By Kyle Roberts
The Lincoln Parish School Board met Tuesday night to discuss a variety of topics including the dissemination of the stipend checks for December, along with holding meetings at various parish schools in the post-COVID era.
Following the approval of minutes, finance committee chair George Mack presented the two plans for the Dec. 19 stipend payments to qualifying teachers and staff. Both measures passed unanimously.
The majority of the public comment came from the unfinished business portion where there was discussion on holding school board meetings at different schools around the parish.
Donna Doss of District 4 talked about the benefits from October’s meeting being held at Dubach High School in her district.
“I will tell you, it was so enjoyable to my faculty and the staff there,” Doss said. “I went back and volunteered two days after the meeting and they thanked me. We had a lot of visitors. We had parents and grandparents. We had community members who came, and I dare to say half the board has never been to Dubach School.
“It did so much for the morale of those teachers.And I would like for everybody to have the opportunity to shine like Dubach did that day. And those of you who attended, I thank you so much. It meant a lot to that school.”
The public sentiment during the comment period was in regards to the school board meetings held at various school campuses being at 12 p.m., which is suggested as a difficult time of day for the general public to attend.
The school board then voted to have meetings at the following locations and dates:
- Jan. 9, 2024 – Glenview Elementary School
- Feb. 6, 2024 – Ruston Elementary
- April 9, 2024 – Simsboro School
Dr. Danielle Williams of District 1 then made the recommendation for the LPSB to look into the logistics for livestreaming school board meetings moving forward. The school board will need to ensure that in doing so that it is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The LPSB then voted unanimously to request permission to advertise for Internet, WAN Circuits, Network Equipment and Buried Fiber, and then unanimously again on the 2024 Group Insurance Plan renewals and premiums.
LPSB Superintendent Ricky Durret later reported that 518 students were given an invitation to the National Honor Society, with 136 following up with applications, and in total 72 Ruston High School students have been accepted into the NHS.
Finally, David Ferguson of District 2 singled out LPSB transportation supervisor Doc Hoefler for overseeing the new bus routes and the ability to still take care of the students during the first major rainfall of 2023.
“I just want to say that they did a wonderful job taking care of those kids,” Ferguson said.
