Acadia School Board elects new officers, hears reports

Image
Body

With no meeting set for January, there was actually one item that needed to be taken care of before hitting February: The election of officers.
Doug LaCombe, who had served for four years as president as the board’s president, offered up his thanks for an opportunity to serve.
“Before I open up the floor for the election of officers, I’d like to thank this board for the past four years for allowing me to be your president,” he said. “There’s no ‘I’ in team. There was ‘we’ and ‘us’.”
LaCombe officially termed as president after serving two consecutive two-year terms at the school board’s helm.
He then opened up nominations for president. James Higginbotham was nominated and ran unopposed.
“Thank you, guys,” said Higginbotham. “I have big shoes to fill.”
Higginbotham then opened the floor for nominations for vice president.
On a motion by Rev. James Proctor and a second by John Suire, David Lalande was nominated. On a motion by Lacombe and a second by Milton Simar, Delo Hebert was offered up as a second nominee.
The roll call vote fell 4-3, with Gene Daigle absent from Monday’s meeting. Though he had offered up Lalande as a nominee via letter, his absence allowed for no vote.
Those voting for Lalande were: Proctor, Lalande and Suire.
Those voting for Hebert were: LaCombe, Simar, Hebert and Higginbotham.
The special session was adjourned following this action.
During the Personnel, Insurance and Curriculum Committee meeting, board members in attendance all heard three reports. First up, Johnson Controls, Inc.
When JCI last visited the Acadia Parish School Board it was concluding its energy-efficiency project with Acadia Parish. Monday, JCI was showing the first year of the data and more.
According to JCI, Acadia saved, in total, the parish was actually $80,000 above its estimated savings.
JCI also recommended several recommendations for the district to save more money. For example, the aggressive occupancy sensor is currently set for 30 to 45 minutes, pending room, but JCI proposes dropping that down to 15 minutes. It also recommended getting with school principals to customize summer schedules and gym schedules. JCI also has a few other items that can be turned off at certain intervals (i.e. summertime) such as domestic hot water heaters and water fountains.
All of these can always be flexed as problems arise if changes are made.
While discussing the items with the board, they also mentioned JCI is also looking at adding a control that will put schools into holiday mode when, for example, weather closes schools.
Second, the board went over its spring testing schedules, which blended into the third and final item on the agenda, a report from the district’s supervisor of media/technology, Darla LeJeune.
The schedule shows changes this year thanks to online testing for grades five and up starting this year.
Though many express worry that the students are not ready for the leap to computerized online testing, LeJeune assured the board that “the kids are ready.”
LeJeune showed a presentation full of pictures that showed just how much the students are already using computers.
LeJeune explained that over the summer, the technology department held seminars on troubleshooting computers for any district employee wanting to learn. Over 300 participated on their own free will. Thus, she explained that now the schools have several people that understand how to work through some of the small hiccups that can occur with computers, perfect for a school district with only four computer techs that’s moving to online testing.
She also added that over 2,500 Chromebooks have been added to the district and each school has many devices that are used daily by the students.
“There is not a school in a district that doesn’t have enough devices,” said LeJeune.
“South Crowley doesn’t,” countered Hebert.
“They’re about to place a pretty big order,” replied LeJeune. “And they do have some to start.”
Spring testing begins April 3 and rolls through May 19, technically. The extended time frame is due to the usage of computers this year and making sure every student has a chance to take the test and has a device to do so. During this time the following tests will be given:
— EOC (end-of-course) – algebra I, biology, English II, English III, geometry and U.S. history: April 24 through May 19.
— LEAP 2025 (computer-based) – grades five through eight, English language arts, math and social studies: April 3 through May 5
— LEAP 2025 (paper-based) – grades three and four, English language arts, math, science and social studies: May 1 through May 5
— LEAP 2025 (paper-based) – grades five through eight, science: May 5
Other tests this spring include the ACT (grade 11 and qualifying students in grade 12) on March 21; and the ELDA (English Language Development Assessment), given to all ESL (English as a second language) students and the LAA (Louisiana Alternate Assessment), given to qualifying special education students in grades three through 11, to be taken between Feb. 6 through March 16.