Red River Charter Academy
Minutes
Regular Board Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday October 28, 2021 at 6:00 PM
Location
RRCA Cafeteria
In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance at a public meeting of Red River Charter Academy, please contact Charles Jones at 318-409-4015 or by email at cjones@redrivercharter.org describing the assistance that is necessary.
Directors Present
A. Dupuy, A. Tassin (remote), B. Augustine, G. Ford, J. Couvillion, P. Ours, S. Celestine
Directors Absent
K. Bordelon
Directors who arrived after the meeting opened
B. Augustine
Guests Present
C. Jones, C. Stassi, D. Blanchard
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
J. Couvillion called a meeting of the board of directors of Red River Charter Academy to order on Thursday Oct 28, 2021 at 5:53 PM.
B.
Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance
C.
Record Attendance
D.
Approve the Agenda
Pat Ours would like to add to agenda:
1. Mr. Jones eval December
Mrs. Couvillion would like to add to agenda:
2. Amend mask policy
A. Dupuy made a motion to add tmelne for informal eval december.
G. Ford seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
A. Dupuy made a motion to add to agenda-amend mask mandate.
S. Celestine seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
A. Dupuy made a motion to approve agenda with additions.
G. Ford seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
E.
Approve minutes
J. Couvillion made a motion to approve the minutes from Regular Board Meeting on 09-23-21.
A. Dupuy seconded the motion.
remove tabled??? ask jessica what to do
II. Executive
A.
Approve minutes
B.
Revise Accounting Policy-Thresholds
A. Dupuy made a motion to approve changes as listed.
S. Celestine seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
C.
Vote to approve artwork for CREST from Josten as tabled from committee meeting
S. Celestine made a motion to approve artwork as presented.
P. Ours seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
III. Finance
A.
Approve minutes
J. Couvillion made a motion to approve the minutes from Finance Committee Meeting on 10-21-21.
A. Dupuy seconded the motion.
Mrs. Ours discussed financial concerns moving forward.
B. Augustine arrived at 6:09 PM.
B.
Pan Am/Ron Bordelon - contracts
- Mr. Jones said he just reviewed this today and needs to define "assist" in the contract between their role and our role. He expressed concerns about waiting four months before process starts.
- Mr. Augustine discussed previous issues with "timeline" in this bidding. Mr. Augustine suggests we don't need Pan Am to find someone to do ceiling tiles, windows--we already approved that. Are we really sure what we can afford, because once we enter into a contract with Pan Am, no one else can touch the building, regardless of cost. Perhaps we could keep the building separate. He sates we already have a quote on the HVAC. Whenever you submit the bid, you are going to get an inaccurate quote.
- Mrs. Couvillion suggests keeping gym work separate, but we need a contractor.
- Mrs. Tassin indicated that the contract mentions oversight of some sort. Mr. Augustine says someone needs to supervise the work daily, and that wasn't listed.
- 80% of cost will have to be paid before the work even begins.
- Mrs. Pat states there is a concern about the oversight. She states his time needed to be doing contractor oversight is difficult. Suggest going back to Pan Am, take out gym items, take out parking lot, ask Pan Am to give us a turn key operation which means we're out of it, but we need it done and completed by a certain timeline, and if they can't do it, then it may not be worth doing. The community needs to see the work happening sooner than later, so they can see the progress. She states 4 months is too long, it should be no more than 2 months.
- Stanley Celestine states he doesn't see it is realistic with the timeline to achieve what we want to. Can we hire our own project manager on our own end to oversee and plan?
- Mr. Augustine states you have to keep with the bid laws which can slow down the process. He states Pan Am isn't going to like having their monies cut.
- Mrs. Pat says for the high school building, they will follow the law, we have the excess budget, let's see if they'll agree to what we propose (2 months). She states she is concerned about contractors who are used to dealing with school.
- If we have our own contractor, we have to get our own permits.
- Mrs. Tassin states that if their price is negotiable, they can work with a contractor to help but she feels that the "assist" is being given too much worry. She states she sees it has been a very positive effect in the communities. Let's bring contract back to table and get clarification, ask about ASSIST, see about revising and making it work, using turn-key, but let's see if it can work.
- just High School building, work to be complete by June 1
P. Ours made a motion to Schedule special meeting with Ron Bordelon at Pan Am to discuss asking for changes to the proposed contract, ask to make turn key, ask them to do High School building only, we require shorter turn around to have it done by June 1st. I nclude Brad Augustine.
A. Dupuy seconded the motion.
Discussion-we need to focus on High School building because it's not usable at present.
C.
Contracts (other)
A. Dupuy made a motion to contract with Monica James, OT as is.
J. Couvillion seconded the motion.
Mr.Jones to sign.
D.
Monthly Financials
E.
Approval of PO's
A. Dupuy made a motion to approve Ducote and Co. fees.
J. Couvillion seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
J. Couvillion made a motion to approve PO as is for Acadian Key and Lock.
A. Dupuy seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
J. Couvillion made a motion to approve payment for Howell's Floor cleaning.
A. Tassin seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
IV. Development
A.
Approve minutes
P. Ours made a motion to approve the minutes from Development Committee Meeting on 10-21-21.
S. Celestine seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
B.
Director's Report
V. Other Business added to agenda
A.
Initiate process of Executive Director's evaluation
Pat Ours will compare compass rubric with Board on Track.
Will be of topic next meeting.
B.
Discuss amendment of mask mandate relative to recently changed guidelines
Mr. Jones states he doesn't feel this is the right time to make the change when it comes to safety for our children.
Alissa Tassin states we can remove masks and monitor closely. Right now we don't have the mandate to back up parent objections. She states she doesn't want to lose any more staff or students due to our masking policy in place.
Mrs. Pat states she thinks we can safely monitor and unmask.
Rev Ford says each person can choose to mask if they want to.
S. Celestine states we should keep masking to keep any school closures,
Brad Augustine states he thinks leave it up to the individual to decide if they want to wear the mask.
Mrs. Couvillion states she feels it should be a choice. Aimee Tassin states she wants all we need to do to keep kids coming to school. If unmasking affects attendance, then we need to call an emergency meeting if we have 30% of students test positive. We need a threshold. He states she feels as a parent, she can decide if she needs to quarantine, unmask, or vaccinate. If the threshold is reached, or if the mandate changes, a special meeting doesn't need to be held to address it.
P. Ours made a motion to make masks optional for students and staff, if we reach 20% of total staff and teachers, we go back to mask. At the same time, we encourage testing, continue temperature checks, cleaning, hand sanitizing, and symptom monitoring, start MONDAY.
A. Dupuy seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| A. Tassin |
Aye
|
| B. Augustine |
Aye
|
| P. Ours |
Aye
|
| A. Dupuy |
Aye
|
| K. Bordelon |
Absent
|
| G. Ford |
No
|
| J. Couvillion |
Aye
|
| S. Celestine |
No
|
VI. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
B. Augustine made a motion to adjourn.
A. Tassin seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 7:32 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
J. Couvillion
Documents used during the meeting
- RRCA_Accounting_Thresholds_Policy.docx
- RRCA_Accounting_Thresholds-revision for BOARD Oct 21.docx
- 2020-2021_Finance_Policy_RRCA.docx
- 2021-2022 Finance Policy RRCA.docx
- proposed artwork CREST 10-21-21.pdf
- Pan Am Contract Part 1 of 2 10-28-21.pdf
- Pan Am Contract Part 2 of 2 10-28-21.pdf
- MONICA JAMES CONTRACT OCT 21.pdf
- 21-135 ACADIAN LOCK & KEY.pdf
- 21-125 Ducote and Co.pdf
- Howell's Flooring 9-28-21 to 9-30-21.pdf