPORTANT ASPECT, BUT THEN I HEARD YOU MENTIONED SECTION TWO WAS DEALS.
AND I LOOKED AT THE BAG BACKUP MATERIALS, WHICH DEALS WITH OKAY.
HAD MEETING TO CONSIDER, NOT PRIMARILY, BUT CONSERVE, UH, RACE AND MINORITY GROUPS, ET CETERA.
AND SO WHEN WE GO THROUGH OUR PROCESS, UM, MY QUESTION OR COMMENT RATHER IS THAT I'M ASSUMING WE WILL DO MORE THAN JUST TALK ABOUT MALAPPORTIONMENT AND WE'LL DEAL WITH THE OTHER ASPECTS OF REDISTRICTING YOUR, YOUR PATH TO FIX THE MALAPPORTIONMENT TAKES YOU THROUGH THAT NEIGHBORHOOD OF HOW DO YOU WANT TO FIX IT? IT'S NOT A MATTER OF JUST ASSIGNING NUMBERS.
IT'S ASSIGNING THE RIGHT NUMBERS, THE RIGHT COMMUNITY, THE RIGHT DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE.
AND SOMETIMES YOU HAVE A LOT OF CHOICES TO LOOK AT.
SOMETIMES YOU DON'T HAVE ANY BECAUSE THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY THE GEOGRAPHY AND THE NUMBERS WORK, BUT GENERALLY SPEAKING THE NUMBERS IN THE GEOGRAPHY, WE'LL BE ABLE TO KIND OF GUIDE YOU THROUGH THERE, YOUR LOCAL KNOWLEDGE, THE PUBLIC'S INPUT, LETS ME KNOW WHAT AREAS YOU CONSIDER TO BE A PART OF A PARTICULAR AREA, AS OPPOSED TO THROWING IN WITH ANOTHER AREA, WE CALL THOSE COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST.
AND THEY'RE NOT ALWAYS A GEOGRAPHIC BOUNDARY ON A MAP IT'S WHICH PEOPLE IT'S AREAS THAT PEOPLE IDENTIFY THEMSELVES WITH.
SO WE WANT TO TRY TO MAKE THAT CONSISTENT TO WHERE WE CAN, BUT WE DO HAVE SOME LIMITATIONS THAT, UH, SOMETIMES I KIND OF GET IN THE WAY, BUT IF WE HIT THOSE WE'LL KNOW ABOUT IT.
SEEING NO OTHER REQUEST TO SPEAK FROM THE BOARD.
AND Y'ALL HAVE A GREAT BLESSING CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR.
I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR FIRST MEETING.
[H. 1. Board Appointees]
REPORTS FROM ANY BOARD APPOINTEES.I WANTED TO INVITE EVERYBODY TO BREX 75TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION.
THAT'S THIS SATURDAY FROM SIX TO 8:30 PM AT INDEPENDENCE PARK.
AND THERE ARE A NUMBER OF ACTIVITIES FOR EVERYONE IN THE FAMILY.
UM, SPARKLING HOLIDAY LIGHTS, LIVE MUSIC, FREE FOOD, SNOW, UH, ZOO MOBILE FACE PAINTING, MAGICIANS AND JUGGLERS, AND A FIREWORKS FINALE.
SO COME ON OUT AND BRING THE FAMILY.
THIS IS AN UPDATE FROM THE FOUNDATION OF EBR SCHOOL SYSTEM, FINANCIAL SUPPORT VIA THE WEBSITE FROM THE COMMUNITY DONORS $19,135 WAS RAISED.
THIS MONEY HAS BEEN PUT TOWARDS PURCHASING ITEMS ON THE CHRISTMAS LIST FOR HOMELESS STUDENTS.
AS A RESULT ALL 295 STUDENTS WHO GAVE EBR AT CHRISTMAS LIST IS GOING TO RECEIVE A PRESENT.
SO I'LL ACTUALLY LIKE TO JUST GIVE THEM A ROUND OF APPLAUSE.
THAT'S A SPECIAL THANKS TO THE BATON ROUGE AREA FOUNDATION AND THEIR DONORS.
ALSO THE BATON ROUGE ALLIANCE FOR STUDENTS IN THE 2021 COHORT OF CHANGE MAKERS.
THOSE WHO ARE STILL FEELING THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO EBR STUDENT SUCCESS@WWW.FOUNDATION,
[01:10:01]
EBR.ORG.AGAIN, THAT'S WWW THAT FOUNDATION, EBR.ORG.
WELL, HAVE A CHRISTMAS THANKS TO THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF OUR COMMUNITY.
SHOUT OUT TO THE OFFICE OF COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS, ALEX, UH, CRYSTALYN DEMETRIUS AND THEIR ENTIRE TEAM FOR MAKING CHRISTMAS A LITTLE BIT MORE SPECIAL FOR SOME STUDENTS THAT ARE VERY, VERY DESERVING.
[I. Consent Agenda]
I, THE CONSENT AGENDA TO BE READ BY BOARD MEMBER LAND IS THANK YOU AGAIN, MANNA VICE PRESIDENT, BECAUSE THEN I'M SORRY.CAN CONSENT VOTE? THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE TO BE APPROVED AS PART OF THE CONSENT AGENDA.
THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE ROUTINE AND WILL NOT, AND WILL BE ENACTED IN ONE MOTION.
THERE WILL BE NO SEPARATE DISCUSSIONS OF ITEMS OR LESS BOARD MEMBERS.
SO REQUESTS IN WHICH EVENT, THE ITEM WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA AND CONSIDERED AS AN ITEM ON THE REGULAR AGENDA, 40 SEPARATE VOTE PROCEEDING.
THE LAST ITEM ON THE REGULAR AGENDA TO TEST SECURITY POLICY CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST FOR THE APPROVAL OF THE 2020 21, 20 22 EAST BEVERAGE PAIR OF SCHOOL SYSTEM, TEST SECURITY POLICY THREE COPY MACHINE RFP CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST FOR THE AUTHORIZATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT AND STAFF TO ISSUE A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS RFP, TO SEEK PROPOSALS FOR DISTRICT-WIDE COPIERS FOR EXTERNAL AGREEMENT, CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF AN AMENDMENT TO THE EXTERNAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EASTBOUND RIDGE PARISH SCHOOL BOARD AND THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE IN THE AMOUNT OF 184, I'M SORRY, $187,740 TO EXTEND THE AGREEMENT FOR ONE YEAR TO PROVIDE EXTERNS AT LIBERTY MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL IN WOODLAND HIGH SCHOOL PROFESSIONAL SERVICE CONTRACT PRE-K CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST FOR THE APPROVAL OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICE CONTRACTS BETWEEN THE EAST BEVERIDGE PAIR OF SCHOOL SYSTEM AND THE FOLLOWING, HEY, RESOURCE FOOL CON CONSULTING, LLC IN THE AMOUNT OF 75,000 TO DEVELOP A PLAN TO EXPAND BIRTHED TO 44 YEAR OLD ACCESS AND OPEN EARLY LEARNING CENTERS BASED ON NATIONAL TRENDS, GROWING DEMAND AND SPACE B LET'S SEE A LEARNING IN THE AMOUNT OF $31,120 TO PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING ON THE SCIENCE OF READING OF TEACHING, READING LANGUAGE AND WRITING FOR PRE-K TEACHERS, LITERACY COACHES, HEAD START AND CHILDCARE PROVIDERS, SIX PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTRACT FOR LITERACY CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST FOR THE APPROVAL OF A PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTRACT BETWEEN EAST BEVERAGE PAIR OF SCHOOL BOARD AND THE NEW TEACHER PROJECT TNTP AND THE AMOUNT OF $150,000 TO PROVIDE K2 LITERACY, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT, PROFESSIONAL SEVEN PROFESSIONAL SERVICES SERVICES, CONTRACT CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST FOR THE APPROVAL OF A PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTRACT BETWEEN THE EAST BEVERAGE PAIR OF SCHOOL, BOARD AND EMER AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY PREP DIGITAL, A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BRICK CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST FOR AUTHORIZING THE EAST BARRIERS, PRAYER SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT, AND THE GENERAL COUNCIL TO, TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE AND MOU WITH BRETT TO FACILITATE A JOINT ENDEAVOR RELATED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TECH OF TAX PLANNING PROJECTS, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL OF ANY PROJECT BY THE BOARD NINE ARCHITECTS ELECTION, SOUTH BATON ROUGE, PRE-K TO 12TH GRADE SCHOOL FACILITY COMPLEX CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST FOR ARCHITECTURAL SELECTION COMMITTEE OF GRACE, A BEAR CURTIS ARCHITECTS, A PAC FOR ARCHITECTURE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN CONSULTING SERVICES FOR PRE-K TO 12TH GRADE SCHOOL FACILITY COMPLEX RFQ.
THAT WAS BOARD MEMBER GO DAY BOARD MEMBER DYSON.
I JUST WANT TO REITERATE, UH, SOMETHING THAT WE DISCUSSED AT THE, UH, COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE AND, UM, JUST AGAIN, POINT OUT FOR THE VIEWING AUDIENCE AND EVERYONE ATTENDING THAT.
THE, UM, THE AGREEMENT THAT WE'RE, UM, UH, APPROVING TONIGHT FOR THE
[01:15:01]
VIRTUAL IS FOR THE VIRTUAL.DO YOU WANT ME TO PULL IT? I DON'T NEED TO PULL IT FOR A SECOND.
WHAT WAS GOING TO PULL IT ANYWAY? AND YOU KNOW, REMEMBER HOW WE MENTIONED THAT? IF, UNLESS SOMETHING IS POOLED, THEN WE DON'T DISCUSS.
OKAY, WELL THEN YES, I'LL PULL IT.
DID YOU STILL NEED TO SPEAK? BOARD MEMBERS ARE NOT.
OH, DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY OTHER ITEMS THAT YOU WANT TO PULL BESIDES ITEM SEVEN, BEING PULLED? ALL RIGHT.
SEE NO OTHER REQUEST TO PULL AN ITEM.
THEN WE MOVE FORWARD WITH VOTING.
HUH? WE DISCUSSED THE WHOLE THING.
SO YOU NEED TO ALLOW FOR BOARD DISCUSSION THEN TO THE AUDIENCE AND BACK.
NO SEEING ALL THE REQUESTS TO SPEAK FROM THE BOARD.
ANY PUBLIC COMMENT ON THE CONSENT AGENDA, NOT THE SEPARATE ITEM SEVEN, SEEING NO PUBLIC COMMENT BACK TO THE BOARD, SEEING NO OTHER REQUESTS TO SPEAK FROM THE BOARD ON THE CONSENT AGENDA.
MADAM SECRETARY, PLEASE CALL THE VOTE.
THE MOTION CARRIES PROFESSIONAL OH, THANK YOU.
[7. Professional Services Contract]
RECOMMENDED ACTION CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST FOR THE APPROVAL OF A PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTRACT BETWEEN EAST BATON ROUGE, PARISH SCHOOL BOARD AND ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY PREP.CAN I GET A MOTION? THE BOARD MEMBER, LANDIS BOARD MEMBER WHERE JACKSON BOARD MEMBER DIASEND YES.
UM, I'LL PUT THIS BECAUSE I JUST WANT TO GET SOME CLARITY FOR EVERYONE IN THE VIEWING AUDIENCE AND, AND AS WELL AS US, UM, THAT, UM, THIS IS, THIS CONTRACT IS STRICTLY FOR THE VIRTUAL ACADEMY.
WE'VE HAD A LOT OF CHALLENGES IN STAFFING, UM, ACTUALLY BOTH IN THE VIRTUAL AND IN OUR, UH, TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS.
UM, BUT THIS IS A WAY THAT WE'RE TRYING TO REMEDY THAT AND WE HAVE TO TAKE SOME ACTION STEPS TO GET RIGHT WITH OUR VIRTUAL INSTRUCTION.
AND THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO BE USED IN ANY OTHER FUNCTION EXCEPT FOR OUR VIRTUAL SCHOOL.
THIS IS WHAT WE'RE APPROVING IT FOR TONIGHT.
THANK YOU, BOARD MEMBER DIOCESE.
UM, ON THIS PARTICULAR ITEM, I'M NOT, UM, I'M NOT VOTING FOR THIS.
I, AS MY COLLEAGUE MENTIONED THAT WE DO NEED TO, UH, STRAIGHTEN UP OUR VIRTUAL SCHOOL.
I ESPECIALLY ASKED SIX THROUGH 12.
MY CONCERN IS THE ASYNCHRONOUS, THE, AND, AND I'M BALL-PARKING, BUT THE 70 TO 90% ASYNCHRONOUS INSTRUCTION FOR GRADES SIX THROUGH 12, UM, WE'VE BEEN LEARNING THROUGH THE PANDEMIC IS WE'LL DOCUMENT IT EVEN BEFORE THE PANDEMIC THAT IN-PERSON LEARNING IS BEST.
[01:20:01]
NOW WE ARE DOING THIS FOR A VIRTUAL SCHOOL.THE PROBLEM IS WE TAKEN IT TO A WHOLE NOTHER BY THE INSTRUCTION ITSELF, BEING A SYNCHRONOUS AND NOT LAUGH, EVEN THOUGH IT'S VIRTUAL.
I DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH THAT.
I DON'T SEE HOW THAT WORKS WELL FOR MOST STUDENTS.
UM, THEN ANOTHER CONCERN, UH, THAT I DO HAVE AS WELL, UH, SOMEONE BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION.
I MATTER OF FACT, I'M AFFILIATED WITH BOTH TEACHERS UNIONS, CONCERN ABOUT THIS IS OUR VIRTUAL SCHOOL, BUT WE ARE EMPLOYING AND INTEND TO EMPLOY FOR THE WHOLE K THROUGH 12 AT SOME POINT, UH, ACTUALLY WE'RE NOT EMPLOYING AT ALL.
AND SO THEN THE CONCERN IS ALL WE GOING IN A DIRECTION, AND I'M NOT SAYING THAT THIS PARTICULAR ITEM WILL CAUSE THIS, UH, BUT BEING MINDFUL OF GOING IN THE DIRECTION OF OUR, WHY CAN'T YOU SAY HIRING PRACTICE, BUT OUTSOURCING OUR HIRING PRACTICES.
WHICH AS EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THAT MEANS THE JOB BENEFITS, UH, THAT HEALTH BENEFITS, ET CETERA.
UH, AND THEN THERE WAS CONCERN MENTIONED TO ME ALONG THOSE LINES ABOUT TEACHER TENURE, POSSIBLY BEING JEOPARDIZED DUE TO THE OUTSOURCE.
AND SO FOR THOSE TWO REASONS, I'M GLAD TO SEE US, UH, APPROACH, UH, AND TRY TO CORRECT THE VIRTUAL SCHOOL ISSUES THAT WE'VE IDENTIFIED.
I JUST DON'T SEE THIS AS THE BEST WAY TO APPROACH IT.
AND ALSO, UM, I WANT TO FOLLOW UP WITH THE SUPERINTENDENT ON WHAT, WHAT WAS THIS, THE ONLY SCHOOL THAT WE LOOKED AT, UH, IN TERMS OF, UH, AN OPTION FOR, YOU KNOW, WAS THERE ANYBODY ELSE BESIDES PROXIMITY OR ASU, ET CETERA, I'M NOT GOING TO HOLD THE MEETING UP, UH, BASED ON LAST WEEK, UH, EXCUSE ME, LAST MEETING.
THIS PROBABLY IS GOING TO PASS.
AND SO I DON'T WANT TO DELAY JUST SO I CAN GET INFORMATION, BUT I'M MENTIONING TO YOU THAT I WOULD LIKE THAT INFORMATION ON HOW WE DECIDED ASU.
UM, I GUESS I JUST WANT TO EXPRESS, I ALSO HAVE CONCERNS.
MY CONCERNS ARE FOR THE STUDENTS WHO ARE IN THE VIRTUAL SCHOOL TODAY, UH, WHO ARE NOT GETTING SERVED.
AND YOU KNOW, MAYBE THIS DOESN'T ANSWER EVERY DETAIL OR DOT EVERY I, BUT YOU KNOW, WE TALK A LOT ABOUT ADULT ISSUES TO ME, THE KID ISSUES, THE IMPORTANT PART.
AND THAT'S WHERE MY CONCERN IS.
WE GOT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THAT HAVE NOT RECEIVED A GOOD EDUCATION, AND THAT IS OUR FAULT.
SO I'M OKAY TO HAVE CONCERNS, BUT IF WE'RE GOING TO HAVE CONCERNS AND BE VOTING, UH, YOU KNOW, TRYING TO, IF WE WOULD DENY THIS, WHAT TAKES US PLACE AND CONCERNS, CAN'T GET IN THE WAY OF THE KIDS LEARNING.
SO, YOU KNOW, AGAIN, MAYBE THIS ISN'T PERFECT, BUT WE NEED TO GET ON WITH IT.
WE CAN'T SIT HERE AND LET OUR KIDS SUFFER FOR ANOTHER SEMESTER AFTER I BELIEVE THEY'VE SUFFERED THIS TIME.
SO WHILE THIS MAY NOT BE PERFECT, I DON'T HAVE A BETTER PLAN TO VOTE FOR.
AND MY CONCERN IS FOR THE KIDS WHO NEED THEIR EDUCATION.
SO THAT'S WHY I'M GOING TO WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUPPORT THIS.
AND I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT EVERY BOARD MEMBER SUPPORTS THIS BECAUSE FOR RIGHT NOW WHERE WE STAND, IT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE KIDS.
NOW, DO WE WANT TO LOOK AT SOMETHING LATER? DO WE WANT TO LOOK AT OTHER THINGS AS CONTRACT IS CANCELED? WELL, WHAT WE'RE VERY EASILY AND IT DOESN'T LOCK US IN THE LONGTERM.
IT'S GOT FLEXIBLE PRICING, SO THERE'S TIMES TO DO IT, BUT WE NEED TO TAKE STEPS TO HELP OUR CHILDREN WHO NEED IT TODAY.
AND I KNOW THERE ARE ISSUES AROUND TEACHERS AND, AND JOBS AND THINGS.
WE STILL HAVE LOTS OF VACANCIES WITHIN OUR SYSTEM.
WE STILL HAVE LOTS OF, UH, PLACES THAT WE CAN HIRE PEOPLE.
UH, AGAIN, MY CONCERN COMES DOWN TO THE KIDS WHO WE'VE SERVED VERY POORLY, AND I THINK THAT NEEDS TO BE OUR FIRST CONCERN.
AND IF THERE'S A BETTER OPTION OUT THERE, I'M ALL FOR HEARING IT.
BUT IN THE ABSENCE OF A BETTER OPTION, I THINK WE NEED TO MOVE ON AND GET ON WITH THIS AND, AND GIVE IT A SHOUT.
I JUST PIGGYBACK OFF OF MY BOARD COLLEAGUE, SORRY.
IT'S THE MIC GO THERE? I THINK IT'S OKAY TO BE TRANSPARENT IN THIS SEASON OF WHERE WE ARE AND IT'S BECAUSE WE MADE A MISTAKE.
I'M WILLING TO SAY THAT I CAN'T SPEAK ON BEHALF OF THE REST OF MY BOARD MEMBERS, BUT I'M WILLING TO SAY THAT.
I DID NOT LIKE THE FIRST COMPANY.
THEY MADE PROMISES THAT THEY COULD NOT
[01:25:01]
KEEP.AND THEY TOLD HER SEVERAL TIMES THEY'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO FULFILL THAT CONTRACT.
AND THEY KNOW THAT THEY CANNOT.
AND THE ENTIRE TIME THEY CONTINUE TO TAKE CONTRACTS AROUND OUR COUNTRY SAYING THE SAME THING TO OTHER DISTRICTS, KNOWING THAT THERE WAS A NATIONAL TEACHER SHORTAGE AND THEY SIMPLY JUST COULD NOT FULFILL IT, NOT TO SAY THEY ARE A BAD COMPANY, NOT TO SPEAK TOWARDS THEIR INTEGRITY, BUT WHEN IN THIS SPACE AND WHAT WE HAVE GOING ON TODAY, THEY JUST SIMPLY COULD NOT FULFILL THE JOB, MEANING THAT THEY WERE IN BREACH OF THAT CONTRACT NOW ON TO, UH, ASU.
THIS IS HOW WE FIX THE PROBLEM.
WE DON'T GO OUT AND GET ANOTHER COMPANY THAT WE THINK AND DO IT.
WE WENT OUT AND FOUND THE BEST COMPANY IN THE COUNTRY THAT CAN PROVIDE THE SERVICES AND THAT THEY CANNOT PROVIDE THOSE SERVICES.
AS MY BOARD COLLEAGUE, UH, MR. MIKE GO, THEY SAID WE CAN SEVER THAT CONTRACT IMMEDIATELY.
AND WE CAN GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD AND FIGURE OUT HOW DO WE GET IT DONE? BUT WE CANNOT AFFORD TO DO, TO HAVE THOSE STUDENTS CONTINUE TO WAIT TO RECEIVE, UH, INSTRUCTION AND WHY THAT'S CONSTANTLY BEING FURTHER.
WE CAN NOT HAVE A ONE SIZE ALL MODEL.
IF WE HAD SOMEONE IN THAT STATE THAT COULD ABSOLUTELY EXECUTE THIS CONTRACT, WE WOULD HAVE FOUND THEM THAT WE WOULD HAVE SELECTED THEM, BUT WE SIMPLY JUST DON'T HAVE IT.
THERE IS A TEACHER SHORTAGE ALL THROUGHOUT THIS ENTIRE STATE, NOT JUST THIS, UH, NOT JUST THE REGION AND NOT JUST THE COUNTRY.
IF YOU GO TO A CENTRAL PARISH, THEY HAVE A TEACHER SHORTAGE.
YOU GO TO LIVINGSTON PARISH, THEY HAVE A TEACHER SHORTAGE.
THIS WORK IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY HARD.
AND WE UNDERSTAND THAT WE HAVE A LOT OF NUANCES THAT WE HAVE TO GET THROUGH, BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY, IF THIS WORK IS ABOUT THE KIDS AND OUR STUDENTS, AND AS WELL AS OUR TEACHERS, WE HAVE TO PUT OUR BEST FOOT FORWARD.
SO GO ON WITH THIS COMPANY AGAIN, WHO IS THE BEST IN THE NATION.
IT JUST MAKES SENSE FOR US TO MAKE THIS MOVE HAPPEN.
SO JUST FOR CLARITY, UH, WHAT TAKES PLACE? THAT WAS PART OF MY QUESTION.
THEN I SAID, I'M NOT GOING TO BELABOR THE POINT.
THIS IS GOING TO PASS WHICH FRIEND, YOU KNOW, BUT WE DON'T KNOW WHAT COULD TAKE HIS PLACE POTENTIALLY BECAUSE WE DIDN'T LOOK AT ANYBODY ELSE.
DO WE LOOK AT ANYBODY ELSE? HOW DO WE DETERMINE THIS WAS THE BEST I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE INFORMATION IN THE ANALYSIS OF, IF WE DID LOOK AT SOMEBODY ELSE, THEN YOU KNOW, HOW DID WE COME TO A PLACE OF, ALRIGHT, AMONGST THESE BUCKET OF FOLKS, WE WENT WITH ASU, BAM, PERHAPS WE DID.
I'M WAITING FOR THE INFORMATION SUPERINTENDENT.
MY OTHER THING IS REASON WHY THAT IS SO IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT IS ABOUT THE STUDENTS, ALL A L L ALL SIXTH THROUGH 12TH GRADE, STUDENTS WILL PRIMARILY BE ON ASYNCHRONOUS INSTRUCTION, WHICH IS A RECORDED LESSON, NOT A LIVE ONLINE LESSON.
THAT WAS PART OF THEIR PRESENTATION.
AND THEY TALKED ABOUT IT NOW FOR SOME CHILDREN, IT'S GOING TO WORK JUST FINE, AMAZINGLY, RIGHT.
ESPECIALLY THOSE KIDS WHOSE PARENTS MAY ALREADY BE LIKE I'M HOMESCHOOLING.
AND SO THIS IS EASIER FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE TO THINK THROUGH THE CURRICULUM, YADA, YADA, JUST, OKAY.
GET THE CHILD TO CLICK ON SUCH AND SUCH.
BUT FOR SOME KIDS WE ALREADY KNOW FOR A LOT OF KIDS, THAT IS A VALUE THAT'S NOT HELPFUL TO THEM.
AND SO THAT'S MY PRIMARY CONCERN.
I MENTIONED THE EMPLOYMENT CONCERN, BUT MY PRIMARY CONCERN, UH, FOR WHY I'M NOT VOTING FOR THIS IS BECAUSE GRADES SIX THROUGH 12, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE PRIMARILY ASYNCHRONOUS INSTRUCTION.
SO SEEING NO OTHER COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD, ANY PUBLIC COMMENT OKAY.
AND FOR CLARITY, THIS IS, CAUSE IT WAS A LOT OF CONFUSION IN THE ROOM.
IT'S NOT, THIS IS NOT ON DUAL ENROLLMENT, BRIGHT FUTURES, ET CETERA.
IT'S ABOUT, UM, I'M CLEAR ON THAT CLEAR ON THAT.
EVERYONE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD, SUPERINTENDENT NARCISSIST, UM, AS A DISTRICT AND A COMMUNITY, YOU KNOW, WE'VE TALKED A LOT ABOUT HOW OUR VIRTUAL SCHOOLS ARE.
SHORT-STAFFED LIKE WE ARE RIGHT NOW AND STUDENTS HAVE BEEN LEFT OUT QUALIFIED TEACHERS FAR TOO OFTEN TO CONTRACT WITH ASU AS WE'RE DISCUSSING, UH, WE'LL ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM BY PUTTING QUALIFIED INSTRUCTORS IN FRONT OF OUR VIRTUAL STUDENTS, SOMETHING THAT WE OWED TO THEM.
AND EVERY STUDENT IN EBR, THE CONTRACT WILL EXPAND OPTIONS FOR VIRTUAL STUDENTS WHILE TAKING NOTHING AWAY, NOTHING AWAY FROM BRICK AND MORTAR SCHOOLS, SOMETHING THAT NO ONE SHOULD BE AGAINST.
NOW, OF COURSE WE ASK WITH THE UNITED FAITH
[01:30:01]
LEADERS THAT YOU SUPPORT THIS.AND JUST TO, UH, JUST TO SPEAK TO SYNCHRONOUS VERSUS ASYNCHRONOUS.
I THINK THAT A LOT OF OUR CHILDREN LIVE EVERY ASPECT OF THEIR LIVES, ASYNCHRONOUS, LINDLEY.
THEY KNOW HOW TO PICK UP THEIR TABLETS AND THEIR NOTEBOOKS AND GO DO WHAT THEY NEED TO DO.
THERE ARE SOME THAT WILL BENEFIT FROM THAT LIVE ENVIRONMENT WHERE EVERYONE'S THERE IN THE SAME SPACE, THE SYNCHRONOUS ENVIRONMENT, BUT A LOT OF THEM WILL ACTUALLY FEEL MORE EMPOWERED BY BEING ABLE TO DO THEIR EDUCATION THE WAY THEY DO THEIR EDUCATION BECAUSE PEOPLE LEARN DIFFERENT WAYS.
AND THERE WAS A LOT OF CREATIVITY THAT GOES ALONG WITH THAT.
AND I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT A CHILD WOULD REALLY DO BETTER WITH BEING ABLE TO GO AT THEIR OWN PACE AND NOT BE UNDER THE, YEAH, NOT BE UNDER DEPRESSION.
THE RESTRAINTS OF BEING IN A SYNCHRONOUS SITUATION.
YOU KNOW, WE SEE IT HAPPEN ALL THE TIME.
A LOT OF TIMES DURING VIRTUAL, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE TIRED IN THE MORNING.
THEY DON'T, THEY DON'T FEEL LIKE BEING WITH THE PROGRAM.
IF THEY WERE ABLE TO DO THINGS ON THEIR OWN PACE AND AT THEIR OWN SPEED, THEY MAY ACTUALLY DO BETTER.
I MEAN, WOULDN'T IT BE WORTH THE TRY.
UM, VICE-PRESIDENT COLLINS BOARD MEMBERS, DOCTOR NURSES.
UM, SO Y'ALL KNOW I HAVE FOUR KIDS IN THE EBR SCHOOLS.
TWO ARE IN THE VIRTUAL SCHOOL RIGHT NOW IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
UM, ONE'S IN SECOND AND ONE IS IN FOURTH GRADE.
UM, AND OUR KIDS NEED STABILITY RIGHT NOW.
IF I'M CHOOSING THIS PROGRAM FOR MY KIDS, I WANT TO KNOW THAT WE'LL HAVE THE SAME CONSISTENCY WITH OUR TEACHERS NEXT YEAR.
MY SECOND GRADER IS LOOKING FORWARD TO HAVING THE SAME TEACHERS THAT HIS FOURTH GRADE HAS RIGHT NOW ON THE SUBJECT OF TEACHERS.
THE TEACHERS WE HAVE NOW ARE LOUISIANA CERTIFIED AND THEY'VE HAD THE EXTENSIVE BACKGROUND CHECKS REQUIRED BY OUR SYSTEM.
AND FOR GOOD REASON, I THINK WE'VE HAD SOME ISSUES WITH BACKGROUND CHECKS.
UM, NOT ONLY THAT, BUT THEY KNOW THE DAILY EXPERIENCES OF OUR KIDS HERE IN BATON ROUGE.
THIS PAST SEMESTER, OUR TEACHERS WERE HERE THROUGH US, THROUGH THE HURRICANES AND THE BAD WEATHER, NOT JUST THE HURRICANES, THE REGULAR DAY LUGES THAT WE HAVE NOW, WHERE WE HAVE TO CANCEL SCHOOL EARLY, OR WE HAVE TO CHANGE THINGS AROUND.
WE HAVE A LOCAL LOCAL CONNECTIVITY DURING THE SCHOOL DAY, THE TEACHERS WOULD TAILOR THEIR LESSONS TO OUR LOCAL ISSUES.
MY FOURTH GRADER WAS LITERALLY READING HISTORICAL FICTION ABOUT HURRICANE KATRINA FROM A CHILD'S PERSPECTIVE WHEN HURRICANE IDA HIT THIS YEAR, I DON'T WANT TO LOSE THAT PERSPECTIVE TO AN ARIZONA COMPANY.
THIRD, I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A DISRUPTION WITH THE LIMITED IN-PERSON CONTACT THAT WE'VE HAD WITH OUR ADMINS AND TEACHERS.
IT'S NOT MUCH, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE LOCAL ADMIN AND STAFF THAT WE CAN CONNECT WITH WHEN WE HAVE ISSUES.
UM, I SHARED AN EXAMPLE ABOUT, UM, AN ISSUE THAT WE HAD WITH A BROKEN CHROMEBOOK LAST TIME.
YOU KNOW, I DON'T WANT TO LOSE THAT.
WE HAVE THAT RIGHT NOW, AT LEAST WITH THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WE HAVE IT, UM, ON A BROADER LEVEL, I DON'T WANT MY TAX DOLLARS PAYING FOR A PRIVATE COMPANY TO COMPLETELY RUN MY KID'S SCHOOL PERIOD.
WE'RE HERE FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION, NOT A PRIVATE COMPANY.
WE ALREADY PAY ENOUGH TO PRIVATE COMPANIES FOR OUTSOURCING OUR CURRICULA.
OUR ONLINE LEARNING PROGRAMS KEEP AT LEAST THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL THAT IS WORKING WITH AN EDR.
SO MY BOTTOM LINE, THE K THROUGH FIVE VIRTUAL ELEMENTARY, BECAUSE WORKING FOR A LOT OF KIDS Y'ALL ARE PROPOSING TO REPLACE A PROGRAM THAT IS PROVIDING STABILITY TO A LOT OF KIDS.
I SEE THEM EVERY DAY IN MY KIDS' CLASSES, THE K TO FIVE SCHOOL DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME ISSUES AS THE SIX TO 12 GRADES.
AND IT DOESN'T NEED THE SAME KIND OF INTERVENTION CHANGE RIGHT NOW.
MR. GOODY, YOU MENTIONED BEING WORRIED ABOUT THE KIDS WHO HAVEN'T HAD INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOL, AND I ABSOLUTELY ABSOLUTELY AGREE WITH YOU.
THAT NEEDS INTERVENTION RIGHT NOW.
SO I URGE YOU TO PLEASE LIMIT THIS CONTRACT TO SIX TO 12 GRADES RIGHT NOW, THE CONTRACT SAYS THAT YOU'RE GOING TO EXPAND IT TO K TO FIVE NEXT YEAR.
PLEASE KEEP K TO FIVE, EVEN USE IT AS A BLUEPRINT FOR NEXT YEAR.
I'M VICE PRESIDENT COLLINS AND BOARD MEMBERS.
I HAVE TWO CHILDREN IN EAST BATON ROUGE, PEER SCHOOLS.
UM, TWO POINTS THAT I WANTED TO MAKE ON THIS PARTICULAR ITEM ONE, UM, UM, THE ADVERTISEMENT ON THE ABR WEB PAGE THAT INDICATED THAT
[01:35:01]
THIS WAS A, A GO, IT WAS JUST A BAD LOOK.WE NEED TO WAIT AND SAY THAT TILL THINGS ARE APPROVED BY THE BOARD BEFORE WE PRESENT THAT TO THE PUBLIC AS A, AS A, AS A DONE DEAL, UM, IF I WERE A BOARD MEMBER, I WOULD, I WOULD BE OFFENDED BY THAT.
UM, AND THEN THE SECOND THING THAT I WANTED TO SAY WAS THAT IT WOULD MAKE ME FEEL A LOT MORE COMFORTABLE ABOUT THIS, UH, CONTRACT, IF LANGUAGE IN IT LIMITED IT TO THIS SCHOOL YEAR AND TO THE HIGH SCHOOL.
UM, WE CAN, WE CAN DO THINGS IN HOUSE.
WE'RE A GROUP OF VERY CAPABLE PEOPLE.
WE DON'T NEED TO OUTSOURCE IT TO AN OUT-OF-STATE, UH, PRIVATE COMPANY.
NARCY EVERYBODY, UH, ON-SHELF BRADFORD.
UM, I DEFINITELY FEEL THAT, UH, THE VIRTUAL ACADEMY DID NOT HAVE TO GO THIS WAY THAT WE DIDN'T HAVE TO END UP AT THIS POINT.
UM, THE VIRTUAL ACADEMY HAS BEEN A BIG DISCUSSION IN MY FAMILY, ALMOST EVERYBODY'S IN BATON ROUGE, SO IT'S COUSINS, IT'S SIBLINGS.
MY MOM WAS HERE EARLIER, MY TWIN SISTER HERE EARLIER.
AND SO THIS HAS REAL WORLD CONSEQUENCES.
I KNOW THAT FOR THE 2021 GRADUATES IN MY FAMILY, THE VIRTUAL ACADEMY DID NOT SERVE THEM WELL, BUT I DON'T THINK AN OUTSIDE COMPANY WILL DO THAT EITHER THE BEST SCENARIO, EVEN THOUGH WE KNOW VIRTUAL DOES NOT WORK FOR KIDS, GENERALLY, THE BEST SCENARIO IS TEACHERS FROM THEIR ENVIRONMENT, FROM THEIR CITY THAT ARE CERTIFIED AND THAT CAN CREATE SOME SORT OF ENVIRONMENT THAT TRIES TO REPLICATE IN PERSON.
AND TO A POINT EARLIER AROUND HOW GREAT VIRTUAL AND BEING DISTRACTED IS, WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY OF SO MUCH BLUE LIGHT AND STIMULI AND COMPUTERS.
THEN NONE OF US ARE EVER PRESENT, AND THAT'S NOT A PRACTICE WE WANT TO PUT ON TO OUR CHILDREN EITHER.
SO THAT'S NOT A MODEL I WOULD RECOMMEND REPLICATING.
I ALSO HAVE TO QUESTION WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL OF THE FEDERAL FUNDING, WHETHER IT'S ERP OR CARES ACT THAT COULD HAVE BEEN USED TO GO TOWARDS TEACHERS RAISES AND DOUBLING DOWN ON RECRUITMENT AND CENTERING CURRICULA AND WHAT TEACHERS NEEDED, BECAUSE THAT'S JUST AS IMPORTANT FOR THE CHILD'S EXPERIENCE.
WE SQUANDERED THE ENTIRE PANDEMIC.
THAT'S WHAT THIS VIRTUAL ACADEMY CONTRACT FEELS LIKE.
THAT THERE WERE SO MANY BEST PRACTICES AND SO MANY BLOGS AND SO MANY NEWSPAPER ARTICLES THAT TALKED ABOUT HOW TO TEACH KIDS AND HOW TO DO SCHOOL RIGHTS.
AND THE PANDEMIC WAS THAT OPPORTUNITY.
AND WE THREW IT OUT THE WINDOW.
WE HAVE FEDERAL SECRETARY OF ED FOLKS HERE TALKING ABOUT ALL THESE DIFFERENT PATHS, BUT WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE BREAD AND BUTTER OF EDUCATION.
AND THE VIRTUAL ACADEMY IS NOT IN THIS CONTRACT IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THAT.
KISSELL UM, I AGREE THAT WE HAVE TO PUT AN IMMEDIATE FIX ON THE VIRTUAL ACADEMY AND THAT ASU IS PROBABLY OUR BEST BET TO DO THAT.
UM, FOR ONCE I WAS GLAD YOU WERE MEETING RAN LATE EARLIER, UM, BECAUSE I ARRIVED WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FIVE MINUTES EARLY AND WAS ACTUALLY 30 MINUTES LATE, OR, UM, AND I MET A TEACHER FROM ASU WHO HERE, AND I WAS ABLE TO ASK HIM SOME OF THE QUESTIONS THAT I HAVE AND TALK TO HIM ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE TEACHING IN THE SYSTEM.
AND I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER FOR HAVING MET HIM.
UM, BUT WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING FOR THOSE PARENTS WHO HAVE KIDS IN THE SCHOOL WHO COULD NOT BE HERE TO HAVE RANDOMLY BUMP INTO A TEACHER.
UM, SEVERAL QUESTIONS WERE ASKED OF THE REP AT THE LAST MEETING, SHE WAS GOING TO GET YOU UP RESEARCH, FOLLOW UP DATA, FOLLOW UP NUMBERS ON HOW MANY TEACHERS THEY ACTUALLY HAVE TO START.
I JUST WANT TO KNOW, AND I KNOW I CAN'T ASK QUESTIONS IF THEY GOT BACK TO YOU.
AND IF YOU CAN MAKE THAT CLEAR TO THE PARENTS WHO ARE ACTUALLY IN THE SYSTEM, MY KIDS ARE BACK IN PERSON.
SO I HAVE LESS OF A STAKE IN THIS RIGHT NOW.
UM, I ALSO ASK THAT WE WORK AS MUCH AS WE CAN TO NOT PAY PROXIMITY FOR THE FIRST NINE WEEKS THAT KIDS DID NOT HAVE INSTRUCTION THAT IS JUST LOST MONEY.
UM, AND WE SHOULD NOT BE PAYING THEM.
MY NAME'S ALAN WALKER, UH, GREATEST TO THE BOARD AND SUPERINTENDENT BEFORE TOO LONG.
IT SHOWS THAT EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH HAS NOT, UH, SERVE OUR STUDENTS EQUALLY OR EQUITABLY.
AND I DO FEEL LIKE THE ASA, UH, YOU CONTRACT WOULD BE A GOOD OPPORTUNITY.
AND AS THEY STATED BEFORE, IF NOT, WE CAN LOOK AT CHANGING THAT, BUT I DO THINK IT'S A GOOD OPPORTUNITY.
MME V SUPERINTENDENT SCHOOL BOARD, DR.
TONY JONES, FOUNDER OF UNITING, FAITH LEADERS.
[01:40:04]
IF YOUR CHILDREN, ANY, ANYBODY THAT HAS A CHILD, BECAUSE EVERYBODY'S BEEN SPEAKING NOT ABOUT THE CHILDREN, BUT YOU ARE TOO, BUT IF YOUR CHILD HAD CANCER, GOD FORBID, AND THERE WAS NO DOCTOR IN EBR, YOU KNOW, THERE WERE ADOPTERS HERE.WOULD YOU GO OUT OF STATE TO SAVE THEIR CHILD? I GREW UP WITH, UH, MR. MIKE, YOU KNOW, IT'S ABOUT UPGRADING.
IT'S ABOUT, UH, OUR KIDS, BUT LET'S JUST BE REAL.
THIS IS ABOUT THE KIDS THAT ARE SUFFERING.
OUR, MY PIGMENTATION IT'S BEEN HAPPENING FOR YEARS.
SO AS A SCHOOL SYSTEM, WE'RE DOING OKAY, BUT WE'LL VENTILATORS AND WE NEED AN OPTION.
IF YOUR CHILD WAS DYING, LIKE THE KIDS THAT ARE DYING IN OUR COMMUNITIES OF BLACK COMMUNITIES, BLACK AND BROWN COMMUNITIES, IT WOULD BE AN EASY FIT GO WHEREVER YOU CAN TO GET THE SURGEON THAT CAN SAVE THEIR LIVES.
I'M ASKING YOU TO BE HUMAN BEINGS, THE HUMAN RACE, NOT THE WHITE RACE, NOT THE BLACK RACE, NOT THE HISPANIC, NOT THE ASIAN, THE HUMAN RACES CONSIDER ALL KIDS AND NOT JUST YOURS.
HOW ARE Y'ALL I'M MARIA HARMON, UH, CONSTITUENT IN DISTRICT SIX ALSO CO-DIRECTOR OF STEP-UP LOUISIANA, WHERE WE ENGAGE WITH PARENTS AND DO PARENT ORGANIZING AND BATON ROUGE.
AND I DO HAVE A CONCERN AND MANY OTHER PARENTS DO ABOUT THE ASYNCHRONOUS DYNAMIC, AND THAT WOULD BE UTILIZED WITH, UM, THE ASU CONTRACT.
UM, I KNOW THAT I AM GOING TO ASK THIS QUESTION, BUT I'M HOPING ONE OF OUR SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS WILL ASK FOR MY, MYSELF AND WHO I REPRESENT, UH, PARENTS IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT.
BUT IS THERE ANY ATTENTION THAT ASU WILL HAVE WITH DOING A NEEDS ASSESSMENT SO THEY CAN GET A FULL-FLEDGED UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT PARENTS EXPECTATIONS ARE? SO WE CAN MEN, WHATEVER DISCONNECTS, UM, OR WORK OUT BEST TO EVADE FROM DISAPPOINTMENT, WITH ALREADY BEING PROACTIVE AND ALSO ENGAGING WITH TEACHERS TO SEE WHAT THEIR NEEDS ARE.
I REALLY FEEL LIKE THE NEEDS ASSESSMENT IS LIKE A KEY PRIORITY WITH IMPLEMENTING THIS PROGRAM.
AND ALSO WHAT INTERVENTIONS ARE IN PLACE FOR STUDENTS WHO LET'S SAY THEY Y'ALL CONTINUE ON WITH THIS CONTRACT.
AND WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS ASYNCHRONIZED, UH, STRUCTURE OF EDUCATED.
WE HAVE CHILDREN THAT STILL FALL BETWEEN THE GAPS.
WE HAVE CHILDREN WHO STILL NEED DEEPER INTERVENTION.
WHAT ARE WE DOING TO MAKE SURE THAT THESE TEACHERS ARE FULLY PRESENT AS POSSIBLE AND AS HANDS-ON AS POSSIBLE.
SO THAT ACTUALLY WOMEN ARE GETTING ALL OF THE SUPPORTS THEY NEED SO THEY CAN PERFORM AT THEIR BEST, BECAUSE WE KNOW THIS SCHOOL DISTRICT WILL BENEFIT IF THEY PERFORM AT THEIR BEST.
I GOT THE ONE THAT SEES THE BOARD.
UM, ONE, I WANT TO SAY, UH, I APPLAUD WHAT YOU'RE DOING, DR.
UH, UM, MY NAME IS ERIC BROWN.
CHILDREN BEEN ORGANIZED IN THERE FOR THE PAST, ALMOST SEVEN YEARS NOW, FIGHTING FOR MY COMMUNITY, FIGHTING FOR BATON ROUGE AND THE, NOT JUST SO STRONG.
SO WHEN THEY BE LIKE, OH, BEDROOM, THAT'S MY SCHOOL LIVING IN THE SCHOOL.
BELL LAB IS MY SCHOOL IS MY SCHOOL.
AND I TAKE PRIDE IN IT BECAUSE SEE, ONCE I LEAVE BATON ROUGE, I MEAN, IT'S, THAT'S THE TONGUE IT'S IT'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT, BEN IS NOT REALLY DOING BAD.
LIKE EVERYBODY TRIED TO MAKE THE THING, BECAUSE GUESS WHAT? THEY TRIED TO DO THE SAME STUFF THAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO.
AND THEN I HEAR SOME PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT, OH, WHAT ARE THESE DUAL LIKE DUAL ROOM TEACHER? ARE THEY ALL CERTIFIED OR ARE THEY GOING TO BE THIS? OR THEY'RE GOING TO BE THAT? WELL, GUESS WHAT? EBR SCHOOL SYSTEM RIGHT NOW HAVE A LOT OF LONGTIME SUBS AND PARAPROFESSIONALS TEACHING CLASS.
NOW I DON'T HEAR NO UPROAR ABOUT THIS.
[01:45:01]
NOBODY NOT RUNNING HERE.CO-CHAIR CAN YOU KEEP THE DRY? I TELL THE CONTRACTOR.
OKAY, WELL, PLEASE APPROVE THIS.
LET'S LET'S STOP BEATING THE BUSH.
YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING? WE GOT PHONES AND STUFF TO WORRY ABOUT.
SPILLING EBR SO MUCH MORE IN THE ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY.
UM, MY NAME IS TANYA AND I AM, AND I HAVE TWO CHILDREN IN EAST BATON ROUGE, PARISH SCHOOLS.
AND I'VE BEEN FOLLOWING BOARD MATTERS FOR A LONG TIME.
AND JUST SORT OF A POINT OF INFORMATION ON THIS ITEM.
UH, I OFTEN HEAR THAT SORT OF FALSE DICHOTOMY OF CHILDREN VERSUS THE ADULTS.
AND I JUST THINK IT'S IMPORTANT FOR US TO REITERATE THAT, UM, MAINTAINING THE PREF TEACHING AS A PROFESSION IS IMPORTANT, THAT THAT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF CHILDREN.
AND IN ORDER FOR TEACHING TO REMAIN, UM, A GOOD PROFESSION, WE DO NEED TO PROTECT THAT THEY ARE TREATED WELL AND THAT THEY HAVE, UM, NOT ONLY A GOOD LIVING WAGE, THEY'RE PROPERLY COMPENSATED THAT THEY'RE CERTIFIED THAT THEY HAVE ACCESS TO A SECURE RETIREMENT.
ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE WHEN OUR TEACHERS ARE TREATED WELL, THAT MEANS OUR KIDS ARE GOING TO BE TREATED WELL.
AND SO I JUST WANT TO PUSH BACK AGAINST THAT SORT OF FALSE DICHOTOMY OF OVER, ONLY WORRIED ABOUT THE ADULTS.
THAT'S NOT THE CASE WHEN WE ARE ALSO ADVOCATING FOR TEACHERS, WE ARE CERTAINLY MAKING SURE THAT OUR CHILDREN ARE GOING TO BE PROVIDED WITH THE HIGHEST QUALITY INSTRUCTION.
I ALSO, I UNDERSTAND IF THERE'S A LIMITED, UM, ACCESS TO TEACHERS IN EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH RIGHT NOW, BUT THERE ARE A TRUE COSTS TO OUTSOURCING, PARTICULARLY WHEN YOU OUTSOURCE OUT OF STATE, BECAUSE THAT MEANS THAT THAT THOSE DOLLARS ARE NOT ALSO BEING INVESTED IN OUR OWN COMMUNITY.
IT IS, UM, A MEANS OF DIVESTING COMMUNITIES OF THOSE RESOURCES AND THOSE DOLLARS.
AND IT IS VERY FRUSTRATING THAT, YES, MY SKIN COLOR IS WHITE, BUT I LIVE IN A MAJORITY AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY.
AND I CAN SEE THE WAYS IN WHICH MAJORITY AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITIES ARE TIME AND TIME AGAIN, TARGETED FOR THIS FORM OF DISINVESTMENT.
AND SO IF THERE WERE NO DOCTORS IN THIS PARISH AND GOD FORBID, ANY CHILD CONTRACTED CANCER AND NEEDED CARE, WOULD WE GO OUT OF STATE? MAYBE? YES, OF COURSE, BUT WE WOULD ALSO MAKE SURE THAT WE DEVELOP THE INFRASTRUCTURE SO THAT CHILD COULD STAY IN STATE AND GET THE CARE HE NEEDED AS WELL AS FUTURE CHILDREN TO GET THAT.
SO WE DO NEED TO INVEST IN THE INFRASTRUCTURE IN THIS COMMUNITY AND MAKE SURE THAT THOSE, THAT WHOLE SYSTEM REMAINS VIBRANT FOR US.
UM, AND WHEN I SAY US, I MEAN, ALL OF US, I THINK I'M ABOUT AT A TIME, SO I'LL STOP THERE, BUT I JUST TIME AND TIME AGAIN, CAN WE PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT ADVOCATING FOR THE GOOD OF THE WHOLE, BUT ALSO OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY HAS AN IMPACT, A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE WHOLE SYSTEM.
I'M VICE PRESIDENT COLLINS, THE BOARD DR.
MY NAME IS NIKKI DANGERFIELD AND I HAVE FOUR CHILDREN THAT ARE ALUMNI OF EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM.
UM, AND YOU KNOW, HAVING, UH, UH, ARIZONA STATE, YOU KNOW, TO DO OUR VIRTUAL SCHOOL, THEY'RE NUMBER ONE IN THE NATION.
AND AT DOING THIS WORK, I'M FROM FLORIDA.
I WAS IN FLORIDA WHEN THEY WERE DOING THE WORK THERE.
AND SO I KNOW THE WORK THAT THEY'VE DONE FIRST HAND.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, RIGHT NOW WE HAVE OUR KIDS IN OUR VIRTUAL SCHOOL.
YOU KNOW, THIS HAPPENED ALL AT ONCE WITH THE PANDEMIC AND WE HAD THE WHOLE NATION HAD TO GO TO VIRTUAL AND THE WHOLE NATION AS A WHOLE HAS NOT DONE WELL.
AND SO FOR US TO EMPLOY SOMEONE THAT IS NUMBER ONE IN THE NATION TO DO THIS AS WELL AS THE WORLD, I THINK YOU ALL SHOULD REALLY CONSIDER PASSING THIS AND HIRING THEM TO DO THE WORK THAT THEY ARE THE EXPERTS AT DOING.
[01:50:01]
BOARD MEMBER.UH, I JUST WANT, I DID GET SOME INFORMATION BACK, UH, FROM ASU.
SO I KNOW ONE OF THE QUESTIONS THAT HAS COME UP IS AROUND BACKGROUND CHECKS.
I JUST WANT TO READ THIS, UH, TO THE GROUP.
AS FAR AS OUR BACKGROUND CHECK PROCESS, IT IS AS FOLLOWS.
WE USE A COMPANY CALLED INTELLICORP TO PULL BACKGROUND CHECKS ON CANDIDATES AND THESE AREAS, SOCIAL SECURITY VALIDATION, VALIDATED CRIMINAL, SUPER SEARCH, INCLUDING A NATIONWIDE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY CRIMINAL BACKGROUND SEARCH FOR EACH ADDRESS WHERE THE CANDIDATE HAS LIVED.
TWO PROFESSIONAL REFERENCE CHECKS AND EMPLOYMENT VERIFICATION AND GOVERNMENT SANCTIONS RECORDS ON PERSONS ASSOCIATED WITH FRAUD, TERRORISM, DRUG, TRAFFICKING, WEAPONS, OR WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.
SO, YOU KNOW, THEY USE A REPUTABLE COMPANY.
INTELLICORP IS ONE OF THE, UH, THE BIG COMPANIES IN THE BACKGROUND CHECK BUSINESS.
SO BACKGROUND CHECKS ARE BEING DONE, UH, ON THIS COMPANY.
I DON'T EVEN, I DON'T KNOW HOW THAT COMPARES TO THE BACKGROUND CHECKS.
WE DO IT MAYBE MORE, MAYBE LESS.
I, I DON'T KNOW, BUT THEY ARE DOING EXTENSIVE BACKGROUND CHECKS, UH, ON THESE PEOPLE.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, I I'M ALL FOR KEEPING MONEY LOCALLY AS WE GO THROUGH THIS.
AND IF LSU OR SOUTHERN OR SOUTH EASTERN OR ANYBODY HAD A PROGRAM READY TO GO, I WOULD BE THE FIRST ONE TO VOTE FOR HIM.
I GOT NO PROBLEM IN DOING THAT.
THE PROBLEM IS WE CAN'T GO THROUGH A STARTUP CURVE WITH THE STUDENTS WHO WE ALREADY HAVEN'T SERVED.
SO I HOPE THAT LSU OR SOUTHERN OR SOMEBODY, AND THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS GETS ONE GOING AND REALLY WORKING, BUT WE CAN'T WAIT TO DO THAT.
AND THE OTHER LOCAL SCHOOL HERE, IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, A UNIVERSITY VIEW, I'M TRYING TO REMEMBER THEIR GRADING SCALE CAUSE THEY UP FOR BESA REVIEW.
I THINK THEY WERE A DE-RATED, UH, IN THAT.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S THE OTHER LOCAL OPTION THAT WE HAVE, EVEN THOUGH THEY AREN'T AN OPTION FOR US BECAUSE THEY'RE FULLY LOADED WITH THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS THAT THEY CAN HANDLE.
SO IT'S NOT FOR A LACK OF NOT WANTING TO KEEP THIS IN-HOUSE IT'S HOW DO WE GIVE OUR KIDS BETTER QUALITY WHERE WE ARE TODAY? I WISH WE WERE SOMEWHERE DIFFERENT.
I WISH WE COULD'VE DONE BETTER GOING IN THERE.
LIKE MR. LANDIS SAID WE OWN IT.
GETTING THIS STARTED UP A EXPLANATION, NOT AN EXCUSE, BUT AN EXPLANATION IS WE WENT FROM SEVERAL HUNDRED TO OVER A THOUSAND IN A VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME AS TO A VIRUS HIT HARDER.
AND WE HAD THE FOURTH WAVE THAT'S THAT'S A FACT, BUT WE GOT TO OWN THE FACT THAT WE DIDN'T, WE COULDN'T RESPOND TO IT IN THE WAY WE HOPED TO RESPOND.
SO THIS IS, UH, AN ATTEMPT TO ADDRESS THAT.
IS IT WHERE I HOPE WE ARE FIVE YEARS FROM NOW? NO, IT'S NOT.
BUT FOR THE KIDS WHO ARE IN THERE TODAY, THIS IS, THIS IS THE BEST OPTION THAT I KNOW OF.
AND IT IS A TOP RATED DIGITAL SCHOOL, UH, COMING INTO HERE.
SO I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT, WHAT OTHER OPTIONS I COULD VOTE FOR TO MAKE IT BETTER FROM WHERE I SIT TODAY.
AND THE ONLY VOTE I CAN CAST IS THE VOTE FROM WHERE I SIT TODAY.
BOARD MEMBER BERNARD AS SUPERINTENDENT NORTH SEAS.
IS THERE, IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH THE K-POP AT ALL OR IS IT JUST WITH A SIX THROUGH 12? THEIR CONTRACT RIGHT NOW IS WITH, UH, IT'S FOR SIX 12 FOR THEM TO TAKE OVER THE THAT'S WHAT THIS CONTRACT IS FOR.
SO THIS ISN'T EVEN FOR ANY OF THE K-12 NEXT YEAR, NEXT YEAR.
UM, DOES THIS, THE CONTRACT THAT WE WILL USE FOR THEM? I THINK THIS IS A MR. SHAMBLIN QUESTION, SPECIFY THAT THIS IS FOR VIRTUAL STUDENTS.
THIS PROGRAM WILL ONLY BE USED FOR VIRTUAL STUDENTS AND NOT FOR BRICK AND MORTAR STUDENTS, OR IS THAT SOME LANGUAGE THAT WE CAN INCLUDE? I MEAN, I THINK IF WE COULD INCLUDE THAT LANGUAGE, I COULD BE MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE WITH THIS.
THE INTENT OF THE CONTRACT IS TO PROVIDE SERVICES FOR VIRTUAL STUDENTS.
IF IT MAKES A BOARD MEMBER OF BENIGN FEEL COMFORTABLE, WE CAN CERTAINLY ADOPT THE MOTION.
SO DO WE NEED TO, UM, FRIENDLY, AMEND THIS MOTION THEN WHO'S THE MAKER.
AND THE SECOND MAN IS IN WHERE JACKSON, ARE YOU GUYS COMFORTABLE WITH THAT? THAT, THAT IT WOULD, UM, SPACE SPECIFICALLY FOR THE VIRTUAL STUDENTS AND NOT FOR THE BRICK AND MORTAR
[01:55:01]
STUDENTS.YOU'VE GOT YOU'RE COMFORTABLE.
SO, SO THAT'S JUST A FRIENDLY THING.
WE'RE REGARD TO, UH, THIS IS THE LIGHT TO LIFT UP AS A BLACK FEMALE BLACK MOTHER OF TWO ADULT SONS, AND ONE GRANDSON THAT IS IN THE EBO SCHOOL SYSTEM THAT I DON'T TAKE LIGHTLY CONCERNED FOR BLACK CHILDREN.
AND IF WE'RE GOING TO LIFT UP CONCERN FOR BLACK CHILDREN, BRING SOME FACTS, I GET IT.
I'M ALREADY AWARE THAT ASYNCHRONOUS INSTRUCTION, THE RESEARCH IS NOT WHAT'S BEST FOR BLACK CHILDREN.
AND I ASKED AT THE LAST MEETING FOR THE PEOPLE TO SEND ME SOMETHING THAT MIGHT BE MORE POSITIVE.
AND I'M GONNA JUST LEAVE IT AT BED BECAUSE MY PRIMARY IRRITATION IS FOLKS USING THE RACE CARD UNNECESSARILY, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT GOES AGAINST WHAT IS ACTUALLY BEST FOR BLACK AND BROWN CHILDREN.
AND I APOLOGIZE BECAUSE MY BROTHER, EXCUSE ME, AND WE HAD A BOARD MEMBERS GO.
THEY WENT FIRST BACK ON THE BOARD POINT OF ORDER CALLED THE, OF ALL THE ON MYSELF.
BUT, UH, ONE OF THE PUBLIC COMMENTS WAS NOT RECOGNIZE.
AND SO I NEED TO ALLOW SISTER COALIT TO SPEAK AS THE, AS THE LAST PUBLIC COMMENT.
UM, UNFORTUNATELY WE HAVE A LEG, UM, WITH THE VIDEO.
SO OUTSIDE I CAN'T ACTUALLY, UH, IS NOT SHOWING A REAL LIFETIME, UM, APPROPRIATELY.
SO I APOLOGIZE FOR ACTUALLY COMING IN SO LATE, BUT, UH, I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO EACH BOARD MEMBER AGAINST AND ENCOURAGE YOU ALL TO VOTE AGAINST IT.
I HAVE A CHILD WITH A DISABILITY AND THERE ARE MANY CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES THAT ARE ENROLLED INTO OUR VIRTUAL SCHOOL.
I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO ATTEND AN IEP FOR A CHILD IN A DIFFERENT PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM THAT IS ATTENDING VIRTUAL.
THEY ARE USING A SYSTEM SIMILAR TO THIS.
THE STAFF THAT ACTUALLY HAD TO ATTEND THE IEP MEETING WAS NOT THE ONES THAT ACTUALLY PROVIDE THE RECORDINGS.
THAT'S A PROBLEM BECAUSE HOW CAN YOU ACTUALLY REFLECT WITH THE PARENTS IN THE IEP PROCESS? THAT'S FEDERAL, I'M EXITING THAT YOU LOOK AT THESE CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES.
WE HAVE A LOT OF THEM THAT'S ENROLLED IN VIRTUAL THAT WILL NOT BENEFIT BY HAVING STAFF FROM OUTSIDE OF THIS STATE TO EDUCATE THEM BECAUSE THOSE INDIVIDUALS CAN NOT BE PRESENT TO SPEAK TO THEM AND TO THEIR PARENTS IN THEIR IEP MEETINGS.
SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO THEN X BY EBR STAFF MEMBERS TO ACTUALLY STEP INTO A PLACE AND ACTUALLY SAY, HEY, THIS IS WHAT YOUR CHILD IS BEING TAUGHT ON AN EVERYDAY BASIS.
THESE ARE THEIR INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS.
I ASKED EACH AND EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU TO GO AND LOOK AT IDA AS IT, AS IT DEALS WITH OUR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES, BECAUSE WE HAVE MANY OF THEM THAT ARE IN HIGH SCHOOL, AS WELL AS MIDDLE SCHOOL.
WE CAN'T KEEP TELLING OUR PARENTS THAT WE ARE BEING REACTIVE TO FIX A PROBLEM.
WE HAD SOMETHING IN PLACE AFTER THE PANDEMIC THAT ACTUALLY WAS WORKING.
MY CHILD WAS ABLE TO ATTEND VIRTUAL.
THAT WAS UP UNDER MR. WARREN DRAKE AND MR. ADAM SMITH.
AND THOSE CHILDREN WERE EXCELLING MY CHILD LIKE SEAL.
AND WHEN HE RETURNED BACK INTO THE BRICK AND MORTAR BUILDING, THE IEP TEAM, OUR STAFF HELPED.
WE KNEW WHERE HE, WHERE HIS DEFICITS WERE AND WHERE HIS PROGRESSION WAS.
AND WE WERE ABLE TO MAKE REALISTIC INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS.
WE DON'T NEED TO CONTINUE TO OUTSOURCE, WHICH GIVE US MORE FEDERAL PROBLEMS. I BELIEVE THE NEXT THING WOULD BE LITIGATION.
AND YOU, OF COURSE, YOU KNOW HOW I'LL BE BACK FOR THAT.
WE HAVE TOO MUCH LITIGATION, BUT LET'S NOT HEAVY BECAUSE WE CAN ACTUALLY FIX SOMETHING THAT CAN WORK AND WHAT CAN WORK IS KEEPING IT IN EBR WITH EBR STAFF.
AND THEN TO MY UNDERSTANDING, THE SHERIFF DEPUTY HAD NOTIFIED ME THAT
[02:00:01]
MS. CORLEY WAS THE LAST ONE THAT, AND I DID NOT PROPERLY RECOGNIZE MS. CORLEY AT THAT TIME.I, I DIDN'T WANT TO BE IN VIOLATION OF PUBLIC COMMENT BY NOT ALLOWING HER TO SPEAK BECAUSE I DID NOT PROPERLY RECOGNIZE HER.
SO NOW WE ARE BACK TO THE BOARD.
AND WE'LL REMEMBER WHERE JACKSON, THANK YOU, MATT.
AND VICE-PRESIDENTS A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS AROUND, UM, THERE WAS A QUESTION FROM THE AUDIENCE THAT I WAS ALSO INTERESTED IN, AND I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S BEEN COVERED AROUND THE ASSESSMENTS, WHETHER, UM, OUR STUDENTS WILL BE ASSESSED AS THEY ENTER INTO THE VIRTUAL, UH, SETTING.
AND, UM, ALSO WANTED TO JUST CONFIRM THAT, UM, DUAL ENROLLMENT IS ALSO PROVIDED BY THIS ORGANIZATION, CORRECT? YES.
THEY, THEY HAVE A WHOLE PROCESS, UM, WHICH WE, UM, PLAN TO, UM, HAVE A INFORMATION SESSION IF, IF THE WORK SITE IS APPROVED, UM, WE'LL GO INTO DETAIL.
UM, THIS IS WHY, UH, THEY'RE ACTUALLY HERE TODAY.
AND SO, UM, UM, ALL TO YOUR ANSWERS? YES.
AND, UM, UH, WHAT WAS THE OTHER ONE? DARN IT, I HAD THREE, I HAD THREE, UM, UM, DUAL ENROLLMENT, THE ASSESSMENT, AND WHETHER WE WILL BE CONSIDERING FOR THE, THE YOUNGER STUDENTS, UM, UM, A MORE, UM, LOCAL ENVIRONMENT, YOU KNOW, WHETHER WILL, WHETHER WE WILL BE CONSIDERING USING OUR OWN, UM, STAFF IN THE FUTURE FOR THE, UM, FOR THE, FOR THE YOUNGER STUDENTS, UH, IN THE CONVERSATIONS DURING ARIZONA STATE'S PRESENTATION, THEY DID SHARE THAT THEY'D BE WORKING WITH US, UM, UH, IN A LOT OF DIFFERENT WAYS, UH, IN TERMS OF STAFF AND THOSE PIECES.
SO I THINK, UM, A COUPLE OF THINGS, I JUST WANT TO JUST HIGHLIGHT IT AGAIN.
UH, ONE IS, UH, IN THEIR PRESENTATION, THEY DID TALK ABOUT WORKING WITH US AND STAFF AND THERE'S, I CAN GET INTO ALL THOSE LOGISTICS.
UM, THE OTHER COMPONENT THAT THEY TALKED ABOUT, I JUST WANT TO SHARE AGAIN, IS, UH, UH, THEY'VE HAD TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE IN THIS, UH, SERVING ABOUT 40,000 PLUS STUDENTS WORLDWIDE.
UM, I KNOW THAT MODEL, UH, THERE'S A DIFFERENCE OPINIONS ABOUT THE MODEL, UH, BUT THEY HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL IN, UH, DIGITAL LEARNING IN THIS SPACE.
UM, UH, NOT ONLY JUST IN THE STATE OF ARIZONA, BUT PEOPLE RANK THEM AS YOU CAN.
UH, I THINK A PORTION OF ATLANTA SHARED AT THE LAST MEETING, UH, RECOGNIZING THE COUNTRY.
UM, AND SO, UH, UM, UH, AS TO GIVE INFORMATION TO VICE PRESIDENT COLLINS, UM, WE DID, UH, I DON'T KNOW IF, UH, JUST AS A REMINDER, UH, BEFORE WE WENT DOWN THIS ROAD, UM, THE BOARD DID CHARGE ME TO, UH, UH, LOOK FOR, UM, UH, WELL, THE CHART.
UM, WE STARTED GETTING VIRTUAL KIDS TO THINK ABOUT A VIRTUAL SCHOOL.
UH, WE DID HAVE SOME OPTIONS AT THAT TIME, UH, THAT DID NOT MEET OUR AWARDS CRITERIA AT THE TIME.
SO WE WENT DOWN THE ROAD OF TRYING TO DO IT ON OUR OWN, UH, KNOWING THAT WE WERE GOING TO HAVE GROWING PAINS BECAUSE WE WERE NOT REALLY GOOD AT THIS.
AND, UH, KOBE PUT US, UNFORTUNATELY IN A VERY, UH, CHALLENGING PLACE.
UM, SO, UH, AS WE WENT THROUGH USING PROXIMITY WITH STAFFING AND THOSE THINGS, AS YOU KNOW, MANY PARENTS CAME UP AND SHARED THE CHALLENGES THAT WE HAD AROUND THAT, UM, I WENT OUT AND WE LITERALLY JUST SAID, WHO'S THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY DOING THIS? AND THAT'S HOW WE WENT DOWN THIS ROAD.
UM, I WOULD JUST, YOU KNOW, I UNDERSTAND, UH, THE VARIATIONS OF CONCERNS.
I THINK WHAT, UH, WHAT BOARD MEMBERS SAID, YOU KNOW, UM, I THINK I SAID AN OPERA, LET'S GIVE THEM AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW THIS.
UH, WE ARE NOT THE ONLY DISTRICT IN THE COUNTRY.
THEY DO THIS WITH, UM, THEY PARTNER WITH OTHER DISTRICTS, UM, DOING THIS AND HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL.
UM, BUT I KNOW, UM, WHEN SOMETHING IS NEW, UH, IT TAKES A LOT AND, UH, BUT WE ARE IN A, UH, IMMEDIATE NEED.
AND, UM, THE REALITY IS, UM, UH, I WOULD NOT BE DOING MY DUE DILIGENCE AS A SUPERINTENDENT TO NOT GIVE YOU THE RECOMMENDATION OF WHO'S DOING IT THE BEST.
SO, UH, THEY AREN'T GOOD AT WHAT THEY DO.
ARIZONA STATE HAS HAD A LOT OF EXPERIENCE IN THIS SPACE AND WE'VE HAD A LOT OF CONVERSATION WITH THEM AND HOW THEY'VE REALLY TALKED ABOUT MAKING SURE THEY SUPPORT CHILDREN AND WORK WITH US, WORK WITH US HERE AS A SCHOOL SYSTEM, UH, NOT TO JUST REPLACE STUFF.
SO, UH, BUT WE, THEIR MODEL WORKS.
AND SO THIS IS WHY WE'VE PARTNERED WITH THEM.
WELL, I FEEL PRETTY CONFIDENT THAT, UH, A LOT MORE CONFIDENCE IN THIS COMPANY THAN I DID IN, IN THE OTHER.
UM, BUT I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT, UH, SOME OF THOSE CONCERNS WERE ADDRESSED, YOU KNOW, CAUSE CAUSE USUALLY WHEN ONE HAS IT, YOU KNOW, SEVERAL AND ONE THING THAT WE TALKED ABOUT, WHICH, UH, THE BOARD HAS, UM, UH, PUT IN PLACE, WHICH I TRY TO PUT WITH EVERYBODY WE CONTRACT
[02:05:01]
WITH, UH, WE'D RECOMMEND, UH, THE SAME PROCESS WE DO WITH OTHER CONTRACTS, FOR, UH, VENDORS TO PROVE THEMSELVES.AND WE CAN BRING DATA TO YOU EVERY QUARTER OR YOU HAVE A PROCESS TO MAKE IT PUBLIC.
I THINK THE BOARD CAME UP WITH THAT.
I'VE USED THAT WITH EVERY BODY WE TALK TO, IF YOU WANT TO STAY, UH, PARTNERING WITH US, YOU NEED TO PROVE TO US THAT YOU CAN GET PERFORMANCE.
AND THAT MAKES IT CLEAR TO US THAT WE ARE KEEPING THEM ACCOUNTABLE AROUND THAT.
SO WHEN IT'S TIME TO RENEW CONTRACTS, THOSE THINGS, WE HAVE PURE DATA.
UM, AND I THINK VICE CREDIT COLUMNS, YOU ARE VERY CLEAR ABOUT THAT.
THEY'RE GONNA HAVE YOUR VENDOR.
I TALK TO THEM VERY CLEAR ABOUT THAT TOO, SO WE CAN PUT MORE METRICS INTO THE CONTRACT.
IF THAT IS SOMETHING YOU CHOOSE.
I THINK WHAT BOARD MEMBER COLLINS BROUGHT UP IS EXACTLY RIGHT.
IT'S FOR THE VIRTUAL SCHOOL, WE'LL ADD THAT LANGUAGE.
UM, BUT HERE'S WHAT I DO KNOW.
JUST SO YOU KNOW, FROM A SUPERINTENDENT STANDPOINT, UH, EVERY DAY THAT WE DON'T MAKE THE DECISION IS A DAY THAT I AM PARANOID BECAUSE, UM, WE HAVE CHILDREN RIGHT NOW IN THERE.
AND SO, UH, I'D LIKE TO REALLY GET UNDERWAY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, UM, PENDING ON BOARD APPROVAL, RIGHT? YEAH, WE CERTAINLY CAN'T.
WAIT, THANK YOU, SUPERINTENDENT BOARD MEMBER LANTIS.
AND BOARD MEMBER LAND IS WHILE SHE'S COMING UP.
I JUST WANT TO ADDRESS, UH, AS I WAS EXPLAINING EARLIER, MA'AM THE PUBLIC COMMENT WAS CLOSED ON THIS ITEM, BUT I ALLOW MS. CORTLAND TO COME SPEAK BECAUSE SHE WAS CUT OFF BEFORE WE CUT OFF BECAUSE SHE WAS NOT RECOGNIZED BEFORE PUBLIC COMMENT HAS STOPPED.
AND SO WE WON'T BE TAKING ANY MORE PUBLIC COMMENT ON THIS PARTICULAR ITEM.
MA'AM THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING.
WHAT'S THAT CURRENT TEACHER SHORTAGE.
SO WE HAVE 106 TEACHERS THAT ARE NINE SIDE OF SOME OF THOSE CLASSROOMS. OKAY.
THAT'S THAT WAS MY ONLY QUESTION, BUT PICK UP HER MICROPHONE OUT, MAKE SURE EVERYBODY.
SO I ASKED A QUESTION FOR A SPECIFIC REASON BECAUSE I HEAR THE CONCERNS EVERYBODY INSIDE OF THE ROOM, WHY NOT STAY LOCAL? WHY NOT USE OUR TEACHERS? WE HAVE 106 TEACHERS THAT ARE CURRENTLY NOT INSIDE OF OUR CLASSROOMS. SO THE QUESTION I WOULD ASK IS WHERE DO WE PULL THE TEACHERS FROM? THE MAIN THING THAT WE CONTINUE TO HEAR IS THAT OUR TEACHERS ARE TIRED, THAT OUR TEACHERS FEEL OVERWHELMED.
THEY FEEL OVERWORKED EVEN WITH, EVEN WITH US ASKING, I WILL LAST EVEN IN UNDERPAID AS CORRECT.
SO EVEN WHEN, UH, WHEN WE ASKED OUR LAST HR DIRECTOR TO INCENTIVIZE GETTING TEACHERS TO DO, TO USE THEIR BREAK TIME, TO TAKE ON MORE CLASSES THAT WASN'T FULFILLED, BECAUSE I DO UNDERSTAND THAT WE HAVE TEACHERS WHO ARE TIRED, UNDERPAID, AND THEY ARE JUST OVERWHELMED.
SO I ASKED THIS QUESTION, AND THIS IS, THIS IS WHEN WE WENT ON, UH, TO THE MIAMI, THE SUPERINTENDENT OF MIAMI DADE COUNTY.
HE, HE POSED ONE SPECIFIC QUESTION.
AND HE SAID, THE THING YOU GOT TO ASK YOURSELF IN THIS PARTICULAR WORK IS HOW MANY STUDENTS ARE YOU WILLING TO LOSE WHILE YOU'RE WAITING TO GET IT RIGHT? THE NEXT QUESTION I WOULD ASK IS WHAT DO WE TELL THE FAMILIES THAT HAVE STUDENTS INSIDE OF OUR VIRTUAL ACADEMY RIGHT NOW THAT HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR US TO GET THIS RIGHT? WE HAD A VIRTUAL ACADEMY, I WANT TO SAY ALMOST FOUR YEARS AGO, THAT DIDN'T, BUT IT WAS DONE AWAY WITH NOW.
I'M NOT SAYING THIS TO TRY TO THROW SUPERINTENDENT DRAKE UNDER THE BUS.
BECAUSE AT THE TIME THIS PREDATED COVID AND IT WAS NOT AS MUCH INTEREST GENERATED TO GO INSIDE OF THE VIRTUAL ACADEMY THEN AS IT IS NOW, NOW WE CONTINUE TO USE THAT SYSTEM.
WE WOULD HAVE HAD SOMETHING TO WORK WITH, BUT WE DIDN'T.
SO WE HAD TO GO BACK TO GROUND ONE WHEN COVID HAPPENED, WE TRIED TO FIGURE THIS THING OUT.
AND I THINK EVERYBODY HAS NOT ACCEPTED FAULT IN SAYING THAT WE JUST SIMPLY, WE MADE A MISTAKE AND WE'RE TRYING TO FIX IT RIGHT NOW.
I AGREE WITH MY BOY COLLEAGUE, MR. GOLDIE, IF LSU OR SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY OR U L M R U L L A TWO LANE HAD A VIRTUAL ACADEMY THAT COULD HOLD THIS PROP, THIS PARTICULAR PROGRAM UP I WOULD HAVE VOTED FOR YESTERDAY.
BUT AT THIS JUNCTURE, IN THIS JUNCTION AT THIS TIME, WE HAVE TO FIND THE BEST AND WE HAVE TO GO WITH THE BEST.
AND IF ANYBODY IS QUESTIONING WHETHER OR NOT ASU CAN GET THIS DONE, I'LL JUST TELL YOU
[02:10:01]
TO GO TWO AND A HALF MILES RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD.MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL IS CURRENTLY USING THE ASU MODEL AND THEY HAD A CHOICE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN HARVARD HOT, UH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY AND ASU.
REMEMBER HARVARD UNIVERSITY BEING ONE OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITIES IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.
AND THEY CHOSE TO GO WITH ASU FOR A REASON BECAUSE THEY ARE THE BEST AT DOING WHAT THEY'RE DOING RIGHT NOW.
I JUST EXITED IT ALL AGAIN, JUST TO HAVE AN OPEN MIND ABOUT THIS.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, WE HAVE TO DO WHAT IS BEST FOR OUR CHILDREN AND OUR STUDENTS AND OUR FAMILIES, BECAUSE WE HAVE TO GET IT RIGHT THIS TIME.
IT'S TOO MANY STUDENTS THAT HAVE WENT WITHOUT FAR TOO LONG WITHOUT INSTRUCTION INSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM.
AND AT THE END OF THE YEAR, THEY HAVE TO MAKE ALL THAT TIME RIGHT BACK UP HERE AT THE X OURSELVES.
IS IT FAIR TO HAVE A CONTINUOUSLY WAITING? IT'S NOT, IT'S JUST NOT.
REMEMBER DYSON? YES, I'LL BE QUICK.
UM, THE FIRST THING I JUST WANT TO, UM, REITERATE IS, AND JUST REMIND EVERYONE IS THAT WE HAVE THE BOARD APPROVED AN EXTERNAL AUDIT OF OUR SALARY SCHEDULE.
AND I THINK WE I'M ANXIOUSLY AWAITING THE RESULTS OF THAT SO THAT WE CAN, UH, DESIGN THIS IN A WAY THAT WE CAN ATTRACT THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST AND RETAIN THEM.
AND COVID HAS PRESENTED SO MANY CHALLENGES.
AND, UH, SO I'M ANXIOUSLY AWAITING THOSE RESULTS.
AND I'VE BEEN TOLD THAT WE SHOULD EXPECT THEM WITHIN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE YEAR OF THE NEW YEAR.
AND I'M, UM, UH, VERY MUCH LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT, UM, PARTICULARLY, UM, AS WITH REGARDS TO OUR TEACHER SALARIES.
UM, AND THE SECOND THING IS, IS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO, UM, ASK MS. HARMON TO COME.
AND, UH, I WILL RECOGNIZE HER TO ASK THE QUESTION, PLEASE.
SO FOR CLARITY, SHE'S WALKING UP, THIS IS NOT PUBLIC COMMENT.
THIS IS SOMEBODY ADOPTED UP THAT A BOARD MEMBER IS ADOPTING A QUESTION.
MY QUESTION WAS, UM, WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR MS DURING AN ASSESSMENT, A NEEDS ASSESSMENT WITH PARENTS TO GET THEIR PERSPECTIVE ON THEIR EXPECTATIONS AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS VIRTUAL SCHOOL, AND ALSO THE INTERVENTION PRACTICES FOR ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS WHO MAY FALL BETWEEN THE CRACKS.
I VERY MUCH APPRECIATED THOSE QUESTIONS AND, UM, I FELT LIKE THEY, THE, THE ANSWERS TO THESE THINGS, I THINK THAT THE IDEA OF HAVING THEM DO SOME KIND OF A SURVEY OR AT LEAST SOMETHING WITH THE PARENTS, UM, WILL BE A GREAT STARTING POINT.
AND, UH, SO WE CAN BUILD THIS AS A PARTNERSHIP.
I WAS GOING TO JUST TO SAY, THANK YOU FOR THAT QUESTION.
UM, AND THAT IS A PART OF THEIR PROCESS.
UH, SO, UM, WHICH IS WHAT, UM, AS SOON IF THE BOARD DECIDES TO VOTE, UH, THEY ARE EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT ALL THE DETAILS AT THE INFO SESSION THAT THEY WILL HAVE.
AND, UH, UH, THAT QUESTION WILL BE ANSWERED.
THANK YOU FOR THIS INFORMATION.
I JUST WANTED TO CLARIFY FOR THE BOARD, THE CONTRACT DOES INDICATE THAT UNDER LOCATION IT'S VIRTUAL, I HAD TO SPEED READ THE FIND.
IT Y'ALL CHALLENGE ME SOMETIMES, BUT IT IS IN THERE.
THE MOTION WILL STILL READ SPECIFICALLY AT MS. BERNARD'S FRIENDLY AMENDMENT TO ALSO SAY IT'S VIRTUAL.
AND THEN THE, THE ASU WOULD BE YOU AS IN WITH ASU TO MY COLLEAGUE'S POINT, ASU, HARVARD, OR WHAT HAVE YOU.
THAT'S WHERE THE DUAL ENROLLMENT PIECE, NOT THE, I DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO GET CONFUSED.
AND SO I'M JUST MENTIONING THAT AS A POINT OF CLARITY AND SEEING NO OTHER REQUESTS TO SPEAK FROM THE BOARD, MADAM SECRETARY, CALL THE VOTE, PLEASE VOTE.
[02:15:15]
MOVING FORWARD[J. 1. Redistricting Timeline]
WITH ITEM J ONE NEW BUSINESS REDISTRICTING TIMELINE RECOMMENDED ACTION CONSIDERATION OVER REQUEST FOR THE APPROVAL OF A PROPOSED REDISTRICTING PLAN DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE FOR THE EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, BASED ON THE 2020 CENSUS.CAN I GET A MOTION BOARD MEMBER? LANA'S CAN I GET A SECOND BOARD MEMBER? GOLDIE VICE PRESIDENT COLLINS RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL IS TO ADOPT THIS MOTION, ALLOWING FOR FLEXIBILITY, WITH REGARD TO MEETING DATES TIMES AND LOCATIONS IN CASE WE NEED TO ADJUST.
SO THE MOTION WILL READ AN ADOPTION OF A TIMELINE ALLOWING FOR THAT FLEXIBILITY.
WE'LL READ THAT TO THE BOARD BEFORE VOTE.
ANY SCENE? NO REQUEST TO SPEAK FROM THE BOARD.
ANY PUBLIC COMMENT ON THE PROPOSED TIMELINE? OH, I'M SORRY.
A BOARD MEMBER LAND IS ANGLED A .
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE TIME.
MY NAME IS PETER ROBBINS BROWN.
I AM THE POLICY AND ADVOCACY DIRECTOR FOR AN ORGANIZATION CALLED LOUISIANA PROGRESS.
UH, WE WORK ON A LOT OF ISSUES, BUT, UH, OUR TOP ISSUE, ESPECIALLY IN THESE NEXT COMING MONTHS IS REDISTRICTING BOTH AT THE STATE LEVEL WHERE WE DO A LOT OF WORK IN THE LEGISLATURE, BUT ALSO IN SOME LOCAL AREAS ACROSS THE STATE PARISHES, LOOKING AT COUNCILS AND SCHOOL BOARDS.
UM, IN PARTICULAR, WE FOCUS ON TWO METRICS.
UH, WHEN WE TRY TO, UH, LOOK AND ASSESS WHETHER CERTAIN COUNCILS OR SCHOOL BOARDS, UH, ARE WHAT WE MIGHT CONSIDER FAIR AND EQUITABLE, UH, ONE IS COMPETITIVENESS.
UM, DO PEOPLE, VOTERS HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO HOLD THEIR ELECTED OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE? IS THERE, UH, YOU KNOW, OR SOMETIMES ELECTION OUTCOMES, SOMEWHAT PREDETERMINED.
UH, WE ALSO LOOK AT RACIAL PROPORTIONALITY.
DOES, DOES THE, SORT OF THE MAKEUP OF THE DISTRICTS BEING REPRESENTING THE AREAS THAT THEY'RE REPRESENTING, UH, REFLECT THE POPULATION IN THOSE AREAS.
UM, WE PICK THOSE FOR A LOT OF REASONS.
I'M NOT GOING TO GO THROUGH THE WHOLE THING, BUT, BUT ONE OF THEM IS THAT THEY ARE ACTUALLY MEASURABLE.
SO A LOT OF TIMES PEOPLE WILL TALK ABOUT REDISTRICTING, THEY'LL THROW AROUND KIND OF CONCEPTS OR IDEAS, AND THEN THERE'S NO WAY TO ACTUALLY LIKE DRILL DOWN INTO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN OR HOW DO YOU MEASURE THAT? UM, YOU KNOW, AND THAT IS WHY WE REALLY WANT TO ZERO IN ON A COUPLE OF THINGS THAT WE COULD OBJECTIVELY MEASURE.
UM, SO WHY AM I HERE TODAY? UH, ESPECIALLY NOT BEING AN EBR, A PARENT OF A, OF AN EBR, UH, OF A CHILD IN EBR SCHOOLS, BECAUSE THE MAKEUP OF THE EBR SCHOOL BOARD, THE, THE WAY THE DISTRICTS ARE DRAWN DOES NOT PARTICULARLY WELL-WRITTEN.
I MAY HAVE A POINT OF ORDER, PLEASE.
THE MOTION IS ON THE TIMELINE, SO, AND THIS IS WAY OFF THE TOPIC.
SO THE POINT IS THAT THIS, AND I'M SORRY TOO.
I WAS GOING TO BRING IT BACK TO THAT, BUT I'LL COME BACK QUICKER, UM, THAT, YOU KNOW, THE TIMELINE, UH, MOVING VERY QUICKLY ON THIS, MAKING SURE THOUGH AT THE SAME TIME THAT PEOPLE, UH, THE COMMUNITY HAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO COME AND SPEAK TO THE PRINCIPALS THAT THEY CARE ABOUT WHEN IT COMES TO REDISTRICTING.
UM, MAKING SURE THAT THE TIMELINE, THE MEETINGS, UH, THE PROCESS IS AS TRANSPARENT AS IT POSSIBLY CAN BE SO THAT THE COMMUNITY DOES HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO COME AND SPEAK TO WHETHER IT'S THE PRINCIPALS THAT I WAS STARTING TO LAY OUT OR THE PRINCIPLES THAT THEY MIGHT BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES SEPARATELY FROM THAT.
AND SO THIS IS A PROCESS THAT IN, UH, IN THE PAST DECADES, NOT JUST HERE, BUT IN A LOT OF OTHER PLACES HAS OFTEN BEEN DONE KIND OF QUIETLY, OR MAYBE WITHOUT THE KIND OF TRANSPARENCY AND PUBLIC OUTREACH THAT, UH, I'M HERE TO, UH, REALLY URGENT AND ASK THAT YOU ALL, UH, REALLY INTENTIONALLY DO WITH THE COMMUNITY AS YOU GO THROUGH THIS PROCESS.
UM, GOOD EVENING BOARD, UH, TONYA, AND I'M GOING AGAIN, AND TWO KIDS IN THE EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM.
UM, I HEARD A COUPLE OF MY CONCERNS ALREADY ADDRESSED ONE, UH, ABOUT MAKING SURE THAT THE, THE PRESENTATION TO THE PUBLIC AT THESE, UM, RE DISTRICTING WORKSHOPS DOES INCLUDE RELEVANT BACKGROUND INFORMATION.
AND I'VE MENTIONED THESE AT PREVIOUS MEETINGS, AND I'M JUST GOING TO RUN OVER A LITTLE BIT OF THAT.
I WOULD EXPECT MORE DETAIL IN THE PRESENTATION.
UM, BUT I DO THINK THAT, UM, THE HISTORY WHERE THE BOARD HAS BEEN REAPPORTIONED AND RECONFIGURED, ESPECIALLY IN THE LAST 10 YEARS, NEEDS TO BE INCLUDED IN THE PRESENTATION IN 2010, THIS BOARD CONSISTED OF 12 SINGLE MEMBER DISTRICTS IN 2012, IT WAS REDUCED FROM 12 TO 11 SINGLE MEMBER DISTRICTS IN 2013, THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT WAS ESSENTIALLY GUTTED AND OUR MAPS WERE NO LONGER SUBJECTED TO PRE-CLEARANCE BY THE DEPARTMENT
[02:20:01]
OF JUSTICE IN 2014 AT THE BEHEST OF THE BATON ROUGE AREA CHAMBER, THE BOARD WAS COMPELLED TO REDUCE AGAIN FROM 11 TO NINE SINGLE MEMBER DISTRICTS.THAT MAP THE MAP WE ARE CURRENTLY USING WAS NOT SUBJECT TO PRE-CLEARANCE THAT LAST MINUTE, IF APPROVED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WITH THE 11 SINGLE MEMBER DISTRICT MAPS.
SO I THINK THAT'S JUST THE INFORMATION I WOULD LIKE INCLUDE IN THE, UH, THE RE-DISTRICTING WORKSHOPS PROCESS, UH, TIMELINE, TIMELINE, TIMELINE, TIMELINE OF THE WORKSHOPS, RIGHT.
SO ADDITIONALLY, YOU SHOULD HAVE SPOKE UP WHEN THE MAN YES, BUT I WANT TO MAKE SURE THIS, BUT THE TIMELINE IS I WANT TO MAKE SURE THIS INFORMATION IS DISSEMINATED AT SOME POINT WITHIN THAT TIMELINE.
MY I'M USING UP MY TIME ON THE SEMANTICS.
UM, BUT IT'S ALSO MY UNDERSTANDING THAT, UM, IN THAT TIMELINE, I'D LIKE THE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW, UM, IF THE PUBLIC MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC DON'T LIKE THE MAP THAT IS ABSOLUTELY DECIDED ON THAT.
WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO INTRODUCE OUR OWN MAP.
AND I'D LIKE THAT INFORMATION SOMEWHERE INCLUDED IN A TIMELINE ABOUT HOW WE CAN INTRODUCE A MAP AND HAVE IT PLACED FORMALLY IN THE PUBLIC RECORD.
I KNOW IT WAS A STRETCH, MICHELLE BRADFORD.
SO FOR THE TIMELINE AND THE WORKSHOPS, JUST ASKING THAT, YOU KNOW, EVERY STAKEHOLDER IS CENTERED.
SO STUDENT TEACHERS, PARENTS, STAFF, TAXPAYER COMMUNITY MEMBER, AND TRY DIFFERENT TIMES LIKE SIX 30 AND SEVEN, NOT FOUR AND FIVE EARLY MORNING, 7:00 AM OR EIGHT LUNCHTIME COFFEE HOURS, ANY OF THAT VIRTUAL AND IN-PERSON WOULD BE NICE.
AND THEN ON THE TIMELINE DOCUMENT ON THE WEBSITE, INCLUDING PUBLIC COMMENT DEADLINE, SO FOLKS THAT CAN'T MAKE IT CAN ACTUALLY SUBMIT COMMENTS, EVEN IF THEY CAN'T BE AT THE EVENT.
UM, I JUST WANTED TO THANK Y'ALL FOR MAKING PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN THIS PROCESS, A PRIORITY, UM, MR. YOU SUGGESTED THAT THE EVENTS BE TELEVISED AND MADE AVAILABLE AFTER THE FACT.
WE TO HAVE TO WATCH LIKE A SHAKEN VIDEO THAT IS RELEVANT TO THE TIMELINE, UM, PROMOTION OF THE MEETINGS.
WE NEED THE TIMELINE, THE TIMELINE, I THINK THAT WASN'T MENTIONED WAS THE PROMOTION AND ADVERTISING OF THE MEETINGS Y'ALL RECENTLY SHOWED HOW WELL YOU GUYS CAN, UM, COMMUNICATE THE TIMELINE TO THE PUBLIC.
UM, SO IF YOU GUYS WOULD PLEASE MAKE THAT AVAILABLE TO YOUR DIRECT STAKEHOLDERS, YOU'RE THE PARENTS IN THE SYSTEM SO THAT WE CAN BE INVOLVED.
UM, NO, UH, THERE WAS DISCUSSION ABOUT CHANGING THE LOCATION OF THE MEETINGS ON THE TIMELINE TO, UM, BEST FIT EVERYBODY'S SCHEDULES.
I WOULD JUST LIKE TO ASK THAT YOU MAKE THOSE PUBLISHED, UM, WAY MORE THAN 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE SO THAT PEOPLE WHO HAVE KIDS IN SCHOOL CAN PLAN WHERE THEY HAVE TO GET THEIR KIDS TO, TO MAKE IT TO THOSE MEETINGS.
I'M GOING TO BE BRIEF WHEN HE CAME UP AND GAVE THE PRESENTATION, I FORGOT HIS NAME.
I DON'T WANT TO BE DISRESPECTFUL REGARDING THE TIMELINE IS IT'S DIRECTLY ABOUT THE TIME WHEN MR. HAFFNER CAME UP TO SPEAK.
HE DIDN'T REALLY GIVE AN EXACT TIMELINE.
SO I THINK THAT WHEN WE'RE SAYING THAT THE COMMENTS GOTTA BE GERMANE TO THE TIMELINE, HE DIDN'T GIVE A REAL, UM, A REAL TIME LINE WOULD HAVE BEEN THAT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A MEETING ON DECEMBER 2ND, DECEMBER 22ND AT SEVEN O'CLOCK IN THIS BUILDING, IN THIS ROOM, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER MEETING ON JANUARY 3RD IN THIS BUILDING AND THIS ROOM AT EIGHT O'CLOCK.
HE SAID, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE APPROXIMATELY TWO MEETINGS, UH, IN THIS, UH, IN ONE MONTH AND APPROXIMATELY TWO MEETINGS IN ANOTHER, WHICH MEANT THAT THE TIMELINE IS STILL UP IN THE AIR.
WE CAN'T GIVE HIM, WE CAN'T GIVE, UH, A FALSIFIED TIMELINE.
SO TIMELINE IS IN THE BACKUP MATERIALS, BUT IT'S NOT AN ACCURATE ONE.
WE ARE ON A REAL, REAL PUSHED TIMELINE.
AND WHEN WE'RE ON A PUSH TIMELINE, LIKE WE ARE, I MEAN, THEY WERE GOING TO LEAVE AND A ROOM FOR MAKING MISTAKES.
AND I JUST WANT US TO THINK ABOUT ACTUALLY MAKING, HAVING A LOT OF PUBLIC INPUT, BECAUSE RIGHT NOW WE DON'T, WE HAVE PUBLIC INPUT ABOUT THE TOPIC, BUT WE KEEP HAVING THEM TO KIND OF BE SILENT, BUT WE REALLY NEED
[02:25:01]
THEM TO ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO SPEAK UP AT THOSE MEETINGS IN REGARDS TO THE MAKEUP OF OUR BOARD, BECAUSE EVERYBODY ON THE BOARD ACTUALLY IMPACT AND AFFECT OUR CHILDREN.AND I'M LOOKING AT THAT TIME, LIKE, CAUSE I LOOK AT BOARD MEMBER, LANDIS AND BOARD MEMBER HOWARD, WHO'S AN OUT HERE, BOTH OF THEM HAVE HAVE 14 SCHOOLS, BOARD MEMBERS UP NORTH ONLY HAVE THREE SCHOOLS.
SO I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE EQUITY AT THE FOREFRONT WHEN WE DO THIS REDISTRICTING.
BUT WE ALSO THINK ABOUT WHAT OUR MODELS SAY ON OUR THING, WHICH IS EVERY STUDENT EVERY DAY.
I WAS ON ANOTHER SCREEN, A BOARD MEMBER, BUT NO NOAH BACK TO THE BOARD BOARD MEMBER, MS. CORLEY.
I DO APPRECIATE THE SENTIMENT.
HOWEVER, REDISTRICTING IS PROBABLY NOT GOING TO ACCOMPLISH THAT.
I WOULD HAVE MORE SCHOOLS PROPORTION TO THE POPULATION THAT WOULD BE ADDRESSED IN THE TAX PLAN, WHERE WE WOULD DECIDE TO BUILD SCHOOLS AND THOSE AREAS WHERE THERE ARE FEWER SCHOOLS.
UM, WE, THERE'S PROBABLY NOT A WAY FOR ME TO DRAW THE LINES, TO HAVE MORE SCHOOLS PROPORTIONATE TO THE POPULATION.
AND I'M OVERPOPULATION, I THINK, UM, UM, 10% OVER, MAYBE SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
MR. HAFFNER PROBABLY KNOWS BETTER THAN I DO, BUT ANYWAY, I DO APPRECIATE THE SENTIMENT.
SO THE THING I WAS GOING TO ASK BOARD MEMBERS IS THAT MAYBE MS. ARMAND COULD PULL THE BOARD FOR DATES TO SEE WHICH DATES WOULD WORK FOR PEOPLE.
AND WE CAN GET THE MOST OF US THERE AT EACH MEETING, UM, FOR IN, IN THOSE RELATIVE TIMEFRAMES THAT HE HAS OUTLINED ANOTHER, NOT SPECIFIC DATES ON THOSE, BUT IF SHE COULD POLL THE BOARD ON THOSE AND SEE WHO CAN ATTEND THE MOST, YOU KNOW, MAYBE THAT WOULD BE REALLY HELPFUL.
THAT'S IT? WELL REMEMBER NANA'S UM, I JUST WANTED TO REITERATE THAT, UH, MR. HEFNER, I THINK HE KIND OF, HE TOUCHED ON IT.
OH, YOU BREEZED OVER IT, NOT BREEZED OVER, BUT HE, HE DEFINITELY TOUCHED ON IT ABOUT THE FLEXIBILITY AND THE TIMES THAT HE HAS TO TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT A LOT OF OUR BOARD MEMBERS, I THINK THAT WAS A LOT OF THE, UH, NOT SO MUCH THE CONCERN, BUT A LOT OF THE ISSUES WE RAN INTO LAST TIME WAS THAT TIMING WAS OF AN ISSUE FOR THE LAST AFFIRM THAT WE HAD.
WE JUST SIMPLY COULDN'T GET ON THE RIGHT TRACK.
BUT I THINK IT'S ALSO SPECIFIED INSIDE OF THE, UH, INFORMATION THAT HE GAVE.
AND I'LL JUST READ, IT SAYS THESE DATES MAY CHANGE DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES UNFORESEEN AT THIS TIME, ANY RESCHEDULED DATES SHOULD BE CLOSE TO THE ORIGINAL DATES AS PRACTICAL, UH, AND DATES MAY BE ADDED OR DELETED AS NECESSARY.
SO THESE TIMES ARE GOING TO CHANGE THE CLOSER WE GET TO THE FIRST, I MEAN, GOING INTO JANUARY AND JUST AS A REMINDER TONIGHT, IT IS LISTED ON, UH, ON THE AGENDA AS THE INITIAL DISCUSSIONS OF TIMELINES AND THE PROCESS.
SO TONIGHT IS THE ACTUAL FIRST DAY THAT WE'RE ACTUALLY STARTING TO FACILITATE THESE CONVERSATIONS.
SO I JUST WANTED TO SAY, JUST KEEP THAT IN MIND THAT WE'RE WORKING TOWARDS THAT.
AND I ALSO JUST WANTED TO REITERATE, UM, THAT WE HAD THIS DISCUSSION A LITTLE PREMATURE WHEN WE WERE DISCUSSING IT WHEN, UH, MR. HEFNER CAME AND PRESENTED, BUT, UM, THAT THERE IS, THERE WILL BE SOME MOVEMENT IN THE DATES AND THAT WE CAN, UH, POTENTIALLY, YOU KNOW, HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE THIS ON UP TO A MARCH CLOSE ON THAT.
UM, AS WE, AS WE MOVE ALONG, HE ASKED THAT WE WAIT UNTIL AFTER WE HAVE THE FIRST MEETING OR TWO, AND KIND OF BE ABLE TO GAUGE AT THAT POINT.
BUT, UM, I THINK A GOAL OF FINISHING IN MARCH WOULD BE A VERY, UH, GOOD IDEA FOR US TO BE ABLE TO, UM, BE AS TRANSPARENT WITH OUR COMMUNITY AS POSSIBLE.
THANK YOU, BOARD MEMBER BALLOONS.
I, I, I AGREE WITH MS. DYSON THAT, UH, I'D LIKE TO SEE US HAVE A GOAL, UH, UH, FINISHING UP BY MARCH, OF COURSE.
UH, UM, I THINK WE'RE OUT OF TAKE AS MUCH TIME AS WE NEED, UH, YOU KNOW, AS LONG AS WE MEET THE DEADLINE, BUT, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, UH, MR. HAFFNER SAID THAT WE WOULD PROBABLY KNOW MORE BY THE TIME OF THE, AFTER OUR FIRST WORKSHOP ON THE SIXTH,
[02:30:01]
UH, WHICH ON HIS, UH, SUGGESTED FIRST WORKSHOP WAS ON, UH, THURSDAY, JANUARY 6TH.SO, UM, I THINK IT MAY, UH, MAYBE BETTER IF WE WAIT UNTIL OUR JANUARY BOARD MEETING TO LOOK AT FURTHER DATES AFTER THAT TIME, UH, YOU KNOW, WE'LL KNOW MORE AS FAR AS HOW LONG IT'S GOING TO TAKE, UH, PENDING ON HOW MUCH PROGRESS WE MAKE IN THAT FIRST MEETING.
UM, MY ONLY CONCERN, I MEAN, WE CAN PUT THIS FRAMEWORK AND PUT SOME DATES OUT HERE, BUT THE ONLY CONCERN IS THAT, THAT IF WE CHANGE IT LATER THAN THE PUBLIC'S GOING TO GET ANGRY, THINKING THAT WE'RE SOMEHOW, UH, PULLING A FAST ONE ON WHEN, WHEN YOU KNOW, WE'RE DOING EVERYTHING, UH, OUT IN THE OPEN AND, UH, MEETING AS A BOARD OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ON TV.
UM, SO I, UM, I'D LIKE TO MAKE A SUBSTITUTE MOTION THAT WE, UM, UH, DOCK THE, UH, JANUARY 6TH IS OUR FIRST MEETING.
UM, AND WAIT UNTIL, UM, THE JANUARY BOARD MEETING TO, UH, UH, ADOPT A FURTHER SCHEDULE FROM THERE, BOARD MEMBER GOLD.
AND THAT, UM, I JUST, JUST TO MAKE, MAKE IT CLEAR, UH, UH, UM, MY SUBSTITUTE MOTION IS THAT, UM, WE'RE GOING TO ADOPT, UH, THE FIRST RE-DISTRICTING WORKSHOP ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 6TH AT A TIME AND PLACE TO BE, UH, LATER DETERMINED.
BUT, UM, AND THEN, UH, AT THE JANUARY BOARD MEETING, WE ADOPT A, UH, FRAMEWORK, UH, FOR THE REMAINING WORKSHOPS.
AND THE ONLY REASON I'M DOING THIS, I THINK AS A GOAL.
AND I THINK WE OUGHT TO SHOOT FOR, FOR MARCH IF NECESSARY, KNOWING THAT WE HAVE ADDITIONAL TIME IF WE NEED IT.
AND AGAIN, NICK EXTENDED, UH, BUT RATHER THAN THROWING OUT A BUNCH OF DATES NOW, ALL THE WAY THROUGH APRIL, UM, JUST, UH, GO TO THE JANUARY SIX MEETING.
AND THEN, UH, WE, IF, IF WE'RE MAKING A LOT OF PROGRESS THEN, AND WE KNOW WE CAN MEET A MARCH TIMELINE, UM, YOU KNOW, WE COULD GET REALLY STATES IN IF, IF WE'RE GETTING NOWHERE ON THAT FIRST WORKSHOP, UH, THEN NO, IT MAY TAKE A LITTLE LONGER.
AND, AND, AND WE'LL, WE'LL DO THE, UH, ADJUSTMENT AS NECESSARY.
UH, HAVE COUNSEL WITH, UH, UH, TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT MY COLLEAGUE IS, IS, AND, AND WHAT MY TWO COLLEAGUES ARE SAYING THEY WOULD LIKE TO DO.
UM, WHAT, UH, WOULD THERE BE A MOTION THAT WOULD BETTER POSTURE WITHOUT THERE BEING WHAT POTENTIALLY COULD BE MORE CONFUSION? BECAUSE I WOULD, I WANT TO RECOMMEND THAT PERHAPS WE JUST DEFER THIS ITEM AND COME UP WITH A POTENTIAL, WHATEVER, THE, WHATEVER THE PREFERRED OR THE OPTIONAL, LIKE, PERHAPS WE DEFER THE ITEM UNTIL JANUARY 6TH AND WE VOTE BETWEEN THIS TIMELINE AND THE OTHER PROPOSED TIMELINE BECAUSE OTHERWISE, AND OF ORDER MA'AM.
I THINK OUR COMMITTEE, THE WHOLE WAS JANUARY 13TH.
IT'S NOT OKAY IN JANUARY 13TH, BUT MY POINT BEING DEFERRED UNTIL THANK YOU.
BUT MY POINT BEING JUST SOMETHING SIMPLE, THEN WE MOVING UP THIS, THESE DATES ON THIS.
SO FOR CLARITY, FOR CLARITY, UH, WE, WE CANNOT FINALIZE ANYTHING AT A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING FIRST, RIGHT? UH, SECONDLY, WE DON'T HAVE A MEETING CURRENTLY SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY SIX.
WE WOULD HAVE TO SCHEDULE A MEETING AND NOTICE IT, WHICH IS NOT A PROBLEM.
I WANT TO MAKE SURE WE UNDERSTAND THAT WOULD BE A SPECIAL MEETING.
NOW I DID WANT TO MAKE THE POINT THAT THE WAY WE STRUCTURED THE ORIGINAL MOTION, IT WOULD HAVE ALLOWED US TO SCHEDULE A SPECIAL MEETING AT THE END OF MARCH IF WE COULD, IF WE NEEDED TO.
SO IF WE FINISHED EARLY AND WE FELT LIKE WE DIDN'T NEED TO WAIT UNTIL APRIL TO FINALIZE, UH, OR ADOPT A PLAN, WE COULD ACTUALLY CALL A SPECIAL MEETING AT THE END OF MARCH AND ACCOMPLISH THAT, WHICH WOULD GET MR. BALOO AND OTHERS TO THE POINT OF, I THINK, TO FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE WITH THE FACT THAT WE'RE NOT LOCKED INTO AN END DATE THAT WE'RE ADOPTING TONIGHT.
SO I BELIEVE, AND IT'S JUST MY RECOMMENDATION THAT THE MOTION AS WE ORIGINALLY STRUCTURED IT, WHICH BUILT IN FLEXIBILITY AS TO DATE,
[02:35:01]
TIME AND LOCATION AS TO MEETINGS WOULD ALLOW US TO ACTUALLY CALL ADDITIONAL MEETINGS.AND THE REASON WE DID THAT WAS FOR TWO WAS TWOFOLD.
WE COULD CALL A SPECIAL MEETING TO END EARLY IF WE COULD, IF WE FELT WE WERE AT THAT POINT, WE COULD ALSO CALL ADDITIONAL COMMUNITY MEETINGS.
IF WE WANTED TO, TO PROVIDE MORE INPUT FOR THE COMMUNITY, MS. ARMAN WAS GOING TO CONDUCT A POLL WITH THE BOARD TO DETERMINE WHAT A SCHEDULE MIGHT LOOK LIKE TO MEET EVERYBODY'S NEEDS.
SO I'M NOT AGAINST THE SUBSTITUTE MOTION.
I JUST WANTED TO KIND OF PUT YOU THESE IN TERMS OF HELPING YOU TO KIND OF FEEL LIKE WE'RE NOT LOCKED IN THERE'S FLEXIBILITY THERE.
AND THAT'S WHY THE MOTION WAS BUILT THAT WAY.
AND I, I ACTUALLY, UM, YOU KNOW, I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING AND EVERYTHING YOU SAID IS ACCURATE BECAUSE REALLY THIS IS JUST A, UH, LET ME SET A FRAMEWORK LIKABLE.
UM, MY ONLY CONCERN WAS PUTTING A BUNCH OF DATES OUT TO THE PUBLIC NOW AND WOULD THEY, UM, UH, PEOPLE MARK IT ON THEIR CALENDAR AND GIVEN THE IMPRESSION IF WE CHANGE IT LATER, THAT THAT SOMEHOW WE'RE NOT BEING TRANSPARENT.
I JUST, UM, AND YOU KNOW, UH, YOU MENTIONED THAT THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 13TH, UM, THAT MAY ACTUALLY BE A BETTER, UH, DATE, YOU KNOW, CAUSE IT'S A WEEK AFTER THE, THAT, UH, PROPOSED WORKSHOP.
UH, WE COULD JUST, UH, CALL A SPECIAL MEETING PRIOR TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE, TO, TO VOTE ON A, ON A, UM, ANOTHER FLEXIBLE, UH, UM, FRAMEWORK.
SO, UM, SO I THINK I'M GOING TO STICK WITH THAT IF IT'S OKAY WITH YOU, JILL, UH, CHANGE IT TO THE JANUARY 13TH, UH, COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE, RATHER THAN WAITING ALL THE WAY UNTIL THE BOARD ME.
SO THAT WOULD BE, MY SUBSTITUTE WOULD BE TO, UM, UH, TO ME HAVE THE FIRST WORKSHOP ON JAN THURSDAY, JANUARY 6TH, AND ADOPT A, YOU KNOW, A TIMELINE, UH, I HAD ON JANUARY 13TH, UH, PRIOR TO THE COMMITTEE, THE WHOLE MEETING PROBABLY NEED TO READ THIS BACK TO THE BOARD FOR CLARITY AND TO MAKE SURE WE UNDERSTAND WHAT WE'RE ADOPTING OR WHAT WE ARE, UH, THE MOTION WE'RE MAKING.
SO THIS WOULD BE A SUBSTITUTE MOTION TO ADOPT THE JANUARY 6TH WORKSHOP AND THE FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE REMAINDER OF THE TIMELINE TO A SPECIAL MEETING ON JANUARY 13TH, 2022.
YOU WANT TO DISCUSS THE SUBSTITUTE MOTION? I KNOW YOU WERE IN THE QUEUE BEFORE THE SUBSTITUTE.
YEAH, I WAS GOING TO, IT'S A GENERAL SUBJECT EXCEPT DECEPTIVE MOTION.
NOW WE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT LIVE.
WE'RE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT ZEN.
I WOULD LIKE, AS WE CONSIDER THIS, AS WE GO THROUGH THE WORKSHOP THAT BOARD LEADERSHIP GET WITH MR. HEFNER AND FIND SOME WAY, BECAUSE IN THE WORKSHOP, THERE'S REALLY NO PUBLIC INPUT IN THE WORKSHOP.
AND I THINK AT LEAST IN THE INITIAL MEETINGS, WE OUGHT TO MAKE SOME PROVISION FOR LIMITED AMOUNT OF PUBLIC INPUT.
AND I HAVE NO IDEA OF HOW TO GO ABOUT DOING IT.
IF YOU GIVE THE PUBLIC I WILL SAY MR. I BELIEVE, AND I'VE LOOKED BACK HISTORICALLY.
I THINK WE HAVE DONE WORKSHOPS WHERE WE'VE ALLOWED.
YES, BUT I WAS GOING TO ASK ME, YOU KNOW, MY FEAR IS IF WE DO AN OPEN PUBLIC DISCUSSION, WE MIGHT HAVE FIVE HOURS AND WE CAN'T DO THAT.
I MEAN, IT'S JUST GOING TO BE A PARADE.
SO I, YOU KNOW, MAYBE WE HAVE, HE TALKED ABOUT LIMITING IT TO 90 MINUTES AND MAYBE WE HAVE 90 MINUTES, BUT WE HAVE 30 MINUTES OF PUBLIC INPUT AND THEY DRAW DRAW NAMES TO SEE WHO GETS TO SPEAK OR ARE, DO SOME KIND OF METHOD OR HAVE A, I DON'T KNOW WHAT, THAT'S, WHY I WANT
[02:40:01]
BOARD LEADERSHIP TO GET WITH MR. HEFNER TO DO IT BECAUSE I DON'T WANT THE PUBLIC TO FEEL LOCKED OUT BECAUSE IT'S A WORKSHOP, BUT I ALSO DON'T WANT UNLIMITED ABILITY WHERE WE COULD BE HERE FOR DAYS.I, HE DID SOME CREATIVE STUFF WITH THE TEXT PLAN THAT I THOUGHT.
SO I, I WOULD ADD, JUST MAKE A REQUEST FOR BOARD LEADERSHIP TO WORK WITH MR. HAFFNER, TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO WORK THAT INTO THE WORKSHOP PORTION.
UH, BOARD MEMBER, BERNARD, MR. SHANLEY, YOU WOULD'VE DONE.
THE OTHER THING THAT WE NEED TO BE MINDFUL OF IS THAT MR. HEFLIN HAS OTHER CLIENTS.
AND HE HAS OTHER MEETINGS AND A SCHEDULE THAT MAY NOT BE AS FLEXIBLE AS, SO WE DEFINITELY NEED ALL OF THAT INFORMATION FROM MR. HEFLIN BEFORE YOU BEGIN POLLING THE BOARD.
THAT'S IT SEEING NO OTHER BOARD COMMENT NOW, REMIND ME, CAUSE WE ALL ON THE SUBSTITUTE MOTION, WE HAVE NOT.
GOTTA GO TO THE PUBLIC ON THE SUBSTITUTE MOTION, SUBSTITUTE MOTION TO MOVE FORWARD TO ESSENTIALLY WAIT UNTIL JANUARY 13TH TO DECIDE THE TIMELINE IS THE NATURE IS THE NATURE OF THE MOTION.
SO CERTAINLY WE NEED TO HAVE PUBLIC COMMENT IN THE TIMELINE, REGARDLESS OF HOW Y'ALL FIGURED THAT OUT.
SEEING NO OTHER PUBLIC COMMENT ON THE SUBSTITUTE MOTION TO WAIT UNTIL JANUARY 13TH TO DETERMINE OUR TIMELINE FOR THE REDISTRICTING.
BACK TO THE BOARD, SEEING NO FURTHER BOARD COMMENT, MADAM SECRETARY, PLEASE CALL THE VOTE ON THE SUBSTITUTE MOTION.
[J. 2. Litigation]
FORWARD WITH ITEM J TO LITIGATION RECOMMENDED ACTION CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST FOR THE APPROVAL OF THE RECOMMENDATION FROM GENERAL COUNSEL, GLEN SHAMBLIN IN THE MATTER OF RACHEL RILEY VS EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM AT ALL SUIT NUMBER C 6 99, 1 43, SECTION 25 AND THE 19TH, J D C N EASTBOUND ROUGE PARISH, AND TO PROVIDE FOR RELATED MATTERS.CAN I GET A MOTION BOARD MEMBER GO DAY AND BOARD MEMBER OR BOARD MEMBER GO DAY? YES, VERY BRIEFLY.
YOU KNOW, UH, I KNOW WHEN I GET INTO THE DETAILS OF THIS CASE, BUT AS WE MOVE FORWARD, I WANT TO ASK AGAIN THAT WE MAKE SOME KIND OF A REVIEW OF WHETHER OR NOT, OR HOW WE CAN GET CAMERAS BACK ON OUR BUSES BECAUSE 99% OF THESE LAWSUITS INVOLVE BUSES.
AND A LOT OF THEM COME DOWN TO, HE SAID, WE SAID, AND, UM, IT WOULD JUST BE NICE IF WE COULD HAVE SOME KIND OF VIDEO EVIDENCE ON SOME OF THESE.
AND I THINK IT WOULD DO TWO THINGS.
ONE, OUR BUS DRIVERS DRIVE VERY SAFELY, BUT I THINK IF THEY KNOW THERE'S A CAMERA, THEY MIGHT EVEN BE MORE SAFE.
AND THEN SECONDLY, WHERE THERE'S DISPUTE, AT LEAST WE GOT SOME VIDEO EVIDENCE, SO IT HAS NOTHING TO DO DIRECTLY WITH THIS CASE.
BUT I JUST WOULD LIKE TO KEEP THAT ON THE FOREFRONT THAT WE, WE THINK ABOUT DOING SO GERMANE TO LITIGATION IN GENERAL.
SEE IT, NO OTHER REQUEST TO SPEAK FROM THE BOARD.
ANY PUBLIC COMMENT, SEEING NO PUBLIC COMMENT BACK TO THE BOARD SEEING NO FOR THE BOARD COMMENT.
MADAM SECRETARY, PLEASE CALL IT.
I CAME TO SPEAK ON LITIGATION BECAUSE WE, IN TIME THEY HAVE TOO MUCH DEDICATION.
Y'ALL KNEW I WAS NOT GOING TO MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK ON THAT.
THERE'S A WAY THAT WE CAN RESOLVE LITIGATION.
AND IT IS JUST SIMPLY BY MAKING OUR CHILDREN THAT OUR PRIORITIES, EVERY STUDENT, EVERY DAY,
[02:45:01]
I HIT THE NICE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET WITH THE COW.I DEAL WITH LITIGATION WITH HIM AND SEE THOSE ATKINSON GUYS QUITE A BIT.
IT'S JUST AS SIMPLE AS MAKING SURE THE MONEY HIT THE CLASSROOM, MAKING SURE THAT WE ACTUALLY MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE STAFF THAT'S APPRECIATED, NOT BULLIED APPRECIATED SHOW OUR FAMILIES THAT THEY MATTER BECAUSE WE ACTUALLY HAVE, PARENTS HAS BEEN TAKEN OUT OF TIME FROM THEIR BUSY SCHEDULES TO ACTUALLY COME IN AND SPEAK.
AND WE SOMETIMES JUST FORGET THAT THEY'RE HUMAN TOO.
AND THAT THEY HAVE A LOT ON THEIR PLATE.
WE CAN PREVENT LITIGATION JUST BY SIMPLY DOING WHAT'S RIGHT.
EVERY STUDENT EVERY DAY WANTS TO BE LOVED.
THEY WANTS TO RECEIVE A MAIL AND THEY WANT TO RECEIVE AN APPROPRIATE EDUCATION.
THEY PARENTS DO NOT WANT TO SPEND MONEY FOR LAWYERS WHEN THEY COULD BE SPENDING THEIR MONEY ON CLOTHES FOR THEIR KIDS.
SO LET'S LOOK AT MAKING SURE THAT WE PREVENT LITIGATION BY JUST DOING WHAT'S RIGHT.
AND I KNOW WE HAVE A LOT OF TASK FORCE ADVISORY BOARDS THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO RECOMMEND MANY THINGS TO HELP DR.
NRCS WITH MAKING THESE IMPORTANT DECISIONS THAT IMPACT OUR KIDS.
AND LET'S MAKE SURE THAT OUR PARENTS ARE EXTREMELY INFORMED BECAUSE RIGHT NOW THEY'RE NOT.
BUT IF WE WANT TO PREVENT THE LITIGATION, IT'S JUST AS SIMPLE.
YOU HAVE SOME GRASS ROOTS ORGANIZATIONS THAT ACTUALLY HELP YOU STEP UP IS ONE OF THEM DO WHAT'S RIGHT.
AND I LOVE EACH AND EVERY BOARD MEMBER I PRAY HERE.
I HAVE A BLESSED AND WONDERFUL HOLIDAY AND I PRAY THAT WE CAN RESOLVE THE LITIGATION WITHOUT GOING INTO THE COURTROOM.
KINDLY SAYING NO OTHER PUBLIC COMMENT BACK TO THE BOARD SAYING NO REQUEST TO SPEAK FROM THE BOARD.
MADAM SECRETARY, PLEASE CALL THE VOTE.
[J. 3. Superintendent Performance Evaluation]
FORWARD TO ITEM THREE SUPERINTENDENTS, PERFORMANCE EVALUATION.AND, UH, THE SUPERINTENDENT HAS REQUESTED THAT, WHICH HE HAS A LEGAL RIGHT TO DO JUST AS ALL EMPLOYEES, UM, AS AN HR POLICY HAVE A RIGHT TO, AND BY LAW HAVE A RIGHT TO, UH, EXECUTIVE SESSION WITH DISCUSSING THEIR PERFORMANCE OR ITEMS RELATED TO PERSONNEL MATTERS.
AND SO THE BOARD WE'RE AT THIS TIME, I NEED THE MOTION, HUH? AND YOU NEED A MOTION TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION.
THAT'S GOING TO REQUIRE TWO THIRDS VOTE.
THERE'LL BE FIVE OF THE PRESENT MEMBERS.
AND SO ARE WE WOULDN'T TAKE A VOTE AND DO, UH, UH, BOARD THEN AUDIENCE DISCUSSIONS.
ON GOING TO EXECUTIVE SESSION, NOT ON HIS PERFORMANCE, WHETHER THEY IS GOOD OR BAD IN YOUR OPINION.
JUST ON US GOING INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION.
AND SO YOU NEED A MOTION AND A SECOND MORE MEMBER, LANTIS AND BOARD MEMBER BALLOU CNO REQUEST TO SPEAK FROM THE BOARD REGARDING GOING INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION C NO REQUEST, NO PUBLIC COMMENT ONGOING INTO EXECUTIVE, BACK TO THE BOARD, SEEING NONE, MADAM SECRETARY ON US GOING INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION.
[02:50:32]
PLEASE VOTE.SO WE WILL NOW GO INTO WE'LL NOW GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION AND THE BOARD MEMBER OF CONFERENCE ROOM RIGHT BEHIND US.
AND WE WILL RETURN AFTER WE FINISHED OUR EXECUTIVE SESSION, WE ARE OFFICIALLY OUT OF EXECUTIVE SESSION.
[K. 1. Announcement of Meetings]
TO ITEM K ONE AND LAST MINUTE OF MEETINGS BY A BELOVED COLLEAGUE, UH, MARTIN BLUE.UH, WE'LL HAVE A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING TO BE HELD ON JANUARY 13TH, 2022 AT 5:00 PM AT THE CENTRAL OFFICE BOARDROOM AND A REGULAR BOARD MEETING TO BE HELD ON JANUARY 20TH, 2022 AT 5:00 PM AT THE CENTRAL OFFICE BOARDROOM.
UM, ALSO, UM, UM, THERE WILL BE A BOARD WORKSHOP ON REDISTRICTING, UH, TO BE, UH, AT THE WE'RE GOING TO HOLD IT AT THE CENTRAL BOARD OFFICE ON JANUARY 6TH, AT 5:00 PM.
AND WITH THAT, CAN I GET A MOTION? OH, I KNOW.
I CAN ALWAYS COUNT ALL YOU KYLIE.