2019-2020 School Calendar Adopted

With little discussion, the Lincoln Parish School Board adopted the district’s 2019-2020 calendar at last night’s meeting.

Assistant Superintendent Lisa Bastion said the calendar is similar to that of last year.

Said she, “There’s 170 1/2 instructional days. There’s 8 professional development days for teachers. We’re incorporating a fall break, around Columbus Day in October.”

Superintendent Mike Milstead said advertising and interviews for principals at I. A. Lewis and Ruston High School will be scheduled soon.

Business Manager George Murphy reported that the May salary supplement checks would be distributed on May 24.

Teachers and other certified employees will receive $5825, and non-certified employees will receive $2,913.

See here the memo.

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School Board Tomorrow

The Lincoln Parish School Board will meet tomorrow (Tuesday, 3/5), 6:00 PM, Central Office, 410 South Farmerville Street.

Here’s the agenda.

LPSB Audit Shows No Issues

The latest audit for the Lincoln Parish School District was an “unmodified opinion,” it was reported at last night’s meeting of the Lincoln Parish School Board.

The district’s financial statements showed no material misstatements. Simply put, you can believe the numbers that the district’s business department reports.

Margie Williamson, Audit Manager of Allen, Green & Williamson also noted that the report for the period ending 6/30/18 had no findings.

“Our opinion is an unmodified opinion, without any exceptions. That means that the financial statements as presented are fairly stated, without any exceptions. That is the best opinion you can get on your financial statements,” Williamson said.

In other business, the board heard several monthly reports, including personnel, sales taxes, financial, and health plan.

Lincoln Parish School Board Tomorrow

The Lincoln Parish School Board will meet Tuesday, February 5, 6:00 PM, Central Office, 410 South Farmerville Street.

Here’s the agenda.

Former Lincoln Parish School Board Member Cited

Eddie Milton Jones, a former Lincoln Parish School Board member (District 2) was last year cited by the Louisiana Board of Ethics and fined for violation of the state’s nepotism law.

Jones was cited thus:

…that Eddie M. Jones, while serving as a member of the Lincoln Parish School Board, violated La. R.S. 42:1 l19B by virtue of the employment of his son, Otis Jones, with the Lincoln Parish School Board.

The younger Jones was employed as a paraprofessional at the Louisiana Methodist Children’s Home in 2013. Since the children’s home receives school board funding for a Title I program position, it was ruled that his employment was a violation.

Eddie Jones served on the school board from 2007 to 2015, and was defeated in 2014 by incumbent David Ferguson.

A $1000 joint penalty was levied against Eddie and Otis Jones, to be paid in full by 11/15/18.

While the violation occurred in 2013, the investigation was conducted in secret and the findings were not released until this past December.

See here the complete Ethics Board document.

In Today’s Mail

This arrived in our mail today. Postmarked Shreveport, LA, 1/14/19. No return address.

The First Amendment in action.

A Plenitude of LPSO Deputies @ Cypress Springs Elem Yesterday

A notable item at yesterday morning’s meeting of the Lincoln Parish School Board was the presence of several Lincoln Parish School Resource Officers at the Cypress Springs Elementary School off Maple Avenue.

Part of the discussion about more taxes for Lincoln Parish property owners had been the claim that more officers were needed to protect parish schoolchildren. For sure, there was no shortage of deputies yesterday.

Perhaps those officers were there to make sure the handful of uppity taxpayers who dared to show up at the meeting to question the new tax plan didn’t become too unruly.

After all, we can’t allow the folks who actually pay the bills have a say in how the money’s spent, can we?

Lincoln School Tax Plan Deleted from Agenda

In a surprise move, the Lincoln Parish School Board this morning removed a planned tax vote from the board’s agenda.

Had the board vote taken place and approved, a May, 2019 parish-wide tax election would have been called. If passed, the plan would have levied an additional 11.6 mil property tax to pay for various school programs and capital improvements.

See here the resolution.

Making the motion to amend the agenda was Danny Hancock (District 5), and seconding was Lisa Best (District 8).

The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

Board President Joe Mitcham (District 6) said that more discussion needed to take place before any tax election could be held.

Said Mitcham, “We going to study it further – there’s several issues on that we need to consider. As of this time, it’s not going to be on the ballot.”

Reportedly, school board members heard from many of their constituents who were vociferously opposed to a new tax.

Several citizens – and at least one Police Juror – were in the audience who appeared to be ready to speak against the plan.

In other business the board re-elected Joe Mitcham as President, and Lynda Henderson as Vice-President.

Lincoln School Board to Vote on Property Tax Hike

The Lincoln Parish School Board will vote next Tuesday on whether or not to proceed with a May 4 parish-wide property tax referendum for assorted capital projects and school operations. If the board votes no, the tax proposition dies. If the board votes yes, an election will be scheduled.

The two resolutions would levy a 9.8 mil tax for ten years for operations, and a 1.8 mil tax for twenty years for the capital projects.

See here the resolutions.

See here a breakdown on how the money is to be spent.

The two largest expenditures for the operations tax are $1.2 million for the summer school program and $1.4 million for general operations.

The largest capital project is $4 million for construction of sixth-grade classrooms at Ruston Junior High. Currently, sixth-graders attend I. A. Lewis. That facility will be used for the summer school program.

The meeting will be Tuesday, January 8, 10:30 AM, Cypress Springs School, 1040 Saratoga Street.

Here’s the agenda.

Are Lincoln Teachers Opposing a New Property Tax?

This memo was published yesterday on Ruston Rants. Though we cannot vouch for the veracity of the authors, it has reportedly been sent to school board members.

From a group of teachers to our Lincoln Parish School board members.

1. We do not agree with the proposed property tax and will not vote for it. We will do everything in our power to make sure it does not pass.

2. We think the move sixth grade to the junior high would be a disaster. Kids love the one year at IAL and we do not want a large middle school. The junior high is a tough place and has struggled the last several years. Making it larger will only magnify the problems and involve younger children in the issues.

3. We have SRO officers assigned to every school and they are present in our schools. We do not need to say we will provide more officers for more time until we see the exact amount needed and how much we plan to give them. A property tax is probably not needed for this.

4. Teachers will not vote for this tax because of a $500 raise. After taxes, that will be $20 a month and not worth it.

5. Our teachers in this parish need a substantial raise to increase applications and interest in our parish. Teacher quality is everything and is going down. The surrounding parishes make more money that Lincoln. People used to be to teach in this parish but now we can’t find enough teachers.

6. Teachers are still mad that Mike Milstead got a raise. Why? Why? Why? Teachers have not had a raise in years and HE got a raise. We were scared to make a big deal of this but were stunned that you would want to give him a raise and stunned he would take it.

7. Mike Milstead is selling his house and moving to Shreveport but he wants us to pass a property tax.

8. Teacher morale is very low. It is time to focus on how to meet our students needs rather than build buildings like the STEM building. That was another mistake.

9. The enhanced summer school is a joke despite the wonderful presentation given to the board a while back. Attendance last summer was horrible. Students had constant field trips and activities to try to keep them happy. Is the enhanced summer school worth $1 million every summer? Until students attend on a regular basis and there is more time spent on academics instead of fun, it will not get results. First it was for low level students then it was for anybody we could convince to come. We got desperate for anyone.

10. What would be wrong with waiting for several years of data to make sure the summer school is worth clearing a building out for it? Why spend millions to move sixth grade before we even know summer school will last for the long haul?

11. We wish you could visit our schools more. We wish we felt safe to talk to you. We need your help. We are scared to talk to you, and Mike Milstead does not want to hear our ideas and he certainly does not want to talk to you.

12. Why do you allow Mike Milstead to hire an extra attorney to “sugar coat” things like summer school and a property tax. If we have to hire someone to sell an idea we probably do not need it. Has anyone asked what we are paying for that?

13. Mike Milstead wants to spend money on buildings and big ideas and is going to spend all our money and retire. Why do we rush into spending large amounts of money? How much has he spent in his time as superintendent? Please check the money. HE LOVES TO SPEND MONEY.

14. Please listen and help us. This tax will be a mistake and it will be embarrassing when it does not pass.

WE WANT LINCOLN PARISH TO BE THE BEST!

Here is the original which was also sent to us Tuesday night.