School Board plans retreat on finances, buildings

St. Landry Parish School Board members may hold a retreat to discuss the school district’s finances and building plans.
The board’s Building, Lands and Sites Committee agreed recently to seek to determine if the legal firm it employs could provide a mediator for a retreat.
Mary Ellen Donatto, committee chairwoman, said, “We would have someone to walk us through the process to keep us on track.”
Donatto estimated employing a mediator may cost about $1,200.
Hazel Sias, a board member, said, “If we want to move and move in the right direction sometimes you are going to have to pay something. You are going to have to pay to get us on the right track to move in the right direction.”
The discussion about a retreat came during a committee meeting July 27 where about $3 million in repairs and improvements to Leonville Elementary were forwarded to the full School Board.
The main building at the school is about 80 years old and the move for repairs came after health department and fire marshal warnings about the cafeteria and building safety.
Superintendent Edward Brown said the retreat is an important move on the board’s part.
“The purpose of the Building, Lands and Sites retreat is to get together and take a look at our finances, number one, our facilities and the purpose of that committee is to have an ongoing affect on our age-out buildings.”
Brown said, “As I’ve stated before we have 37 schools. For a district our size trying to maintain all of those schools becomes a chore.”
School Board finances stabilize
The School board ended 12 months with a surplus of nearly $3.5 million, according to a report at the board’s Finance Committee on July 27. A surplus of $600,000 is projected at the end of the next 12 months.