INSTRUCTIONAL TIME ADDED TO CALENDAR
Livingston Parish Public Schools Superintendent Jody Purvis announced the district is adjusting its school calendar to recover instructional time lost due to the snow and icy conditions experienced this month.
Students will now have a regular class day restored on either February 11, 12 or 13. The district had allocated one professional development day for each campus to be held either February 11, 12 or 13, but now that single professional day will be converted to a full learning day. All students and employees will be expected to attend those days.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we feel it is important that we use this time for instruction with our students,” Purvis said.
EMPLOYEE PAY RAISES DEPENDENT UPON VOTER APPROVAL OF CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT
A statewide Constitutional Amendment on the March 29 ballot is required to pass for K-12 teachers and school support workers to receive a permanent pay raise from the state.
Proposed Amendment No. 2 is the result of two bills approved by state legislators during a special Constitutional Conference that was held last November. One piece of legislation would protect funds to pay down nearly $2 billion dollars in teacher retirement system debt, with the other bill requiring that the money saved go toward pay raises. Legislators also included language in the amendment to raise the state sales tax to 5%.
If voters approve Proposed Amendment No. 2, certified K-12 teachers will receive a permanent $2,000 raise, while support workers will receive a $1,000 annual increase in pay.
Four proposed Constitutional Amendments are on the March 29 ballot. Early voting is available March 15-22.
NEW SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER ELECTED
Robert Seals was sworn in this month as the Livingston Parish School Board member for District 2.
That seat became vacated in late 2023 when board member Kellee Hennessey Dickerson resigned to assume a newly elected position of State Representative. The board appointed Stacy Robinson to temporarily fill the seat until an election could be held to find a new board member for that district.
Robert Seals is a retired banker. His children and grandchildren graduated from Live Oak High School, where his wife formerly taught. His daughter currently teaches at South Live Oak Elementary.