St. Mary School Board feels labor, supply shortages

CENTERVILLE — Shortages of supplies and employees are making things challenging for the St. Mary Parish School System as it works on summer projects in anticipation for the 2021-22 school year.
Maintenance Supervisor Brad Wiese said that lumber prices have soared, and the school system is struggling to purchase paint.
“Paint’s one of the biggest commodities that we buy in the summertime because we paint so much,” Wiese said. “We bought every paint there is in St. Mary Parish.”
He said the school system is trying to do the best it can to get the projects complete.
“But we’re struggling and our contractors are struggling as well,” Wiese said.
He said that contractors the school system uses are having trouble finding labor, while the price of items and the ability to get them efficiently has been a challenge, holding up some of these projects.
Also, the school system is struggling to find maintenance and custodial staff employees. Currently, seven custodians are needed across the parish as well as four maintenance personnel.
“We run ads constantly, and we’re getting nobody to apply,” Wiese said.
In another maintenance item, he reported that Morgan City High School’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning project is moving along and has all of its supplies.
“The school is completely tore up, but we will put it all back together,” Wiese said.
However, he reported that the chiller at M.D. Shannon Elementary “is on its last leg.” The city government in Morgan City uses the gym for its summer camp. Wiese said the school system is trying to remedy the problem without having to spend a substantial amount of money.
Superintendent Teresa Bagwell said she and Chief Financial Officer Alton Perry met with Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna a few months ago about Shannon.
“The city does have obviously a significant interest in utilizing the building, so we will be looking to host another meeting with them now that this information has come to light just to talk about the future of the building,” she said.
Wiese also said that the school system has received approval to use federal stimulus fund to replace roofs across the parish, so they are having a roofing survey complete to give them a priority list of how to proceed first.
He will update the board on maintenance issues in July.
In other action during Thursday’s meeting, the board:
—Heard from Perry that sales tax collections for May were $1.447 million, which is ahead of budget due to its audit. Therefore, they are right around what was budgeted. Perry also reported the school system is negotiating for health insurance coverage with United Health Care. If they were to bid out, the only other company able to compete is Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana, Perry said. He said insurance claims the last couple of months had improved.
—Approved banking resolutions for signatories at multiple schools due to recent appointments.
—Approved a resolution for a position on changes of ACT Index.
—Approved a resolution supporting a waiver of school performance and district performance scores for the 2020-21 school year due to the pandemic’s disruptions.
—Heard from board member Sylvia Lockett, who was absent at the special meeting at the end of May due to medical reasons. Lockett said she supported the $2,000 stipend given to employees due to their efforts during the pandemic, and she said she would have voted for the measure had she been at the meeting.
Board members Ginger Griffin, Marilyn LaSalle, Wayne Deslatte and Joseph Foulcard were absent from Thursday’s meeting.