Willson elected MCSB president

Willson replaced School Board member B.J. Johnson as president in a 4-3 vote, with School Board members Michael Sampognaro, Jennifer Haneline, Daryll Berry and Willson voting for Willson.

School Board members Betty Ward-Cooper, Brenda Shelling and Johnson sought to elect Ward-Cooper as president instead.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Mr. Brandon Johnson for his service as School Board president,” Willson said. “Your sincere interest and earnestness of wanting to improve out School Board, the lives of our children and employees—I want to thank you for your service.”

Berry was elected vice president at the meeting. The only other School Board member nominated for vice president was Ward-Cooper, who withdrew before the vote.

School Board members were sworn in during the meeting, including two new members, Shelling and Sampognaro. Shelling won the District 7 race against Sharon Neal-Greer in the November election and Sampognaro won the District 1 seat without opposition, after Rick Saulsberry’s candidacy was ruled ineligible because of unpaid late fees to the state.

“I want to show the support of the people who are here tonight,” Shelling said at the meeting. “It was not me and my work that showed the different in votes, but it was you all.”

Shelling previously served on the School Board for 16 years and narrowly lost to Neal-Greer in 2018. Meanwhile, Sampognaro began his first term this month.

“I look forward to working with every one of you,” Sampognaro told the School Board members. “I know we’re going to have votes that don’t go each other’s way but we can work through all that in the end.”

On another front, the School Board announced it would distribute $2,000 in one-time payments to employees during the first half of 2023.

Superintendent Brent Vidrine said the first of the payments would come this month and the second in May. Each school system employee will receive a $1,000 check for each payment.

“This is the third and final installment of our COVID dollars,” Vidrine said.

The School Board also received a complaint from a school employee about the school system’s practice of paying employees once a month. That became an issue around the holidays since employees were paid on Dec. 19 and not again until Jan. 26.

Berry said he intended to look into the possibility of paying employees more often.

“I think Morehouse Parish—some of their lower income employees—is paying them every two weeks,” Berry said. “That would be something I’d want to look at. We may have to start at a certain level and work our way up.”