PROCEEDINGS OF THE ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

RESERVE, LA – SPECIAL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 28, 2023

 

 

The Chair called the meeting to order and read the following call:

 

Upon call of the President, the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board will meet in special session at Godchaux Grammar Cafeteria, 1600 Highway 44, Reserve, Louisiana, on Tuesday, November 28, 2023, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.

 

ITEM 1.  CALL TO ORDER, INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

 

The Chair called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. and called for the invocation (led by Board Member Samual Mamou), followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

ITEM 2. ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS:

 

PRESENT:     Holden, Burl, Triche, Morris, Defrancesch, Frizzell, Mamou, Schum, Mitchell-Williams, Vicknair, Wallace

ABSENT:      

 

There were 11 members present and 0 members absent.

 

ITEM 3. Public Comment.  In accordance with Louisiana Revised Statute 42:17(A)(1), the Board may enter into executive session to discuss the character and/or competence or physical or mental health of the applicants for Superintendent.

 

Public Comment:  Demetria Robinson-Carter, Ann Harvey, Yvette Scioneaux, Alvin Scioneaux

 

MOTION BY:      Triche

SECOND BY:     Mitchell-Williamsr

MOTION:           Motion to convene in executive session.

Roll Call:

11 Yeas – Holden, Burl, Triche, Morris, Defrancesch, Frizzell, Mamou, Schum, Mitchell-Williams, Vicknair, Wallace

 0 Absent

The motion carried.

 

The Board convened in executive session at 8:06 p.m.

 

MOTION BY:      Mitchell-Williams

SECOND BY:     Vicknair

MOTION:           Motion to reconvene in regular session.

Roll Call:

11 Yeas – Holden, Burl, Triche, Morris, Defrancesch, Frizzell, Mamou, Schum, Mitchell-Williams, Vicknair, Wallace

 0 Absent

The motion carried.

 

ITEM 4.  Public Comment. Discussion and determination of the number of finalists for the Superintendent position

 

Public Comment:  Annette Houston, Demetria Robinson-Carter, Yvette Scioneaux, Ann Harvey, Stefanie Aubert, Derron Cook, Alvin Scioneaux, Madeline Jasmine, Gaynell Noble

 

MOTION BY:    Triche

SECOND BY:   DeFrancesch

MOTION:           Motion to select 2 applicants to reinterview and in the event of a tie for the 2nd spot, the Board will vote between the 2 applicants that tie, to secure the 2nd spot.

 

SUBSTITUTE MOTION BY:  Morris

SECOND BY:   Mamou

MOTION:           Motion to select 3 applicants to reinterview and in the event of a tie for the 2nd and/or 3rd spot, the Board will vote between the applicants that are tied.

 

 

2nd SUBSTITUTE MOTION BY:  Holden

SECOND BY:   Morris

MOTION:           Motion to waive policy to amend the agenda.

Roll Call:

In order to waive policy to amend the agenda, there must be a unanimous vote, and upon roll call, Mrs. Triche voted nay, which ended the vote to waive policy.

 

Upon roll call on the Substitute Motion by Mr. Morris, seconded by Mamou, there was:

5 Yeas – Holden, Burl, Morris, Mamou, Wallace

6 Nays – Triche, DeFrancesch, Frizzell, Schum, Mitchell-Williams, Vicknair

The motion failed.

 

Upon roll call on the Original Motion by Triche, seconded by Ms. DeFrancesch, there was:

6 Yeas – Triche, DeFrancesch, Frizzell, Schum, Mitchell-Williams, Vicknair

5 Nays – Holden, Burl, Morris, Mamou, Wallace

The motion carried.

 

ITEM 5.  Public Comment.  Selection of the finalists for the Superintendent position.

 

Public Comment:  Ann Harvey, Yvette Scioneaux, Derron Cook, Clarissa Alvis, Sylvia Taylor, Alvin Scioneaux, Carol Mills, Demetria Robinson-Carter

 

MOTION BY:    Triche

SECOND BY:   Schum

MOTION:           Motion to proceed with the voting ballots and choose the order of interviews by random allotment.

6 Yeas – Triche, DeFrancesch, Frizzell, Schum, Mitchell-Williams, Vicknair

5 Nays – Holden, Burl, Morris, Mamou, Wallace

The motion carried.

 

Before the voting started, Mr. Burl asked that the following be placed in the record:  “This Board has actually hired a Superintendent, this Board currently hired an Interim Superintendent when Mrs. Johnson left in May.  After that, we selected someone 2 months after that, in August, they hired a company called SLC to come in and tutor Central Office positions, when we had someone in house that has pretty much been keeping us afloat for the last 5 years.  Back in, two meetings ago, I stated that we are in the same situation we were in 2020 with Hookfin, former superintendent as far as we didn’t’ have a CFO, a Purchasing Director, no one over Technology, or HR. At that time, in December 17, 2013, CRI did its audit and in the audit, they say that in our audit, they found several deficiencies, stating that there were several people in hierarchy, those individuals, currently was the observation, 9 of 10 business office employees are eligible for retirement from the Teachers Retirement of Louisiana.  The potential for multiple business office employees to retire in the near future could result in a significant disruption in the day to day operations and financial processes of the school system.  This report was done in June 2013.  Also, another finding, Hurricane Recovery Project – currently all federally funded Hurricane Isaac repair projects are accounted for in the school board’s accounting records using one of two project codes.  Expenses are not coded based on individual project worksheets that have been approved by FEMA.  Since I’ve been here, I know that Mr. Boughton didn’t do this alone, because he was training Mr. Bob to take his position, so in actuality, this is how we had before David left, someone in technology always supported someone in the financial department.  So, I say all that to say we are back in the situation whereas there’s no time for on the job training, remember 2 years ago, we had an uproar thinking we didn’t have money, and come to find out, we had the money, we just didn’t know where it was. I said that and also there was a Board meeting where we didn’t amend the agenda and put that on the record also. So just as I said it, in the Legislative Audit of 2021, the description of finance, this is all on the website, as a result of the school, board having vacancy in the CFO position, reconciliation and (inaudible) was not performed in a timely manner and a vacancy in the CFO position resulted in internal control weakness.  Then in another audit finding, testing and distribution and related accounting transactions was noted that proper approvals were not documented in the process. This resulted in internal control weakness for the School Board.  In another audit finding, during audit testing, it was noted that the School Board did not comply with all the requirements of Louisiana law (inaudible).  The reason why I said that, Mr. Wallace, under Board Policy, I have 10 minutes to respond, so the reason why I’m saying this, we are at the same position we were in 2020 with those key positions  We have newly hired CFO, the Purchasing Director is scheduled to retire in December, we need to hire a HR Director and also the technology director, we don’t have someone in technology.  So, we need to be looking at someone that has some kind of familiarity with all those positions, and if not, we going to be back in the same position with the legislative auditor with them watching our books.”

 

Mrs. Vicknair asked that the following be placed in the record:  “Although I did have to leave early yesterday, I stayed as late as I could, I am a mom of young children and I am very sorry that I had to leave early, thanks to Mr. Cook recording the interviews, I was able to go through, watch the recordings, do my due diligence and I completed the same pros and cons list  on my spreadsheet tab that I did on the previous day’s interviews.  I just wanted it on the record that I sat and watched the full interviews for all 5 candidates.”

 

The Board each chose 2 names on their ballot and the Board President read the names.  The tally was as follows:

 

Holden:  Barry Filce and Kelli Joseph

Burl:  Kelli Joseph and Cleo Perry

Triche:  Jason Beber and Cleo Perry

Morris: Kelli Joseph and Cleo Perry

DeFrancesch:  Jason Beber and Cleo Perry

Frizzell:  Jason Beber and Cleo Perry

Mamou:  Kelli Joseph and Cleo Perry

Schum:  Jason Beber and Cleo Perry

Wallace:  Barry Filce and Kelli Joseph

Mitchell-Williams:  Jason Beber and Cleo Perry

Vicknair:  Jason Beber and Cleo Perry

 

The two finalists, who will be interviewed for a second time on December 4, 2023 at 6:00 p.m., are:

Jason Beber and Cleo Perry

 

The 2 names were placed in a hat and drawn for the order of interviews.  Cleo Perry will be interviewed first and Jason Beber will be interviewed second.

 

MOTION BY:  Triche

SECOND BY:     DeFrancesch

MOTION:           Motion to waive policy to amend the agenda to set protocols for the December 4th meeting.

Roll Call:

In order to waive policy to amend the agenda, there must be a unanimous vote, and upon roll call, Mr. Morris voted nay, which ended the vote to waive policy.

 

Mr. Wallace announced that the Board Workshop scheduled for November 30, 2023 has been cancelled.

 

ITEM 5.  ADJOURNMENT

 

The agenda having been completed, and there being no further business, there was a

 

MOTION BY:      Mitchell-Williams

SECOND BY:  Vicknair

MOTION:           Motion for adjournment.

Roll Call:

11 Yeas – Holden, Burl, Triche, Morris, DeFrancesch, Frizzell, Mamou, Schum, Mitchell-Williams, Vicknair, Wallace

The motion carried.

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:39 p.m.

 

 

________________________________                                      ________________________________

Kendria Spears, Secretary                                                         Shawn Wallace, President