After cuts, spending debated by board

CENTERVILLE — The St. Mary Parish School Board approved more expenditures for fiscal year 2016-17 during Thursday’s board meeting.

Although board member Pearl Rack, of District 4, was outnumbered in votes, she stood her ground opposing additional school spending requests.

After opposing the last expense item up for vote, a concrete slab for Hattie Watts Elementary, she concluded, “… We seem to be repeating again cutting, cutting, cutting. And the last time I was here, cutting. And now we’re adding, adding, adding.”

Before the vote on Watts, the school board agreed to move playground equipment from Shannon Elementary to Norman Elementary at a cost not to exceed $10,000. It was at the request of the Norman staff.

The playground equipment is 9 years old. It cost around $36,000. Three years ago, rubber border and mulch were added for $15,000, for a total of $51,000.

“Is it going to cost $10,000 to move it?” asked board member Marilyn LaSalle of District 6.

“We’re hoping to get it cheaper than that, but we put in some extra costs …,” Maintenance Supervisor Brad Wiese said.

It would take a total of two weeks to pull the playground equipment out of the ground at Shannon and place it at Norman.

“I’m not guaranteeing that it’s going to be done at the start of school,” Wiese said. “But we will start on it as soon as we can.”

Norman Elementary currently has playground equipment.

There were 160 children at Shannon, concerned citizen C.E . Bourg II said. And they divided them into two schools.

“I don’t know how many children Norman’s getting,” Bourg said. “But they can’t be getting the whole 160 because a lot of them are going to Wyandotte. So there shouldn’t be a dramatic increase in numbers of children at M.E. Norman.”

Rack suggests waiting a year before making a decision to move the equipment. LaSalle agreed.

“She just took the words out of my mouth,” LaSalle said. “Is there an urgency to doing it right now? It appears that there’s no definitive answer … about that.”

“It was a request from the staff,” Wiese said.

Rack asked Wiese about the time frame of installation.

“One of the things you said was that you couldn’t guarantee the equipment would be ready for the start of the school year,” Rack said.

“It might not be ready for the start of the school,” Wiese said. “But there shortly after. So, I’m not going to say that we can move this piece of equipment and have it ready in 2½ weeks. So, that’s what we’re looking at. But it’ll be there shortly after.”

Board member Roland Verret, District 2, referred to the standing equipment being unsupervised as an “attractive nuisance.”

“It’s 9 years old and it’ll be deteriorating in the next three or four years,” Verret said. “I suggest we go ahead and move the thing.”

The plan is to place playground equipment close to the preschool area.

The board approved a cement slab to be poured at Hattie Watts Elementary. The slab will connect the new multi-purpose building to the play canopy in an amount not to exceed $15,000.

Wiese reported that Hattie Watts Principal Niki Fryou said access by way of a new walkway to the multi-purpose building would prevent children from having to go through the hallway, possibly disrupting class.

According to Wiese, the principal thought the summer is an optimal time that maintenance could get this work done for her.

The work will start Monday with the funding coming from District 2.

A cement slab was approved for dumpsters at Morgan City High baseball field not to exceed $4,800.