MCSB to vote on deseg hires Thursday

The Monroe City School Board will vote again Thursday on hiring positions required by the consent decree.

The board voted on the same agenda items at a Dec. 15 meeting that turned contentious after some board members said they were railroaded by an unexpected hire.

On Dec. 18, Board President Rodney McFarland said the board would revote on the consultants. In an email to board members, McFarland said, "I have heard concerns  expressed by some about the fairness of the board vote taken on the desegregation experts on this past Tuesday.  To remove any hint of unfairness, we will re-vote on all of the positions ... The floor will be open for board members to nominate a person of their choice for each position required by the consent decree.  Any nominee who is accepted by vote of a majority of the board will be the person approved."

He said the board will vote up or down nominations that are brought from the floor. He said board members can suggest a candidate through a motion, and if the board accepts that candidate, the matter will be closed. If a motion to hire a candidate fails, a new motion can be made to hire another candidate.

McFarland said he's not sure whether the board will have to go into executive session, so the first item under old business reads as follows:

"By unanimous consent, the board will dispense with the rules on reconsideration and take a formal revote on the matters identified as agenda sub parts (B) through (E) below, which were the subject of a board vote on Dec. 15. To the extent that there will be any discussion on the agenda items regarding the qualifications, ability or fitness of any candidates (inclusive of business entities or groups that will provide services), all such discussions will occur in a closed executive session (unless a candidate requests that their qualifications be discussed in the public), in accordance with the Louisiana open meetings law, provided that written notice has been furnished to the candidates not less than 24 hours prior to the commencement of the board meeting."

On Dec. 11, U.S. District Judge Robert G. James approved the consent decree that the board approved Dec. 7. at a special meeting.

The agenda for the Dec. 15 meeting listed four items pertaining to the consent decree, including:

• Appoint an independent court monitor to independently monitor the school district and ensure desegregation compliance.
• Employ other experts or qualified people to assist with desegregation compliance "including the evaluation of the medical magnet program, any necessary redevelopment of the medical magnet program, operation of the medical magnet program and monitoring of the medical magnet program for desegregation compliance."
• Authorize McFarland to "issue a letter on behalf of the Monroe City School District, requesting the services and assistance of the Intercultural Development Research Association — South Central Collaborative for Equity, covering those matters to be addressed by the IDRA according to the consent decree."
• "Consider for introduction and first read policy drafts that ensure desegregation compliance, except that, to satisfy the requirements of the federal consent decree, the board shall immediately adopt such policies that require immediate adoption, which include policies required to enable the appointment of an Independent court monitor by the court-ordered deadline."

The same four items are set to be taken up at the meeting Thursday under old business.

The agenda for the Jan. 7 meeting lists the following under an agenda area called "for your information:"

"Board member Brenda Shelling will serve as the liaison between the independent court monitor, Monroe City School Board of Education, and superintendent to ensure compliance with the December 2015 consent decree."

McFarland said he's appointing her to the position because this is the first time the Department of Justice has pushed the school district with such numerous deadlines, and he thinks someone needs to help the board address those deadlines and "make sure that we're on point."

2 MCSB members leave meeting early

The Dec. 15 meeting turned contentious after board Vice President Shelling asked to handle the agenda items related to the decree as one vote and named Educational Planning Group to be hired in her reading, which differed from the agenda as posted.

Board members Vickie Dayton, Bill Willson and Jennifer Haneline — the three white members of the board — said they had not been informed that a specific group was being hired that night and the whole board had not had time to vet the group.

Shelling said the issue was "obviously" about the other members wanting to ensure the people working on the consent decree were "someone you may want to deal with." All members of the Educational Planning Group are African-American.

Haneline withdrew her second from Shelling's motion, and member Brandon Johnson seconded the motion. Haneline left early, and the vote passed 4-2 with Dayton and Willson voting against.

Educational Planning Group LLC

Educational Planning Group is owned by William McElroy, owner of the M3A Architecture firm that is developing the new Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and Barkdull Faulk Elementary project.

On Oct. 6, the board OK'd a combination gym, cafeteria and auditorium at Barkdull Faulk Elementary in addition to repairs to the school that voters approved with the 2013 bond issue. Willson said the total project is about $2 million more than what the bond issue called for.

Shelling said the community pushed rapid action on repairs to Neville High School earlier last year, which also involved the safety of students, and that the gymnatorium was on the initial bond issue plan prior to the final passage of the bond.

On Oct. 15, 2013, the Monroe City School Board approved, 4-2, an amended capital project list for the $58.8 million bond issue that voters ultimately passed Nov. 16, 2013. The Barkdull Faulk list on that version of the capital outlay projects did not include a gymnatorium.

The vote to approve the scope of the Barkdull Faulk project passed 4-2 with Willson and Dayton voting against.

William McElroy and staff from his Jackson, Mississippi-based architecture firm also were present at the Dec. 15 meeting to give presentations on those projects.

At the Dec. 15 meeting, Nycole Campbell-Lewis, Hazel Henderson and nurse practitioner Retha Bookert came to address the board. The three make up the Educational Planning Group.

Lewis said the group does not have experience working on a consent decrees but has decades of combined experience in the medical and education fields. She said the group has existed for 20 years. Its ties to M3A Architecture were not explicitly stated to the board or the public during the meeting.

The Educational Planning Group has submitted a proposal to the board outlining the timelines of the consent decree and the work it would plan to undertake.

According to documents filed at the Mississippi Secretary of State's Office, Educational Planning Group LLC was formed Feb. 3, 2011. Notice to dissolve was filed Sept. 16, 2015, and administrative dissolution was filed Dec. 8. The LLC was reinstated Dec. 14. On Dec. 16, an amendment was filed to make Annie Gipson a registered agent for the LLC. On Dec. 21, an amendment was filed to make William McElroy the registered agent.

On Monday, The News-Star spoke with Yolanda McElroy, who is listed as a member for the LLC. She said all information would need to be obtained through their attorney, but the attorney's name and contact information were not provided.

"It is imperative that we contract with a qualified and objective court monitor to successfully implement the court order.  After discovering that the company the majority of the board hired at our last meeting is actually owned by an architect that the board has awarded lucrative contracts to makes objectivity impossible, in my opinion," Dayton said.

MCSB OKs project $2M in excess of bond issue

New nominees

Haneline said she plans to propose a team led by Charles S. Corprew III. She said she heard about Corprew through the Louisiana Public Health Institute and does not know him personally but asked him to prepare a proposal.

According to the proposal, Corprew's organization consists of himself and three other members — some of whom are African-American — attorney Dana J. Henry, Allen Square and Simone Green. Square, CEO of Square Button consulting firm, has experience working with institutions under federal consent decrees. Green's resume includes working with schools and charter schools to improve recruitment.

Superintendent Brent Vidrine said he has been working with the University of Louisiana at Monroe on a plan to leverage the university's established structure to create a health alliance for the medical magnet program and work with the College of Education on teacher recruitment.

"The have the connections we need to take care of the desegregation order," he said.

The benefit, he said, is that ULM is already community-oriented, and a team of about eight deans can help with testing assessment and monitoring the school district for the court.

Dayton said she thinks either of the new proposals are objective, viable options.

Johnson said he does not plan to submit a group, and Willson said his decision is pending.

The News-Star contacted all board members earlier via email earlier in the week. Shelling and Daryll Berry have not yet responded.

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