The Acadia Parish School Board met on Monday for the first meeting of the new year — the first for newly elected board members.
Highlighting the meeting was the swearing in of members by Clerk of Court Robert “Robby” Barousse.
Those newly elected members include, Becky Atkinson, District 4; Steve Jones, District 6; and Ike Richard, District 6. Returning board members include, James Proctor, District 1; Douglas Lacombe, District 2; Delo Hebert, District 3; James Higginbotham, District 7; and Milton Simar, District 8.
School board officers were elected with Higginbotham to serve as president and Hebert as vice-president.
Agenda items included the adoption of recognition resolution declaring January of 2019 as Louisiana School Board Member Recognition month, calling attention to the public service of all 643 locally elected school members that govern 69 school systems in Louisiana.
Board members each read a segment of the resolution recognizing that the education of Louisiana’s school-aged children is the foundation upon which the economic, social and intellectual capital in our state is built.
The resolution notes that locally elected school boards play an important and vital role in a representative democracy and decisions made by local boards of education directly influence instruction in Louisiana’s Public schools and affect all school age or future school age children, therefore, setting students up to be competitive in local and global economy.
Local school board members work with parents, business, education professionals, all elected officials and other community members to set an educational vision.
This year’s them of Louisiana School Board Recognition Month is,“School Boards Matter,” which reflects the relevance of local school board members as they advocate for public education.
Next, the board adopted the Acadia Parish School Board Code of Conduct in alignment with Acadia Parish School Board Policy. The board took turns reading segments of the Code of Conduct, and agreed to endeavor to meet and adhere to the regulations as adopted by the Louisiana School Boards Association for all elected school boards.
Routine items included considering dates for future committee and regular board meetings through July. The board agreed to all dates except for one with a possible schedule conflict.
The next committee meeting will be held on Jan. 28 at 5 p.m. at the school board meeting room and the next board meeting will be held on Feb. 4 at 5 p.m.
Discussion items included receiving an overview of Acadia Parish and District State Accountability information.
Superintendent Scott Richard explained that letter grades are reflective of last year’s performance, the state raised the bar from the past.
Each school principal was presented a report card from their schools.
(More on Accountability Information will be included in Thursday’s edition)