Sawyer, Wheat National Merit Scholars

Special Recognitions

Elizabeth Sawyer and Valerie Wheat were at last night’s meeting of the Lincoln Parish School Board (LPSB) recognized as National Merit Scholarship winners for the 2010-2011 school year. Both young ladies are 2011 graduates of Ruston High School (RHS).

See here their bios:

Elizabeth Sawyer : daughter of Lee and Carol Sawyer. RHS graduate; 4.0 GPA, 34 ACT, member of Debate Team, National Honor Society, and French Club. Active in her church – Trinity Methodist and volunteers at Christian Community Action. She was the September Rotary Club Student of the Year. Elizabeth will be attending Tulane University in the Fall.

Valerie Wheat : daughter of Richard and Robbie Wheat. RHS graduate; 3.8 GPA, 33 ACT, member of the RHS Choir and Spanish Club. Active in her church – Trinity Methodist. She plans to major in biological sciences and go into pharmacy. She was also the September Rotary Club Student of the Year. Valerie will be attending Louisiana Tech University this Fall.

See here their pics in the June RHS Chatterbox student newspaper.

Also recognized last night was RHS Freshmen Academy (9th grade) English Teacher Emily Howell as Region Eight teacher of the year. She will compete for the Louisiana Teacher of Year award next month in Baton Rouge.

LPSB Personnel Reductions

During the meeting it was revealed that the LPSB would be reducing by about 16 its personnel head count – now around 900 total.

It was emphasized there would be no layoffs, but that the reductions would come from not replacing recent retirees or resignations. The reductions have not yet been specified, but could come in any area of the district – central office or individual schools.

According to LPSB business manager George Murphy, the goal is to save about $1 million from next year’s budget and is a result of continued soft sales tax collections, cutbacks to the state’s Minimum Foundation Plan (MFP) funding, and continued increases in health care and retirement costs.

Murphy also presented the financial reports at last night’s meeting. Compare the 4/30/11 fund balance to that of 3/31/11 and 4/30/10.

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