Evangeline Parish School Board meeting May 20, 2020 Evangeline Parish Superintendent of Schools Darwan Lazard addressed the Evangeline Parish School Board Wednesday night in a virtual meeting. Supt. Lazard said he has three priorities he wants to fullfill for the school district: #1- have more devices and chrome books in the hands of school students. He reminded the board when he became superintendent in 2017, he presented a five year plan to have a chrome book for every student. Now in year three of the plan, he said the school district is about 1000 chrome books short of achieving that goal. "We are way ahead of schedule", he said. #2 -Improve internet connectivity for students. Connectivity to the schools is good but the internet service to student homes need a lot of improvement. The superintendent and his staff are looking at options on making improvements in that regard; #3-Training for teachers. Lazard wants to have more laptops and smart boards for teachers. The I.T. department is helping train teachers to be ready to deliver the new content required by state and federal authorities. Lazard announced that the administrative staff at the central office are working on a 50/50 schedule. Half the staff is working in the office two days a week while the other two days from home. Fridays, the offices are closed. The same thing on the school level. Under phase one, the office is open 8-4 Monday through Thursday. Those needing to do business at the central office are asked to call ahead and someone will come out to your vehicle to assist you. Schools are following the same plan. The superintendent remarked that he will not require teachers to return to schools for training. Teachers at all parish schools will be provided training in a virtual manner for their safety and get the support and training through zoom meetings. The superintendent praised all of the schools in the parish for their graduation ceremonies. He called it "a grand success.". He attended graduations at Pine Prairie, Ville Platte and Mamou while Assistant Supt. Mike Lombas was present at graduations at Basile, Ville Platte and Pine Prairie. He said he heard much positive comments from parents and community members for the parades and special events held for the graduating class of 2020. He thanked the mayors and police chiefs from each community for their cooperation. In other action the school board approved the contract renewal for another two years to Child Welfare and Attendance Supervisor Phillip Buller.