2-hour MCSB executive session covers consent decree
The Monroe City School Board met in a two-hour executive session on Monday night to discuss the district's consent decree.
The meeting, which was slated to begin at 5 p.m., started at 5:47 p.m. because members of the U.S. Department of Justice team working on the consent decree were running late. The board entered executive session a few minutes after convening, and the session continued until about 8 p.m., when the board resumed the open session and adjourned.
Board member Brandon Johnson, District 6, came in late, and Vice President Brenda Shelling, District 7, and Jennifer Haneline, District 2, left early to attend to relatives.
After the meeting, President Rodney McFarland, District 5, said the board will need some extensions on deadlines set by the consent decree, and the board is planning a retreat in the coming weeks to get everyone on the same page.
"It takes all of us working together," he said.
The board members cannot discuss what happened in executive session with the public.
Board member Bill Willson, District 3, said the U.S. Department of Justice representatives and Doug Lawrence, the board's legal counsel, were unsure whether board members could discuss what happened in a 3 p.m. meeting with Federal Judge Robbie James and the DOJ representatives at the Western District of Louisiana courthouse in downtown Monroe.
Neville group files motion in deseg case
Follow the story:
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- Judge OKs Monroe schools consent decree
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- Neville group files motion in deseg case