Elizabeth High School will soon have lights at its baseball and softball fields thanks to $30,000 received from the state’s capital improvement fund and $202,000 received from Oxychemical.
Telbe Storbeck, external affairs manager for Oxychemical, presented the check to the Allen Parish School Board meeting held Monday, October 14.
“I’m really excited to be here tonight because it’s the culmination of a partnership,” Storbeck said. “One of the things I get to do in my job is to work with community members to understand where they would like to see benefits come to their community. This project was identified, and I’m so happy our company was able to step up. It means more to me as a has-been high school and college athlete when I heard that you’re having to start these games at 3 p.m. and parents aren’t able to show up. I remember how much that meant to me to have my parents at all of my sporting events.”
The capital improvement funds were received through the help of State Representative Dewith Carrier.
Earlier in the meeting, Superintendent Brad Soileau recognized the students from Allen Parish who received a perfect score on the Spring 2024 LEAP test. They were Philip Maricle, a fourth grade science student at Oakdale Middle; Rivers Sloper, a sixth grade math student at Fairview; Benjamin Stalsby, an eighth grade ELA student at Elizabeth; Draven Upshaw, an English II student at Elizabeth; Emersyn Kingrey, an eighth grade ELA student at Kinder Middle; and Kalaila Khan, an English II student at Kinder High.
Later, Superintendent Soileau announced this year’s EEF grant funds will be used to purchase musical instruments at Kinder High and Oakdale High. Part of the funds will also be used to purchase drums for Oberlin High, where a drumline will begin next school year.
The superintendent also updated the board on the APSB strategic plan and on some upcoming dates. Kinder homecoming is tomorrow, October 18; Oberlin Homecoming is October 25, and Reeves Homecoming and Oakdale Homecoming are November 1; Elizabeth Homecoming is December 6; and Fairview Homecoming is February 7. October 25 is a day for district-wide family teacher conferences and is a virtual day. The first nine weeks ends on October 17, and report cards will be sent on October 25. The Special Education Law Conference will be held November 18-19. The Allen Parish Career Fair will be October 22. Election Day is November 5. November 8, is Fair Day. Louisiana School Board Association will meet February 25-27.
In other business, the school board:
•Adopted a resolution authorizing the superintendent to execute a contract between the Rapides Foundation and the Allen Parish School Board to participate in the Effective Schools Grant for the 2024-2025 school year.
•Approved the Louisiana Compliance Questionnaire for Kolder, Slaven, and Company LLC for the June 30 audit.
•Approved an out-of-state trip for district supervisors to travel to Houston, Texas, from October 18, through October 18, to attend the Texas Parent and Family Engagement Statewide Conference.
•Approved an out-of-state trip for IT Support Specialist Grady Fontenot and eight additional teachers to travel to Georgetown, Texas, from November 6, through November 8, to attend the 2024 TCEA System Conference.
•Approved an out-of-state trip for CTE Supervisor Kim Rider to travel to San Antonio, Texas, from December 4, through December 6 to attend the 2024 Vision ACTE Conference.