Shelling resigns as school board VP

Monroe City School Board member Brenda Shelling resigned as the board's vice president at a meeting Thursday but will remain on the board.

Shelling alleged the rest of the board members kept her out of the loop before President Rodney McFarland and member Vickie Dayton traveled to Washington to meet Wednesday with the U.S. Department of Justice. All board members, she said, legally should know when board members are making such a trip.

"I feel that you have violated the code of ethics by taking a trip to Washington, D.C., without notifying your whole board. And only certain ones knew about it, and I will be filing a complaint that this has happened. Matter of fact, I've already filed it the Department of Justice," Shelling said.

She said she has not yet filed a complaint with the Louisiana Board of Ethics.

She asked the other board members during the meeting when and how they were notified of the trip. Some said they were not notified but were "aware" of it. None of the other board members provided an answer that included time and message medium. Superintendent Brent Vidrine said he wasn't in charge of notifying the board and isn't sure who was.

McFarland said he thought he'd discussed it with other board members, including her. She said they had not.

Shelling said she received a call about 10 p.m. Monday from a district employee asking her if she was was aware of the meeting in Washington. She said she called McFarland three times that night and did not get a response until shortly before he boarded a plane Tuesday afternoon.

Shelling holds that some board members determining who goes on a trip without discussing it as a board is illegal because the board did not vote on or discuss the issue.

McFarland accepted her resignation and said the board will elect a new vice president at the next meeting.

Board attorney Doug Lawrence said he would not comment and deferred all questions to Vidrine and McFarland.

After the meeting, McFarland said Vidrine called him and said they needed to meet with the Department of Justice, he supported the move and he thinks the trip was very productive. A hearing on a Department of Justice request that the Monroe City School Board and Vidrine be held in contempt is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday.

"We heard directly from from the Department of Justice what they want us to do, how they want us to do it, and I do believe we're going to be OK on Monday," he said. There was a lack of understanding, he said, about what was expected, but he said the board and administration are doing their best to get things in order.

Historically, McFarland said the past and current board has allowed some members to make trips without the whole board meeting to discuss the process. He said he and Dayton are the two longest-serving members.

"When Miss Shelling went," McFarland said, "it was fine."

After the meeting, Shelling said she doesn't feel that her work is being appreciated. She said she's been doing "most of what the president should have been doing" from the kindness of her heart.

In January, board members Bill Willson, Jennifer Haneline and Dayton said they felt they were being excluded from discussions about the consent decree, including discussions Shelling and McFarland were having with the Department of Justice.

During the vote to ratify approval for the board's delegation to travel to meet with the Department of Justice, Shelling inadvertently voted to approve the measure, passing the item 7-0. She tried to recall her vote, but McFarland said it had already passed. She called McFarland "immature."

"We're going to be praying," he said.

"Praying. You don't even know what it is," she said.

"Thank you so much, Ms. Shelling.," McFarland said.

MCSB contempt hearing is Sept. 19

Wossman fieldhouse

William McElroy, owner of the M3A Architecture firm, said bids on a project to build a new fieldhouse at the 50-yard line of the football field came in substantially over the board's budget.

Vidrine said the board had allocated $2.3 million for the project, and the lowest bid was $4.4 million. The current budget for bond projects does not allow that much overage.

Originally, he said, the plan was to put the fieldhouse near the current one, but later plans shifted the new building to the 50-yard line. McElroy said the main architect on the project, Preston McKay, is in septic shock, and he did not have the benefit of the McKay's notes. By his estimation, about $370,000 could be cut from the project if left at the 50-yard line, but moving it back to the original plan would bring the building costs totally in line with the budget. That plan allows for already existing air units to be used on the new building and reduces costs significantly.

McElroy said he really likes the idea of the fieldhouse at the 50-yard-line, but upon final analysis, it "seems to be a bridge too far." Any additional engineering costs, he said, will be born by his firm.

Shelling said she was "disturbed" that they would have to reduce the cost of the building that was bid out months ago. She held that the project started with this board. McFarland held that the previous board started the discussions on the project.

"It's amazing to me when you're talking about projects how we're cutting costs when it's on the South side of town, for whatever reason it may be, but we don't even consider the escalation of costs when it's not on the South side of town. I'm going to ask this board to allow the firm to continue with their original plan of where that fieldhouse is going to be," Shelling said.

She said board members who represent the South side cannot allow their projects to be diminished "for the purpose of cutting costs when, in fact, we have never done that to any other project."

McFarland said the project started near the current fieldhouse and it got off track somehow. The bond projects budget, he said, was set before the current board was installed.

McFarland, who represents the South side too, said, "We've got to be fair."

That area, he said is about to get a $17 million Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and construction projects are planned as Wossman and Carroll high schools. The community, he said, will support him in a move to be reasonable about construction costs.

The board tabled the matter until they could look at the projected costs of the fieldhouse with more complete budget projections in front of them all.

Lawrence said the bids as presented would be good until near the end of the month, and McFarland said the board will reconvene before Sept. 29 to resolve the issue. When member Brandon Johnson asked if the change would go through the facilities committee, Shelling, president of that committee, said she would hope so. McFarland said they need to wait because he's "going to make some drastic changes in the next couple days."

After the meeting, Shelling said she thought he meant he will remove her as facilities committee chair.

Barkdull Faulk honored for health initiatives

In other actions:

The board approved its 2016-17 budget. The total operating budget will have an approximately $24.3 million end balance. The general fund will have a $15.9 million end balance.

Board members applauded the wellness team and staff at Barkdull Faulk Elementary for their recent health award wins. The school recently was given a National Silver award by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, was presented a Let's Move! Active Schools award and was named a Level 1 WellSpot by Well-Ahead Louisiana. The school also is eligible for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's HealthierUS School Challenge: Smarter Lunchroom award.

Principal Robert Johnson said he was skeptical initially, but he thanks God for keeping them afloat. Chris "Coach Rob" Robinson said the entire staff worked hard to make the school healthier. The initiative included adding time to physical education, adding time to get the students active and changing snack offerings to healthy options.

Follow Bonnie Bolden on Twitter @Bonnie_Bolden_ and on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/1RtsEEP.