School board approves several items

Classroom projects and committee recommendations were accepted and approved Monday night at the Acadia Parish School Board’s February meeting.
Iota High School teachers are beginning to see the light at the end of the construction tunnel and Iota Middle School will be soon behind. Bill Ackal of Ackal Architects and Acadia Parish Schools Supervisor of Maintenance and Warehouse Steve Jones have requested the authority to award substantial completion of the Iota/Fourth Ward Classroom Project once that comes to fruition, which should be within the next month. If that hopeful date does not come to be before the board’s next meeting, Ackal and Jones will be back. A report back will occur either way.
“The schools cannot take over the classrooms, the contractor won’t turn it over to the school, unless we have substantial completion,” said Ackal. “We don’t want to wait another month to come back and ask for substantial completion.
As it would not behoove any party involved to award the project substantial completion before it comes to pass, board member Milton Simar expressed some concern. However, Ackal and Jones explained they too would not be awarding the project substantial completion early. This is only a precautionary measure if the project finishes between now and the board’s next meeting in March so that the teachers can get into the classrooms and begin preparing them as soon as possible.
The move was approved by a unanimous vote of 7-0 with board member Israel Syria absent from the February meeting.
Under the recommendation of the Personnel, Insurance and Curriculum Committee’s recommendation, the Category 1 proposal received by the vendor DETEL was accepted for the ERATE Wide Area Network advertisement. DETEL’s proposed monthly rate came in at $40,571 total, while the next lowest, Cox, came in at $65,250. Under ERATE, Acadia Parish pays 10 percent while ERATE pays 90 percent each month.
The recommendation was approved unanimously.
In the board’s opening items, National Blue Ribbon School nominees South Crowley Elementary and Martin Petitjean Elementary schools were recognized. Principals of the schools, Irma Trosclair (South Crowley) and Kim Cummins (Martin Petitjean), as well as a few students and members of the faculties and staffs of both schools were on hand to be recognized and speak to the honor of the nomination.
The school board will hold its February committee meetings Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 5 p.m. and its March board meeting on Monday, March 2, at 5 p.m. The committee meetings were moved up a week due to the Mardi Gras holiday which sees Acadia Parish schools closed from Monday, Feb. 16 through Wednesday, Feb. 18.