##VIDEO ID:7M_1es1Mo9s## good morning welcome everyone happy Friday and welcome everyone uh to our our January 10 besty closeout meeting I like to call the meeting to order roll call please Mr Appel Dr Armstrong Mr Burkin here Mr Castile Miss champagne Dr Clark Mr Harris Mr Hollis not present Miss Holloway Miss melerine and Mr Morris here we have a quorum thank you I'd like to start us off um I believe uh uh we've got an introduction uh Judy's gonna introduce um our uh the individual that's going to lead our invocation this morning good morning I'd like to introduce Terry Bellon who will lead our introduction our invocation this morning Terry serves as a deacon in the dicese of Baton Rouge at St George Catholic church but he is also over the entire deaconate formation program for the dicese of Baton Rouge I can personally attest for his interest in education as he has served as a member and president of school boards uh in the dicese including mine and so he has a vested interest in the children of our state most importantly he is the father of two uh young men um married to a wonderful wife Judy and is uh been a personal friend and we couldn't remember how long so at this time I'd like to introduce and thank you Terry for coming and joining us today thank you please stand and join us and As We Gather here this morning in prayer we begin in the name of the father Son and the Holy Spirit As We Gather here today before this esteemed board we pause to acknowledge your presence among us we thank you for the gift of education and for the opportunity to serve the young people of Louisiana who are the future of our state and our nation Lord we ask your guidance and wisdom as this board deliberates on matters that will shape the minds and hearts of students in the state of Louisiana May their discussions be infused with a spirit of collaboration understanding and compassion help them to remember that the decisions they make today will echo through the lives of countless young individuals for years to come Grant each member of this board that Clarity to see the potential in every child and the courage to advocate for their needs may they strive to create an educational environment that nurtures not only academic Excellence but also moral integrity and a sense of community as they embark on this important work let them be reminded of their shared responsibility to empower the Next Generation May their efforts Inspire them to become thoughtful leaders compassionate citizens and lifelong learners we pray for these things in the name of your son our Lord Jesus Christ amen I understand Mr Bellon is also going to lead us in the pledge thank you sir I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all for all right thank you um next item on our agenda please next item on the agenda is 2.1 approval of the agenda can I get a motion please M melin Mr Mr Harris thank you any objection to the motion hearing none next item please next item on the agenda is 3.1 consideration of oath of office for the 2025 Bessie officer looking to my right can I get a motion please thank you thank you who the second uh the second was Senator Appel uh Mr Walker are you going to lead us with this one yes sir um if the president vice president secretary Charter can step um Mr Jeffrey whale Deputy executive counsel for the Louisiana Office of the governor will administer the Oaths thank you all right if you three would just come down here to the front please all right if yall three would just stand right there um that's fine wherever wherever you're comfortable um so what you'll do is you'll Raise Your Right hands and then repeat after me there is going to be a little bit of a Fillin the blank work for your name and then the title for the office you're holding so if you would repeat after me I state your name do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of this state and that and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me as the fill in the blank of your office according to the best of my ability and understanding so help me God thank you we just need you to come F some paperwork Mr Birkins Shan Shan picture all right thank you so much thank Mr Burkin e help here we go all right if if you guys would bear with me just for a couple of minutes want to share a couple of personal thoughts um as I reflect on my own uh Public Service I found it to be a very humbling experience very challenging and fulfilling the reason it's fulfilling is because I work with you guys so I want to thank uh our board members you're all smart you're experienced and you're committed but most of all you have a Cano attitude also want to recognize the ldoe staff 95% of the attendance in the room today I think um w wow what a transition for me from from the engineering space to the education space so much for me to learn you guys have been patient you've been responsive and you've maintained your sense of humor and you have a can do attitude which again makes a significant difference then I looked at our teachers our school leaders and our students I looked at Kylie Altier and her colleagues enjoyment appreciation for their passion and their commitment the energy that they bring to the classroom yesterday we heard from three School superintendents they shared with us their celebrations their plans and their challenges but all of them led by example they brought their can do attitude and then there's our children on that one I read our mission statement the board of Elementary and secondary education shall provide leadership and create policies for Education that expand opportunities for children Empower families and communities and Advance Louisiana in an increasingly competitive Global Market that's a bold statement especially if you're 49th in in a country that's 33rd globally but fortunately we're not 49th anymore we're 40th and we're on a positive trajectory toward our full potential when I think about the path forward I feel like we're on Solid Ground we've defined career and college readiness for Louisiana students we've set clear expectations that Louisiana high school graduates will will be prepared for career in college when they walk off the stage we've heard from our students and our community leaders about making education relevant and preparing students for the workforce we responded with a new school accountability system put in place that's been recognized by national experts as the best in the country we've incentivized with that system we've incentivized work-based learning opportunities and committed to supporting the initiative with our bridging success tour to visit every Bessie District recognizing the value and bringing proven models to help with the how-to ldoe brings us quarterly ideas and updates on Innovative approaches to education that will provide engaging opportunities that make education relevant for our students National EXP BS yesterday testified that Louisiana's implementation of AI technology in the classroom is on The Cutting Edge we recognize Business Leaders at every meeting whose outstanding examples Inspire us all to be engaged in our communities as givers not takers and closing out as I look ahead to 2025 and our path forward to build on our Solid Ground I recognize two foundational concerns in three bottlenecks in our system our two foundational concerns we have a teacher shortage and and we have a incredible School attendance concern without students in the classroom and qualified teachers for every student we're only going to go so far today superintendent Rumley advises me we have the highest ever teacher population in the state 52,800 however we have progressed in the last three years closing our teacher shortage Gap from 2500 to 1,000 that's encouraging but we're not there yet School attendance yesterday we had robust conversation recognizing the average treny rate for the last four 4 years in the state capital is 55% we recognize the correlation there with crime judge Edward judge Edwards shared with us that as we know the average cost to educate a student in Louisiana today is about $122,000 per student We compare that to she compared that to $100,000 a year to incarcerate a student we do have a path forward there we'll introduce a motion here shortly to formalize where we landed yesterday for Dr Clark uh to work with Bessie member um sbone champine who is the Bessie member on the children's cabinet to work with uh the judge's team and with Sabre kingham from Dr Sabre kingham from the governor's office to formulate The Summit where we get a collaborative effort to address the treny concern the three bottlenecks I recognize we have students entering High School unprepared because they've been socially promoted through the system Dr Clark raised this concern yesterday we have fourth graders who do not read at grade level yet with expectations they're going to graduate to successfully compete in a global economy really really excited that this year we were able to report that Louisiana was number one nationally in fourth grade reading growth thanks to Dr Chason and her team for that effort the third bottleneck I recognize is early childhood education I'm happy to hear Senator Appel his passion to recognize the opportunity here his prioritization and to support this initiative and then I want to close out quote superintendent Brumley I'm really proud of our progress however I'm not satisfied none of us are because we stop and think about the untapped potential in our state I tried to find the word I went to chat gbt for help the two that stood out to me were immense latency and vast reserves imagine if we were able to tap the vast Reserves in our community what if treny was 5% instead of 55% what if we had zero teacher vacancies instead of a thousand so as we embark on 2025 ask you to consider what is possible what is our potential and what can we do thank you it's a pleasure serving with you and I look forward to [Applause] 2 Mr Walker next item please yes sir next item on the agenda is 4.1 approval of the December 11 2024 meeting can I get a motion looking to my left Mr Harris Miss melin all right let's try that again um next item next item please next item on the agenda is 5.1 report by the state superintendent of Education can I get a motion look into my left Mr Harris Dr Clark thank you superintendent um other than just telling my theme my team thank you I mean you guys just did an outstanding job yesterday I mean we we heard about tutoring we heard about Gator program special ed Early Childhood Innovative approaches you I I mean I I've told several of you already but you knocked it out of the park yesterday and engagement with the board and and the community and and and the work that you're doing for kids and families and teachers so I just want to say thanks to my team but other than that uh Mr Morris I'm thinking that your comments will substitute for mine uh and I will wave members any uh questions or comments for the superintendent all right hearing none next item please next item on the agenda is 6.1 reports from members of Bessie statutory and legislative task force Council appointees can I get a motion please who's who's my first uh does anybody have does anybody this is the point council's commission oh I'm sorry does anybody have any um oh I'm sorry okay I'm sorry apologies I'm looking at the wrong item uh so I know that um it's been a short time since our December meeting I'm not sure if there's been any any committee meetings or not U but if there have been any committee meetings you guys have attended then uh certainly appreciate sharing okay hearing none um I did post Mr moris I'm sorry sorry Miss Hol I didn't see thank you uh it's of a reminder that um the America 250 meeting is next Wednesday at 1:00 in the uh State archives building and coming up uh in February February 3rd Monday February 3rd is the uh accountability meeting thank you thank you any other reports Mr Burkin I just want to take the opportunity to thank Dr Brumley and Dr Le for attending the Jeff the annual Jeff Davis Parish rice Growers and wives appreciation dinner the other night and coming to speak with us and like Arthur um was a great job U our best turnout and U going around for Dr Brumley to talk to groups like that I think is important because everyone came away with every and I told them they were like amen where is this been you know this is what we've been thinking for the last 40 years so um thank you Dr Brumley and Keith for coming along with him and um we need to do more of that thanks rice rice people are my people Mr Burkin appreciate the collaboration there Senator Appel thank you um I just want to highlight a couple of news stories that came out out um yall probably saw where I think it's meta is building a high-tech facility in the north part of the State uh there was an announcement of a future steel mill in Ascension Parish a high very large steel mill uh and then that I've heard rumors of another uh facility similar to The Meta facility the the common denominator in all these is they're high-tech there's a thread that runs through them all and that is they're Capital intensive but not necessarily labor intensive because everything's automated and it's all this AI stuff you're talking about and computers and robots and it's the future so uh we're on the right track you know what what the people need to understand is that we recognize where the future lies and the future lies in that uh training young people to fit into a world that none of us knew when we were young so I just wanted to re uh reposition those uh issues uh I wish I could say the same for New Orleans unfortunately we haven't had any good announcements lately but we we will one day we'll catch up uh and that that was it I just wanted to point that out thank you thanks for sharing any other shares all right double checking here all right great um I did post the uh 2025 uh committee uh assignment so thank each and every one of you for your generous uh contribution of your time to this effort especially appreciate the five uh committee uh chairs uh again for 2025 and thanks everyone as you represent Bessie on the various educational committee so any questions about that please don't hesitate to come back to me but everybody should received that in in an email um that's all I had on that one next item please next item is 7.1 academic goals and instructional Improvement committee Mr Appel on behalf of the academic goals and instructural Improvement committee I move to approve motions 1- 12 noting that motion 12 is a notice of intent I made a motion can I get a second M champine thank you is there any exception hearing none motion passes next item please your motion motion oh okay I'm sorry thank you for the reminder um members I wanted to formalize where we landed yesterday on the truy conversation uh we had great uh input from the Chief Justice and three other judges um but I'd like to formalize that with a motion uh so I like to motion that Dr Clark work with uh shampine who's the Bessie representative on the children's cabinet and they work with Dr saber kingham from the governor's team work with Chief Justice wymer and his team uh to to plan uh the summit uh leveraging the children's cabinet uh so that we can all work together collaboratively to to come up with a solution to our school attendance issue can I get a second on the motion Please Mr sh Mr Castile thank you is there any exception to the motion hearing none thank you motion passes next item please next item is item 7.2 board Administration and education finance committee Mr C I'm sorry Dr CL do Mr Burkin berin on behalf of the board Administration and education finance committee I move to approve motions 1 through 24 all right looking to my PRI prior to that motion being made I want to make a recusal of motion 11 12 13 and 14 any others hear none can I get a second Mr Harris thank you any exception hearing none motion passes next item please next item 7.3 educator effectivess committee uh Dr Clark there we go on behalf of the educator Effectiveness committee I move to approve motions 1 through 5 and 7 through 29 pulling motion six as as read is that correct y can I get a second M champine thank you any exception hearing none motion passes next item please still focusing on that item uh consideration of the revocation of Louisiana type B certificate number 46440 issued to Dr Julian Bond need a motion in a second can I get a motion uh I'd like to move to revok and I think it's Dr Julian Brooks okay yes Brooks I'm sorry right no problem can I get a second Dr Clark thank you is there any opposition wait question could someone explain what the motion is I'm sorry I sure Mr Castile yeah happy to do so Dr Julian Brooks actually appeared in two areas 6.1 as well as 5.1 uh we moved yesterday to uh to Grant his reinstatement but at the same time with our deferral we included him the group with the group which would not allow us to reinstate him so to correct that procedural problem we're okay thank you you're welcome thank you for that thank you for that clarification is there is there any ex opposition hearing none motion passes next item please please next item 7.4 School Innovation and turnaround committee Mr Castile yes sir on behalf of the school Innovation and turnaround committee I move to approve motions one through nine thank you can I get a second Mr Harris thank you is there any opposition hearing none motion passes next item please that concludes the agenda thank you we're adjourned