Evangeline Parish School Superintendent Darwan Lazard shared the amount school district personnel will receive from the excess sales tax distribution, also known as the 13th check.
Certificated personnel received an amount of $3,719, while support personnel received $1,673.55.
Employees eligible to receive the 13th check must have actively been employed during the 2017-2018 fiscal year who are still actively employed and remain employed.
Individuals who were on leave without pay or worker’s compensation are deemed ineligible since they were not receiving wages during that time frame, any person who was employed by the district for 2017-2018 year but is not longer employed will not receive a distribution, and any person hired after June 30, 2018.
While discussing the 13th check, which was distributed on Friday, November 16th, board member Karren Vidrine asked for an explanation on why support personnel receives less money than certificated personnel. Lazard shared the reason by stating, “It is 45 percent of the amount that is given to the professional staff. All of the other distributions we give follow the same rule and it has been like that for a number of years.”
Lazard also explained the 13th check is often used to entice educators. He said, “This is a good recruiting tool for educators, so we often refer to the 13th check when we recruit.”
During the meeting, Lazard also addressed the district and school performance scores released last week.
The district received a score of 76.4 B for the 2017-18 school year.
While this is a decrease from last year’s score of a 92.5 B, Lazard explained the formula used to grade district’s and schools changed. He also shared if the old formula had been used to score last year’s tests, the district would have earned a 75 B.
Lazard said, “If you remember, the projections that came from State Superintendent John White, was that we would have some dramatic drops and we were expecting a blood bath. But, I attribute the hard work of our personnel, teachers, principals, support staff and my supervisory staff that has occurred during this past year as the reason why we were able to maintain our own.”
Lazard went on to say, “We are not completely satisfied at where we are, but we are happy at where we are and we are looking forward to continuing to climb to the top. That is our theme this year and we feel like we are headed in the right direction.”
For a more in depth look at how each school individually performed, pick up a copy of the November 11, 2018 edition of the Ville Plate Gazette.
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ELIZABETH WEST Managing Editor