School Board OKs crime prevention program, looks at sick leave policies

CENTERVILLE -- For the second straight month, the St. Mary Parish School Board has approved an effort that goes beyond books and extracurriculars to help students make their way through life.
The board on Thursday approved a memorandum of understanding with the St. Mary Parish
Sheriff's Office to implement three programs under the Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative.
Also at Thursday's regular meeting, the board set aside $3 million for a technology fund, and approved $1.5 million for new laptops to be used by students entering ninth and 10th grades next year.
And no high school student should make plans for May 23. The board decided to use that date to make up for 2-1/2 days missed due to severe weather last month. Elementary and middle school students still have that day off.
Crime reduction program
The Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative is funded through the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance. Planning for St. Mary's participation in the school programs has been underway since 2019, and a grant from the initiative is making the programs possible here.
The programs will be offered in "health/PE classes in grades 6-10, our Alternative Program grades 6-12, and other settings where appropriate," according to a letter to the board from Assistant Superintendent Dr. Rachel Sanders.
The programs are:
--Trust-Based Relational Intervention, "designed to meet the complex needs of children who have experienced adversity, early harm, toxic stress, and/or trauma."
--Conflict Resolution, "designed to address the dynamics that lead to violent behavior by bringing awareness to students and staff of the most common factors that lead to violence."
--Power of Choice, "a 4-session series of classes aimed at empowering teenagers to make good choices in their lives."
"When children begin to understand why they're responding, then we can help them ...," St. Mary Sheriff's Office Lt. Oscar West told the board.
At its January meeting, the board approved another memorandum of agreement, this one with the 100 Black Men of St. Mary Parish. The agreement creates a mentoring program offering a Saturday Academy for discussion of topics such as conflict resolution; a summer STEM program for students referred by administrators; and a carpentry program.
Make-up day
Schools were closed early Jan. 8 and all day Jan. 16-17. Even with that loss of instructional time, St. Mary schools would meet the required minimum of 63,720 annual instruction minutes, Sanders wrote to the board.
But high schools have another set of standards called Carnegie units, defined by the Education Reform Glossary website as "the awarding of academic credit on how much time students spent in direct contact with a classroom teacher."
The January closures would make St. Mary high schools fall short of the Carnegie requirements. So high school students will be in class May 23.
If another day is lost this semester, students at all grade levels will return to class after the Easter break April 1, a day earlier than scheduled.
Sick leave
The board, acting as a personnel committee, will re-examine proposed changes in sick leave policies and the sick leave bank for employees.
School Board employees are generally granted 12 days of annual sick leave with up to three years of experience, 15 days after four to 10 years and 18 days after 10 years. The days can be used not just for an employee's illness or injury, but also for emergencies such as illness or death in the immediate family.
Sick leave may also be used for what the policy calls "special circumstances." An employee can take two days to get married or go on a honeymoon, answer a court subpoena or summons, care for people who don't meet the definition of immediate family and attend out-of-town funerals for relatives.
Requests for time off for emergencies or special circumstances must be approved by the superintendent or a designee.
In addition, employees may be allowed to take up to 90 days of extended six leave in any six-year period at 65% of their salary, if they've used their sick days and if the superintendent approves.
Employees who participate in the sick leave bank may be found eligible for additional time off if they have an illness or disability that prevents them from working. If they give up a day of sick leave per year to the bank, they may be eligible for additional time off regardless of the number of hours they've contributed to the bank.
The proposed policy reduces the number of sick leave bank days employees may receive from 60 to 45, and cuts the level of pay from 100% to 65% of the employee's salary to move into line with state requirements for extended six leave.
The board approved motions by member Chad Paradee of Berwick to reconsider the definition of special circumstances in the general sick leave policy and the reduction in eligible days and salary percentage in the sick leave bank rules.
Paradee cited feedback from employees about the proposed changes,
Millages
The board approved a recommendation from Chief Financial Officer Alton Perry to allow the board's bond council to develop a timeline for property tax renewal elections in December.
Each of the taxes is for one of the parish's three school building and maintenance districts: 12.42 mills in District 1 in west St. Mary, 12.73 mills in District 2 in the central parish and 12.53 mils in District 3 in the east.
The election would be Dec. 7, when voters would also decide any necessary runoffs after the Nov. 5 congressional primary.
Insurance
The board also took a step toward changing the way it offers health insurance to its employees. It designated $3 million to establish a self-insurance fund.
The school system's employees are currently covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana. If the board decides to fund coverage itself, contributions by the board and employees that now pay premiums would go into a fund for use in paying claims. The board would hire a company to administer the system.
At a previous meeting, insurance consultant James Perez said the board should consider self-insurance as a way to deal with steadily rising premiums.
Buses
Like insurance premiums, the charges for leasing school buses are rising sharply. Perry said the board should consider purchasing buses rather than leasing.
The system currently leases 58 buses from Ross Bus & Equipment Sales of Alexandria, and leases for 16 of them expire this year. The cost of a new lease will increase from $9,600 to $15,800 a year, Perry said.
The figure quoted at Thursday's meeting for buying a new bus is about $130,000, and about half of that for a serviceable used bus.
Rattlers become Hornets
In preparation for Franklin Junior High's move onto the Franklin Senior High campus, the board approved a change in the junior high's colors to gold and garnet. The junior high's mascot will be the Hornets.
Before the change, the junior high's colors were royal blue and gold, and the mascot name was the Rattlers.
Resolutions of respect
The board passed resolutions of respect for two recently deceased school employees: cafeteria technician Diane Aleman and retired school nurse Sandra Blanco.