By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Before getting down to business on Thursday, the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board got into the spirit of the season with a pair of Christmas-themed presentations.

First up was the LaPlace Elementary School bell choir, which entertained the board and community members gathered in the cafeteria at Emily C. Watkins Elementary School with their rendition of two Christmas classics. The bell choir will be making a handful of appearances throughout the region before ending the season with a performance at their school’s Christmas bash.

“I just think it’s a great thing for these kids,” said Kristina Miller, one of the teachers who directs the choir.

Next up was Terri Scott, the East St. John High School senior who won the district’s Christmas card contest. Scott, a member of ESJ’s Talented Arts Program, beat out students from other St. John public schools. Her card will be “used by the school board to spread holiday cheer this year,” according to Superintendent Courtney Millet.

These presentations offered a bit of levity before the board tackled the more pressing items on their agenda.

Hugh Martin, the attorney handling the school board’s bonds, presented the board with the latest bids. This is the second round of $18 million dollars in bonds to be issued since voters approved the bond measure a year ago.

According to Martin, the district has obtained a “good rating” of A3 for the bonds. He said five bidders qualified, and the low bid came from Crews and Associates, who submitted a bid of just over 3.8 percent. In addition, the company offered a premium of an additional $5,000.

The board unanimously approved the issuance of the bonds, which should be delivered in January.

In other business, representatives from CSRS consulting firm gave a report to the board concerning the progress of the Educational and Facilities Master Plan.

The playground projects got started with a ground-breaking ceremony at Watkins a few weeks ago. Additionally, the construction contract for the field house project was awarded. The contract amount came in under the projected budget. Also, Holly and Smith Architects of Hammond was awarded the design contract for renovations at LaPlace Elementary School.

The acceptance of bids on two other projects, the stadium and track upgrades at the district’s two high schools, was deferred until Dec. 17. The board called a special meeting for that date to deal with the matter.

The final item presented by Chris Pellegrin of CSRS turned out to be the most controversial.

The company submitted some changes to their contract with the district at a previous meeting, and the board was to vote on the matter Thursday.

Some of the changes would have authorized CSRS to make some minor administrative decisions so projects could proceed at a quicker pace.

Board member Albert Burl objected to three of the four changes. He was worried that allowing the company to authorize changes of value less than $25,000 without board approval would result in many unexpected expenses.

He also objected to the proposed authorization of only the superintendent and board president on substantial completion of projects.

Burl introduced a substitute motion that left out the changes he did not like, but that motion failed by a vote of 4 to 6 with one abstention.

The original motion passed by a vote of 8 to 3, but board member Russ Wise offered his assenting vote “with reservations.”

Pellegrin tried to calm the uneasiness about the situation, saying, “These scopes are very clearly defined.”