Board does about-face, OK’s $2.9 M for more classes

The Terrebonne Parish School Board had a change of heart last Tuesday, opting to spend $2.9 million for additional modular classrooms it had previously denied.

Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, Lisa Park Elementary, Broadmoor Elementary, Oakshire Elementary and Caldwell Middle schools will house students in new digs.

“It’s only fair that we [the school board] allot more funds to the modular classrooms to accommodate the overflow of students,” said Superintendent Ed Richard Jr.

Each modular building has a $757,946 price tag.

The board has stipulated that the four additional modular buildings be constructed after the previously budgeted ones are completed in the summer. Those include Schriever Elementary, East Houma Elementary, Acadian Elementary, Honduras Elementary, Bourg Elementary and Coteau-Bayou Blue Middle schools.

“Coteau-Bayou Blue Middle School’s modular classroom has moved from the review stage and is waiting on permits from the parish,” Building and Maintenance Supervisor Ira Davis said. “The rest of the modular classrooms are in the review stage, which means they are being designed.”

School board employee Pam Lemoine gave the Building, Food Services and Transportation Committee an in-depth survey detailing the overcrowding at Lisa Park, Broadmoor, Oakshire and Caldwell Middle, nullifying the assumption that those schools could manage without additional classroom space.

According to Lemoine, Lisa Park has special education teachers sharing classroom space and groups of classes that currently meet in open-closet space, the auditorium or gymnasium. Broadmoor and Oakshire have to house preschool through second grade classes at Legion Park School. And Caldwell Middle has four physical education teachers sharing the same office and storage equipment area, she said.

All the schools exceed the student-teacher ratio of 20 students per class, Lemoine noted.

“These schools need the additional classroom space because they are on top of one another,” said board member Roger Dale DeHart, who toured the schools.

School Board member Clark Bonvillain questioned whether the state would assist financially with modular classrooms needed to house LA 4 pre-kingergarteners.

“The state will only cover academic assistance and transportation for the LA 4 students,” Richard said. “Annually, the school board spends $15,000 to stock each LA 4 classroom in the parish.”

IN OTHER BUSINESS:

The Terrebonne Parish School Board took the following actions. All votes were unanimous unless otherwise noted.

• Appointed board members Hayes Badeaux, Gregory Harding and Roger Dale DeHart to serve on the Executive Committee.

• Appointed board members Clark Bonvillain to serve as the Finance Committee chairman, Rickie Pitre as co-chair and L.P. Bordelon as board representative.

• Appointed Harding to serve as the building, food service and transportation committee chairman, Pitre as co-chair and board member Richard Jackson as board representative.

• Appointed board member Roosevelt Thomas to serve as the Education and Policy Committee chairman, Bonvillain as co-chair and Donald Duplantis as board representative.

• Appointed board member Pitre as the legislative liaison.

• Approved a $253,840 budget to replace an outdated HVAC chiller system at Acadian Elementary School. The monies will be derived from the One-Cent Sales Tax Fund. The payment will be split into two installments, the first $132,000 from the 2007-08 fiscal year, and the second 121,840 from the 2008-09 fiscal year.

• Approved a $686,800 budget to replace outdated heating systems at Lacache Middle and Schriever Elementary schools. The monies will be derived from the One-Cent Sales Tax Fund. The payment will be split into two installments, the first $214,000 from the 2007-08 fiscal year, and the second $427,800 from the 2008-09 fiscal year.

• Renewed a flood insurance contract with Ledet Agency, Inc. with an annual premium of $47,114.

• Set February 2008 as African American History Month in Terrebonne Parish.

• Accepted lowest vendor bids from PFG Cargo; Lance Inc.; Diamond Foods Distribution Inc.; Lacassagne’s Inc., and F. Christiana Company.