Sept. 10, 2024

Taylor Hubert | Candidate for L.P. School Board District #2

Taylor Hubert | Candidate for L.P. School Board District #2

In this episode, host Jim Chapman sits down with Taylor Hubert, a candidate for the District 2 school board seat in Livingston Parish. Taylor discusses the upcoming election and his commitment to education, shaped by his background and the massive...

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In this episode, host Jim Chapman sits down with Taylor Hubert, a candidate for the District 2 school board seat in Livingston Parish. Taylor discusses the upcoming election and his commitment to education, shaped by his background and the massive amount of educators in his family.

Key issues he is looking to address should he be elected include addressing the need of updated school facilities to respond to the population growth, equitable access to technology, and the importance of fair teacher compensation amidst recruitment challenges.

Taylor emphasizes community engagement and collaboration, advocating for innovative funding solutions to support local schools. Tune in to hear more about his vision and plans for education in Livingston Parish. Livingston Parish’s District #2 encompasses all of the Watson, Louisiana area schools.
#livingstonparish #schoolboard #taylorhubert #localleaders #podcast #louisiana #watson #vote

Timestamps
01:55 School Board Dynamics
04:19 Taylor's Community Commitment
08:20 Addressing Growth Concerns
12:32 The Importance of School Boards
17:38 Technology in Education
22:34 Teacher Pay Discussion
26:59 Innovative Funding Ideas
31:16 Engaging with the Community
42:52 Navigating Challenges Ahead
51:00 Closing Thoughts

WEBVTT

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Hi, this is Lori Johnson with Hancock Whitney Bank, and

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you're listening to Local Leaders the podcast. Visit Local leadersthepodcast

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dot com for previous episodes or for information on peering

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on the show.

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Hey everyone, and welcome back to Local Leaders of the podcast.

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And look on November fifth, we have a ballot. It

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has a lot of important elections on it, not only

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nationally but here locally. Now one of those names is

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here with us today, so I want to welcome him.

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And I'm gonna let you introduce yourself.

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Yeah, thank you, thank you for having me. Yeah, my

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name is Taylor Hubert. I'm not really a lifelong resident

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of Watson, but my family moved here when I was

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five years old.

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Well that's pretty much lifelong pretty much unless you're seven

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and you look older than.

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Seven pretty much.

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So my brother and I are six and a half

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years apart. So when my parents had my brother, they

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had said we're not going to put We're not going

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to put two kids through private school, a central private

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Let's uh.

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Let's take the trip north.

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Let's go to Watson and and you know, I'm a

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product Olivis and Paris education, product to Livo High school.

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And yeah, I'll see that livea shirt you got on

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right now. It's funny, y'all because I got an yellow

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jacket in the corner and he keeps looking at it

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cross eye when he I'm just getting red Beard sees this,

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go Eagles, there you go. Well, you're running for the

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district to school boards. And that was Kelly Hennessy s

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it was okay, and she is now in the legislature,

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So I guess she vacated that seat and someone took

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that seat over just temporarily as.

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An interim position. Yes, sir, Miss Stacy Robinson, Yeah she was.

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She was an education I want to say, for over

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thirty years when she retired. She retired as the assistant

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principal position at Livo High School.

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Yeah.

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I have a lot of respect for for miss Kelly

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and Miss Stacy Robinson. I think them both have done

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done a wonderful job. Kelly Surfer almost twelve years.

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Yeah, she was staple in that she was.

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She was and and she represented her people in her

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district and the best way she could. And and Miss

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Stacy's really carried on that legacy of I've told everybody

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I wish Miss Stacy would run because she's way more

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qualified than these. She she knows education, she knows the people,

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she knows the she knows the rules a heck of

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a lot better than I do.

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Yeah, she's not interested in she wants to enjoy a retirement.

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I don't blame her.

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I don't blame her thirty plus years in public education.

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She wants to go spend the time with family and grandkids.

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Well, very good. And now you have announced.

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And your you're running like crazy. You are definitely burning

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the soles off your shoes, trying to get the word

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out on who you are, what you represent, all of

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those sort of things. And you are married.

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Yes I am, I'm and I'm married to an educator. Yes,

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my wife's sent her second year at Southside Elementary right

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here in Dunham Springs. So I work in this parish,

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she works in this parish. We're proud to spend our

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money and be a part of livings to parish.

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Love that.

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And you got a baby on the one I do do?

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Uh Baylor Drew Hubert Uh Oh great nang. We found

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found out the gender two week ago Saturday, so her

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due dates March first. We're excited.

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Yeah.

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Uh, life, Life's changing man. Life's life's evolving. I'm a

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big family person. So, uh, Drew was Drew was actually

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the first name of my brothers, so he was. It's

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pretty emotional when when we told him, hey, look her.

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You know, boys middle name is gonna be named after you. Yeah,

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and that's your first child. It is okay, so got

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a boy your first time out.

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Yeah, that was. That was the same way.

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And uh, and you know, there's nothing like parenthood. Now

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there's a lot of people listening probably know there's nothing

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like it.

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Did you do a gender reveal? We did?

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We we we had a I don't know what you

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call him, little cannon or something popped the thing and

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the blue or pink comes out, and uh, I just

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had family. They're very small, very intimate, but it was, uh,

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it was.

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It was awesome to see. That's pretty awesome.

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You know, when my kids were born, they didn't have

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that yet. So my wife's like, I can't believe we

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missed that. On getting to do that, I said, I

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don't know. I didn't think of it.

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I would have back back back in your age.

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I just got told at the hospital and I was like,

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all right, that's the time I found out we're having

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a girl exactly, we're having twins. What my wife's a

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twin actually, so I am very fortunate I'm not having

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twins on my first go around.

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I'll tell you, well, very good. Uh.

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And I know that's exciting stuff. And throughout all of that,

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life is just steady moving along. And Taylor decides he's

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gonna put his hat in the name and the hat

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for the school board Seaton, And I guess my first

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question would be why.

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Why why do that?

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Well, I'm young, I'm energetic, and i love my community,

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and I've always felt the need to serve. I've a

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coach travel baseball for ten years.

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Yeah.

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Uh so starting back in roughly twenty thirteen twenty fourteen,

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started getting involved and uh and leading young men at

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that time though that was fourteen and fifteen year olds,

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trying to mold them into into you know what high

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school would be the preparation in the high school baseball, Yeah,

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and trying to make trying to make them into young

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men and to expect in the real world. And then

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and then got attached to a team, the Louisiana Nationals

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out in Springfield. So I was with them for four

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seasons and Uh, loved it, enjoyed it. My my father

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got real sick, so I took I took a back seat,

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and we lost him in May of last year. And

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so after that, you know, it was just something that

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kept calling to me, you know. I mean I met

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with some principles in the Live Oak area and you know,

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got their opinion, their honest opinion, and and and they said, look,

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we would love to we would love to have you

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as a voice, We would love to have you as representation.

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And I just want to lead. And I think I

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think that's what good leaders do. They bring people together.

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They they formulate ideas, formulate opinions, and you know, sometimes

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you got to step on toe, sometimes you got to

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say the things that some other people are scared to say.

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But at the end of the day, Uh, that's what

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leaders do. You know, They take charge, They at the

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front of the line, and they they give the best

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representation they can for their community members.

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I couldn't agree with you more. And you mentioned in

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their voice and if y'all uh you were the voice

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of the live play by play for.

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A little while, I was know we were talking about

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that earlier. I I give all the credit in the

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world to buy you Sports Network. Man, I that was

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I tell everybody, that was the funnest five years of

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my life. We were we were at the pinnacle.

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Uh.

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It was Brett Beard, Brett Beard's first year at Live

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Oak and twenty fifteen was my first year. Yeah, and

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I and I and I left when when when he

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left in Denham, I mean when he left to go

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to Denham.

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So that was, man.

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We we we saw some some some packed playoff games.

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And I mean, I'll flat I'll tell you I witnessed

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Live Oak football play in the playoffs the day after Thanksgiving,

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which is has only happened one time. And to see

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to see thousands of people packed the stands and and

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and at one point we had over thirty five hundred listeners.

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It was it was insane. It was something truly that

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I'll never forget. You know how small it was in time.

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It just looking back now that was almost five years,

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five six seasons ago, it's like, wow, man, we we

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touched a lot of people.

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We impacted a lot of memories. It really does.

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And and look and small smaller areas like Livingston Parish

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and you know, it's a hard to miss. Call it

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a small town anymore small parish. It has grown so much,

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and we'll get into a little of that, but it.

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Still has that small feel.

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Yeah, and you know, Friday nights under the lights uh

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is hard to beat no matter.

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What school it is. And I mean, let me ask you.

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You held a meeting greet recently.

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And one of the best things you can do at

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meeting greets, I would imagine from a from your perspective,

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is you learn what the people you're going to represent

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ultimately are looking for in a rep. What are the

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concerns things like that, And you've got a few of those.

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I've been following your Facebook page, which incidentally give them

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give them a follow on Facebook if you if you

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give a chance, and he'll keep you updated.

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But one of the things was.

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With regard to the growth and your district specifically, which

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I guess before we go any further district too, is

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all of the live area essentially all of Watson Yeah. Okay,

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so one of the biggest growing districts in the parish.

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Multi purpose buildings or something that are concerned. Let's talk

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about that for a minute. Why is that concern and

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what can we do about it?

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A couple months ago before I even formally announced to

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the public. I met with every principal and their staff.

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At each school. Yeah.

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And you know, you drive by something for so many years,

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don't you don't understand or see the problems that they

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that they're facing every day.

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Yeah.

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Take for instance, Livo Elementary. The school was the first

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elementary school built, which was over a little bit over

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sixty years ago. Yeah, the school population has very much

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increased in sixty years. At Livo Elementary, they don't have

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enough bathrooms, cafeteria small, it's an older school. So you know,

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the phrase I've heard is is yeah, a multipurpose building

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and what is that? That's something that that they can

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have an awards day ceremony at the end of the year.

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They can have a Christmas play. They can welcome just

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more than just the mom and dads for that children.

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They can welcome grandparents. They can welcome brothers and sisters

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and aunts and uncles to see you know, junior or Susie, you.

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Know, do X y Z. Whatever's going on at the school.

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And it's and it's sitting down with the principals and

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just saying, look, we have any for this, And they

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were showing me pictures, I mean of a of a

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I believe it was a like a Christmas play that

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that the elementary school had had. And just I mean

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your shoulder to shoulder, you can't fit another you can't

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fit another soul in there. And then incorporate bathrooms into that.

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Building, you know. So you know, I think I'm.

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Pretty sure Libo Elementary only has two bathrooms, one on

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each side of the school. But back then you only

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had a very limited number of students, so you didn't

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have a need to build a whole bunch of bathrooms.

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And you know, you know as well as I do,

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you can't take a sixty year old building and just

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throw some more plumbing up there.

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Yeah, I mean you've got to You've got to do something.

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And and and that's a that's a big thing because

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it's it's I guess it's the it's in the name multipurpose, right,

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you know, bathrooms, picnic tables.

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You can use it for plays, you can use it.

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For X, you know, whatever the case may be, to

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house the students or house you know, members of family

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for certain activities.

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Agreed And I'll.

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Tell you this, you know, and this was has been

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a couple of years ago, but it reminds me of

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the importance of the school board every time I think

236
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about it. Twenty sixteen, we had obviously a major flood,

237
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especially here in the Denham Springs area, where everything went

238
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under feet of water. I had three kids that were

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all in school. One was starting at Dinhim Springs High School.

240
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The other two were supposed to start right up the

241
00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:08.159
road at Southside Junior High and south Side Junior High

242
00:11:08.360 --> 00:11:12.440
went completely underwater. Was you know, ended up being demolished

243
00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:17.240
and rebuilt during that flood, and it was, you know,

244
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it was horrible for so many of us around here.

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The consideration of people with kids. I remember distinctly thinking,

246
00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:27.559
how the kid's going to go to school?

247
00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:30.759
Like that clicked after about four days, how are the

248
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kids going to go?

249
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I cannot tell you how proud I was we had.

250
00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:37.399
A school board that stepped up.

251
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Sure they did a bang up job, for sure, And

252
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that's a lot of pressure you've now got. I think

253
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most of the schools in the parish were flooded. I

254
00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:46.960
mean it was a mess.

255
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It was unbelief.

256
00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:51.080
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267
00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:33.559
leaders the podcast. It's very important, uh, when we're sometimes

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these positions, these boards that people get voted into, if

269
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you know, people don't put enough thought into the importance

270
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of who you're putting in that position.

271
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Is it someone that can handle pressure? Sure?

272
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Is it someone that has their heart in the right place.

273
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Is someone that sees things? You know, not everybody's gonna

274
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agree on everything. Unfortunately, I'd be great if everybody agree

275
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with me, But I never find that.

276
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If you want to make everybody happy, go sell ice.

277
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From that aspect, That's what I think about when I

278
00:13:04.679 --> 00:13:07.639
think about voting for candidates for school board is if

279
00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:10.600
it floods tomorrow. Is that guy going to be able

280
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to come up with a plane and handle it?

281
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One thing?

282
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And I I'll come out and say, you've impressed me

283
00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:19.919
a lot with your thought process. You think outside the box,

284
00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:24.519
which I look for in all leaders, because not everything

285
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is cookie cutter.

286
00:13:25.240 --> 00:13:26.879
As a matter of fact, most of the time it's not.

287
00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:30.440
It's it never turns out how you think it's going

288
00:13:30.519 --> 00:13:32.480
to turn out on paper, and you have to see

289
00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:37.759
all sides. Let me ask you another thing. Another concern

290
00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:41.840
that was brought up was in reference to technology.

291
00:13:42.440 --> 00:13:45.159
So Levis to Paris is a one to one parish,

292
00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:50.159
and certain schools get certain federal funding for technology, and

293
00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.879
most of the live of schools don't. So the problem

294
00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:55.080
I hear from Principles and their staff is, hey, look,

295
00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:56.480
you know we we're one to one.

296
00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:57.519
So each kid and.

297
00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:01.200
I don't think kindergarten has thrown into this us, but

298
00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:02.879
I think it may start in first grade. You know,

299
00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.840
each kid is sent home with their own his or

300
00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:08.000
her laptop or tablet whatever it is. And they're not

301
00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:10.840
expensive tablets. I mean, let's just say the max value

302
00:14:10.840 --> 00:14:13.120
of it's five hundred dollars. Well, how long do you

303
00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:15.840
think a five hundred dollars piece of equipment would last

304
00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:19.919
you in the podcast industry, right, it's not long much

305
00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:22.559
less of a much less of an elementary school kid

306
00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:24.519
taking care of it, you know, one hundred and two

307
00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:25.639
eighths out of the school year.

308
00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:29.879
Probably not, probably not, you know.

309
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.840
So, so it's ways to try to get creative, to

310
00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:36.039
to get some funding or get monies that are freed

311
00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:38.559
up or allowed, and whether that's through a federal grant

312
00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:41.480
or whatever. Just just let's put our heads together. Let's

313
00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:45.679
see what's available out there to to get children the

314
00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:48.759
access to technology and new technology. Let's just say every

315
00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:50.879
three to four years, you know, let them let them

316
00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:53.200
follow for instance, let it follow them from their freshmen

317
00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:56.120
to their to their senior year, or or or let

318
00:14:56.120 --> 00:14:58.960
it follow them from first to fourth grade and then

319
00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:01.840
you know onward and omar like that. So you know,

320
00:15:02.200 --> 00:15:04.559
what can we do to to to limit the life

321
00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:08.639
term I guess of that of that specific device. I mean,

322
00:15:08.919 --> 00:15:11.200
they're only gonna last so long. Some of them break.

323
00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:13.519
Now they've got band aids, they've got duct tape on them.

324
00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:15.320
So what can we do? What can I do as

325
00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:18.960
a school board member to say, let's let's let's look

326
00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:21.879
outside the box, like you said, and let's see what's

327
00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:25.960
out there available funds wise to say whether we can

328
00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:30.000
get laptops, laptop carts, charging carts, whatever it may need,

329
00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:34.519
so these students can have the best tools capable year

330
00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:37.679
and a year out to succeed and and and mold

331
00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:39.919
themselves for the next step in life.

332
00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:44.240
It's hugely important. And I actually served on a committee

333
00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:47.399
and I'll give you a good example of that, and

334
00:15:47.480 --> 00:15:49.960
it was called the Link Up Livingston Committee, and our

335
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:53.679
whole goal was we were trying to get internet for

336
00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:58.440
underserved parts of the parish. There were grants out there

337
00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:01.600
called gumbo grants, and I think they have a second

338
00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:06.320
aspect to that now. But these gumbo grants were a competition.

339
00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:09.639
It wasn't every parish gets this amount of money. You

340
00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:14.039
had to compete for funding. One thing that we learned

341
00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:17.639
and another thing that the school board here I think

342
00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:21.320
in Livingston Paris did a great job with because nobody

343
00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:24.600
saw it coming was COVID. But one thing we learned

344
00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:28.519
in COVID is that if these kids are home, there's

345
00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:33.120
a lot of issues with like internet access. You know,

346
00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:35.720
it's hard to get online when you have good and

347
00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:37.840
you're in the middle of Denim Springs. You have good

348
00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:41.519
internet access and you're trying to get online to these.

349
00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:44.320
Portals to have school.

350
00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:46.440
Much less if you were in the middle of nowhere

351
00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:51.240
and there's no service. And some of these kids, sadly,

352
00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:55.840
there was a lot of aspects of this pariship were underserved.

353
00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:58.960
We were blessed we were able to secure millions of

354
00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:03.600
dollars in funding for some underserved parts of this parish.

355
00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:06.839
But those are things from a school board perspective that

356
00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:11.400
y'all may never see coming until it hits. Nobody saw COVID.

357
00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:14.319
I mean, you know, nobody saw it coming, and then

358
00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:16.880
it was two weeks to slow the curve or whatever

359
00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:21.480
it was, and that became forever and ever. Nobody saw

360
00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:24.079
that coming. And I think our school board did a

361
00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:28.000
pretty good job of handling that. Yeah, And that those

362
00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:32.440
are things. That's the importance of this particular position, this

363
00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:36.240
particular vote, is those are the people you put in place.

364
00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:37.759
Those are the ones that are going to handle on

365
00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:42.279
children and when they're faced with things like this. So

366
00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:44.240
another thing pay raises.

367
00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:47.440
It's the elephant everybody ever wants to talk about. They

368
00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:50.559
don't because it's hard to find a solution. Right, it is,

369
00:17:50.759 --> 00:17:51.119
it is?

370
00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:54.119
And I mean, what do we you know, I guess,

371
00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:56.680
I guess in this day and age in twenty twenty four.

372
00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:59.640
You know, my wife's in education, my mother in law's

373
00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:01.680
thirty one one years as a guidance counselor, and my

374
00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:04.519
sister in law as a guidance counselor in this parish. Really,

375
00:18:05.079 --> 00:18:09.720
my wife's twin sister is a teacher up in North Carolina. Yeah, educate,

376
00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:14.319
education all over, educations all around our family, you know.

377
00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:17.160
And the question I have, like to my wife, and

378
00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:20.160
this is no discredit. You know, the morale is low.

379
00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:23.880
Uh and and and it is becoming harder and harder

380
00:18:24.440 --> 00:18:26.359
to not just be a teacher, but to be in

381
00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.039
anything in the public education system. And and and why

382
00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:33.319
is that? Well, you have zero support from the parent. Nowadays,

383
00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:35.440
parents don't want a parent. And and I know I'm

384
00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:38.240
somebody that's not quite the parent yet, but I mean

385
00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:42.920
my generation, in your generation, if you acted up, oh.

386
00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:43.839
Yeah, you paid for it.

387
00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:46.720
My mom came to the school, I got whipped, the

388
00:18:46.759 --> 00:18:48.839
principal whip me, and then my dad handled me when

389
00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:49.720
he got off from work.

390
00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:52.079
So I mean, you don't you know, if the.

391
00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:55.480
Teacher and my wife goes through this, you know, something

392
00:18:55.559 --> 00:18:57.480
goes wrong. You've got to send a message. And then

393
00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:01.279
the teachers just asking question after question to well, you

394
00:19:01.319 --> 00:19:02.839
know what, what what about this?

395
00:19:02.920 --> 00:19:04.000
Well, what are you doing with this?

396
00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:06.200
You know, at the end of the day, little juniors,

397
00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:09.240
he's acting up, it's causing a disruption in the class.

398
00:19:09.319 --> 00:19:13.160
He I'm I'm I'm just a wearing you of the issue,

399
00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:16.240
and and and and it's becoming harder for teachers to

400
00:19:16.279 --> 00:19:20.079
do their job. I thought the Department of Education at

401
00:19:20.119 --> 00:19:21.960
the state level did a really good job of the

402
00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:25.079
the let Teachers Teach movement that they that they did

403
00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:30.960
pass through Bessie cutting down on the Teachers Bill of Rights,

404
00:19:31.079 --> 00:19:37.799
letting letting students that that are habitually disrupting a classroom,

405
00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:41.440
let the teachers handle that, move them out, involve the

406
00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:44.160
involved the admin at that point, because at that at

407
00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:47.119
that point, you're affecting Let's just say you've got twenty

408
00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:50.319
seven kids in the classroom, you're your your your best

409
00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:52.960
interest is the other twenty six kids. This this kid's

410
00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:56.839
a problem child that we're affecting the learning and the

411
00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:00.119
ability to learn of the other twenty six children, and so,

412
00:20:00.279 --> 00:20:02.200
you know, I thought the let Teachers Teach movement was

413
00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:04.119
a great thing. And it also cut down on the

414
00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:06.599
repetitive state trainings at the end of the year, so

415
00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:09.799
you're taking the same training over and over again. It

416
00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:13.359
cut down and consolidated to say, look, we're going to

417
00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:15.559
do this as a one off training or or we're

418
00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:18.720
revisited every like three or four years, whatever the language said.

419
00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:22.240
So so the let Teachers Teach initiative was it was

420
00:20:22.279 --> 00:20:24.200
a great thing in my opinion, for teachers in the

421
00:20:24.200 --> 00:20:27.599
state of Louisiana, because it teachers need to go back

422
00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:31.759
to just teaching right. We're we're we're getting whether it's

423
00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:35.279
federal mandates, whether it's state mandates, or whether it's school mandates.

424
00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:40.599
It's it's paperwork, it's stress, it's it's just we need

425
00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:42.200
to go back to the old days and just let

426
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:44.519
them teach. And and and the parents need a parent

427
00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:45.960
at the end of the day. I think if if

428
00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:48.519
if we can get some help at home and get

429
00:20:48.519 --> 00:20:52.440
some home support and in Junior and Tommy and Susie

430
00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:55.319
can act right every the morale is going to increase

431
00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:57.039
because the job is going to get easier. You know,

432
00:20:57.079 --> 00:20:59.279
there's no such thing as a perfect job. If there was,

433
00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:01.640
there'd be a million, there'ld be a million people in

434
00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:04.640
line for that job, you know. But I think if

435
00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:09.519
we can do some things collaboratively all together, and let's

436
00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:11.319
just say it all kind of works itself out, and

437
00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:13.960
this new initiative ends up being good for the teachers

438
00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:16.920
Bill of rights per se. You know, hopefully teachers can

439
00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:20.960
become a little a little less stressed, you know, a little,

440
00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:23.279
a little more into their to the realm of norm

441
00:21:23.319 --> 00:21:25.319
of of just doing what they're what they were hired

442
00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:26.119
to do in the beginning.

443
00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:27.319
I would agree.

444
00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:32.640
And you know, one of the ways, uh Taylor, with

445
00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:36.119
regard to raises in particular, if you look around or

446
00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:40.640
surrounding parishes, uh, and don't fool yourself. These teachers do

447
00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:43.720
the same thing when they're looking at jobs and they've

448
00:21:43.720 --> 00:21:48.720
got options, especially good teachers, look experienced, been in in

449
00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:53.640
a while, great track record. Other parishes figure that out

450
00:21:53.720 --> 00:21:57.680
and if they're coming looking for a job, money matters.

451
00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.720
Money matters now for sure.

452
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.279
Will always say that you can get paid a million

453
00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:06.799
dollars a year, and if you don't have passion for

454
00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:08.880
what you're doing, it's not going to make a difference.

455
00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:13.000
But if you have passion for what you're doing, and

456
00:22:14.839 --> 00:22:18.440
you know you have someone offering you a substantial amount

457
00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.839
of money more to move, it's harder to keep your

458
00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:25.640
good teachers. And that's common sense for everybody. So any

459
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:28.079
school board would sit down and say, Yep, you're right.

460
00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:31.400
Everybody knows that we need to pay our teachers more.

461
00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:34.279
The question is how we don't have any money or

462
00:22:35.319 --> 00:22:40.559
I've always been a fan of cutting, cutting where things

463
00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:43.000
need to be cut. If there's some fat somewhere that

464
00:22:43.079 --> 00:22:45.640
you can cut off, maybe you're a little heavy in

465
00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:48.119
one area and you can shift some money around.

466
00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:49.119
I don't know. I don't have the.

467
00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:54.440
Books, but I've always been someone that that looks into, Okay,

468
00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:55.640
what's our bidding process?

469
00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:56.079
Like are we.

470
00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:58.920
Bidding out jobs or we just kind of going with

471
00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:00.680
the same people we've always got on with. Can we

472
00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:04.519
save some money maybe with this paint person rather than

473
00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:05.720
that paint manufacturer.

474
00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:06.400
I don't know, but.

475
00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:11.039
You when we sat down initially and discussed all this,

476
00:23:11.319 --> 00:23:13.079
one thing I liked is that you're like, Yeah, we

477
00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:14.400
need to get out of the box.

478
00:23:14.519 --> 00:23:16.319
We need to We're going to have to figure out

479
00:23:16.359 --> 00:23:17.519
a way we're going to have to.

480
00:23:17.559 --> 00:23:19.920
So, I mean Livingston is out out of the out

481
00:23:19.960 --> 00:23:23.000
of the six surrounding and Livingston's included in this. Out

482
00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:25.599
of the six surrounding school districts, Livingston is dead last.

483
00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:30.160
So so you go Ascension, East, Baton, Rouge, Zachary, Central,

484
00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:34.160
Livingston and Tangibahoa. Wow, Livingston ranks last and pay.

485
00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:36.039
Start starting to that.

486
00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:41.759
So everybody is leaving us in regards to recruitment and retention.

487
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:47.240
And you know what can we do to recruit people

488
00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:51.920
in Livingston Parish out of college? Well you got to

489
00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:54.359
pay them. Yeah, you know, why would they come to

490
00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:57.000
Livingston when they can go to Ascension? Why would they

491
00:23:57.039 --> 00:23:58.599
come to Livingston when they can go to a go

492
00:23:58.680 --> 00:24:02.200
to Central or Tangibaho. You know, you've got to pay

493
00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:04.359
them and you've got to be competitive in that. And

494
00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:06.440
then how do you on the flip side of that,

495
00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:09.319
how do you retain a ten plus year veteran teacher.

496
00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:13.920
You got to pay them, you know. So if they're

497
00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:18.000
if our pay scale is eight thousand dollars short of

498
00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:21.440
what Ascensions in Central is, and it is, why would

499
00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:24.160
they stay here? And I think it's evident when you

500
00:24:24.200 --> 00:24:27.079
had one hundred and fifty teachers leave the parish. Not

501
00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:29.119
taking mind some of them did retire, so it's not

502
00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:31.960
all one hundred and fifty just leaving in bus loads.

503
00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:34.519
But you had a turnover rate of one hundred and

504
00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:39.279
fifty teachers this past summer. You have teachers that I

505
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:41.400
know for a fact, my son, just my daughter, My

506
00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:43.720
son had just graduated. I'm not tied to living to

507
00:24:43.799 --> 00:24:46.880
Paris no more. I'm going to Ascension to make twelve thousand,

508
00:24:46.920 --> 00:24:50.799
five hundred more years. That's the exact conversation. Look, I

509
00:24:50.920 --> 00:24:53.160
was I stayed here and lives to Paris because my

510
00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:56.079
children went to the school. You know, I got to

511
00:24:56.119 --> 00:24:58.359
bring them to work every day, I got to bring

512
00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:01.640
them home after school. We're not tied to that anymore.

513
00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:03.839
There's no more strings attached for me to stay here.

514
00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:06.160
So I can now go make more money from my family.

515
00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:08.839
And at the end of the day, you can't blame them.

516
00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:13.599
I mean, at the end of the day, you're gonna

517
00:25:13.640 --> 00:25:15.400
go take more money. I can't look at you and say, well,

518
00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:18.279
you're you're you're morally wrong for that.

519
00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:18.920
You're not.

520
00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:21.200
I mean, why and why would you blame them? You know,

521
00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:25.200
these are these are these are these are civil surface workers?

522
00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:27.599
You know, these are our These are our backbone of

523
00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:30.319
our of our United States economy. I mean it starts

524
00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:33.039
in the classroom, in kindergarten, in first grade.

525
00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:33.759
And our people.

526
00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:38.799
I mean, if they are education, it's it's I have

527
00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:42.559
always tried distress the importance of if you want to

528
00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:47.839
make a difference in in your community, Uh, it starts

529
00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:51.799
with the people you're raising. Yeah, and the tools that

530
00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:54.920
you're giving the people that are teaching these people. Nothing

531
00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:59.799
in life is as important as education from KA twelve

532
00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:03.039
in my opinion, because that's when they're reared. You know

533
00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:05.039
what I mean, show me a man at ten. I'll

534
00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:09.480
show you a man at forty five. Between those ages

535
00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:13.960
they're reared. That's why elementary schools teachers, for example, to me,

536
00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:17.119
have the most important job of all because by the

537
00:26:17.119 --> 00:26:20.400
time they hit middle school, most of them have developed

538
00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:24.599
a personality and work habits and things like that. Now

539
00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:27.680
that can change over time with the right teachers and

540
00:26:27.880 --> 00:26:30.480
education people in place, But you've got to take care

541
00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:34.000
of these people. And there are some teachers here. I

542
00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:36.279
know a lot of teachers, and there are teachers here

543
00:26:36.319 --> 00:26:40.000
in this parish that absolutely love what they do, and

544
00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:43.880
they could probably make what they made forever and they

545
00:26:43.880 --> 00:26:46.160
wouldn't leave this parish because they have a heart for

546
00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:47.519
this parish.

547
00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:49.119
But it's the.

548
00:26:49.240 --> 00:26:51.880
New teachers, the new people coming out of college with

549
00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:55.359
an education degree that you're trying to attract because all

550
00:26:55.400 --> 00:26:58.319
those teachers are getting up there in age, they're going

551
00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:01.240
to be retiring and and uh, and it all starts

552
00:27:01.240 --> 00:27:03.119
with thinking outside the box. I know one of the

553
00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:07.079
things that was kicked around was a impact fee on

554
00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:12.880
construction uh for incoming housing UH and that impact fee

555
00:27:12.920 --> 00:27:15.599
would go towards teacher raises. And I thought that was

556
00:27:16.119 --> 00:27:17.119
pretty well thought out.

557
00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.160
I heard the council council say that. I thought it

558
00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:22.640
was a wonderful idea. I think it's unfortunate previous councils

559
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:26.480
years and years ago didn't And yeah, and initialize that.

560
00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:28.200
I'm pretty sure the city of them Springs does that

561
00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:32.039
already with their city council. Yeah, I think it's wonderful.

562
00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:33.880
I mean, you're talking about an impact fee that goes

563
00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:36.519
to the school system, that goes to gravity and drainage

564
00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:39.480
that goes to the sewer district. You know, what can

565
00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:41.240
you take away from that? You know, and at the

566
00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:45.119
end of the day, you you these developers are coming in.

567
00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:47.599
They don't care about Leviston Parish. You know, they're here

568
00:27:47.640 --> 00:27:49.279
to They're here to build a home and get out,

569
00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:51.880
you know. So I mean, you know, if they want

570
00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:54.599
to build a they want to build a subdivision, you know.

571
00:27:54.880 --> 00:27:58.039
And I said, whatever that size would be, you know,

572
00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:00.559
in the subdivision you know what state their money?

573
00:28:00.759 --> 00:28:02.759
Yeah, well, and they are.

574
00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:08.160
They're impacting everything from drainage to schools. You're putting stress

575
00:28:08.200 --> 00:28:11.559
on these schools. And no good school administrator is going

576
00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:13.359
to come out and say, hey, we can't handle these kids.

577
00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:14.079
There's too many kids.

578
00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:17.079
They're not going to do that, in fact, but you know,

579
00:28:17.240 --> 00:28:19.519
use a little common sense there. If you go from

580
00:28:20.599 --> 00:28:23.680
a thousand kids to fourteen hundred kids with the same

581
00:28:23.720 --> 00:28:27.599
amount of teachers, there's some pressure. There's definitely some pressure there.

582
00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:32.519
And so we absolutely have to look it away to

583
00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:35.839
you know, find some money to pay our teachers and

584
00:28:35.880 --> 00:28:38.519
some of the other things like these multi purpose buildings

585
00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:42.000
that you brought up. And I think that's a good

586
00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:44.599
way to do it. I think it needs to be

587
00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:47.079
looked into. And I'm gonna I'm gonna put a feather

588
00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:49.920
in your cap right now, because one thing that I

589
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:53.200
really like that you're doing is that you're going out

590
00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:57.559
to all the elected official kind of introducing yourself, telling

591
00:28:57.559 --> 00:29:00.880
them what you know, your thought process is on how

592
00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:06.279
things can be improved, and uh so you're taking the initiative. Yeah,

593
00:29:06.519 --> 00:29:10.559
and you have to have a good relationship with the

594
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:14.279
council in certain aspects because the council is the one

595
00:29:14.519 --> 00:29:17.799
who is going to approve that impact fee. Absolutely, so

596
00:29:17.960 --> 00:29:20.960
you have to have a a at least a communicative

597
00:29:21.240 --> 00:29:25.160
relationship with them. And you're doing a great job going

598
00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:29.079
around to, you know, just about every elected official and saying, hey,

599
00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:30.000
I'm here to help.

600
00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:32.200
Look, I've met I've met with current board members on

601
00:29:32.519 --> 00:29:34.839
the board. I've met with every principal and almost every

602
00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:37.079
assistant principal in the Live Oak schools. I've met with

603
00:29:37.400 --> 00:29:40.400
I've met with our previous superintendent and now our current superintendent.

604
00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:42.920
I mean, I've met with the assessor.

605
00:29:43.079 --> 00:29:44.200
I've met with the sheriff.

606
00:29:44.920 --> 00:29:46.640
I want people to know who I am. I want

607
00:29:46.680 --> 00:29:48.960
to I want people to know what I stand for

608
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:50.519
and what I believe in. But on the flip side

609
00:29:50.519 --> 00:29:53.400
of that, i've met with I've walked neighborhoods. I've knocked

610
00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:55.599
on doors. I've had a meet and greet at Cassa Maria,

611
00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:58.799
I've had a meet and greet in plain View Ridge.

612
00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:01.680
I want I want the normal.

613
00:30:01.480 --> 00:30:05.440
Citizen, whether they're whether they're an employee of Livingston Parish

614
00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:07.960
Public schools or whether they're just a taxpayer of Livingston

615
00:30:08.039 --> 00:30:10.640
Parish and their children go to school here. I want

616
00:30:10.680 --> 00:30:12.640
people to know who I am, what I believe in,

617
00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:16.319
and what I stand for. And it's trying to display

618
00:30:16.359 --> 00:30:20.240
that message out very quickly. I mean, it's we're already

619
00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:22.599
in September past Labor Day and there's an election on

620
00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:25.680
November fifth. You know, it's here quick, you know. So,

621
00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:30.240
I mean it's reaching as many people as I can

622
00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:33.319
to share my message. And at the end of the day,

623
00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:36.240
if you're not doing this for the betterment of the kids,

624
00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:37.079
why are you doing this?

625
00:30:37.799 --> 00:30:38.039
You know?

626
00:30:38.200 --> 00:30:40.440
Yeah, the ideas I have they're probably not always the

627
00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:43.039
best ideas, but I believe in surrounding myself with people

628
00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:47.000
that are smarter than me and leaning on others also

629
00:30:47.079 --> 00:30:50.359
in their opinions and their advice, because you at the

630
00:30:50.440 --> 00:30:51.880
end of the day, I'm running because I want to

631
00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:54.920
represent Livingston Parish Public Schools and the children and it's

632
00:30:54.920 --> 00:30:56.839
employees in the best shape possible.

633
00:30:56.880 --> 00:30:57.799
I want to give them.

634
00:30:57.680 --> 00:31:01.839
The keys to succeed, to have success as a student

635
00:31:01.920 --> 00:31:04.000
and as an employee. And I mean we're talking from

636
00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:06.240
the teacher all the way down to the bus driver.

637
00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:08.599
It starts with the bus drivers in the morning. They're

638
00:31:08.599 --> 00:31:10.400
the first ones to see the kids. And without the

639
00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:12.279
bus drivers and kids don't get to school.

640
00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:16.440
You know. So it takes an entire and it takes

641
00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:17.359
an entire team.

642
00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:19.559
And yeah, pay raises are an issue, and I mean, look,

643
00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:20.599
I'm tired of talking about them.

644
00:31:20.599 --> 00:31:22.079
We're ready to I'm ready to fight it. You're ready

645
00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:23.400
to fight about that because.

646
00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:25.200
It has to happen. And I mean, at the end

647
00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:26.839
of the day, you know, we talked about it. We've

648
00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:29.279
got to retain and we've got to recruit. So how

649
00:31:29.279 --> 00:31:31.000
do we do that. Well, I mean, look, we can

650
00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:33.880
incentivize all we want, but pat on the backs, little

651
00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:36.480
gift certificates to hear and there they don't pay nobody's

652
00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:39.880
mortgage and they don't pay for football cleats or dance shoes.

653
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:43.160
It has to happen sooner than later. We have to

654
00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:46.119
do something and look, I've said from the beginning, if

655
00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:48.880
education starts to fall, your property value starts to fall,

656
00:31:49.319 --> 00:31:51.440
you go right around East Baton Rouge Parish. I mean,

657
00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:53.039
they're you just nailed it.

658
00:31:53.640 --> 00:31:56.799
Let that sink in, folks, even if because there's some

659
00:31:56.880 --> 00:31:59.400
people that they may sit around, they may say, I

660
00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:02.359
don't have kids in school anymore. I don't really have

661
00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:05.720
any skin in that game. You know, Oh it matters,

662
00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:09.160
you just nailed it. Well, it affects everybody.

663
00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:12.200
Every everything the one sent sales tax did did fail

664
00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:14.799
and it and and look, people are burdened by taxes.

665
00:32:15.319 --> 00:32:17.599
But I'm I'm a tax paying citizen. Also, I live

666
00:32:17.640 --> 00:32:20.640
in Livingston, Paris. I'm burden by taxes. We are Nobody

667
00:32:20.680 --> 00:32:22.359
wants to pay more taxes. But at the end of

668
00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:25.000
the day, we have to get creative. We have to

669
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:27.160
think outside the box and we have to do something.

670
00:32:27.640 --> 00:32:29.599
And if we do nothing and then we just sit around,

671
00:32:29.640 --> 00:32:31.720
we keep talking about it, we keep passing around the

672
00:32:32.279 --> 00:32:34.279
paton and just saying, well, look, you know what about this?

673
00:32:34.480 --> 00:32:36.160
What about this? Morale is still low.

674
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:39.160
I've met with these people, I've met with with our

675
00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:42.160
employees there, we're not in a good spot. We have

676
00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:44.960
great leadership now and I believe in mister Jody Purvis.

677
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:47.400
But but we have a lot more work that needs

678
00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:49.319
to be done. And at the end of the day,

679
00:32:49.400 --> 00:32:51.720
it's it's it's sitting up there on the podium and

680
00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:54.599
talking about the things nobody wants to talk about. Nobody

681
00:32:54.599 --> 00:32:56.640
wants to talk about the pay raise because it's a

682
00:32:56.680 --> 00:32:59.039
bad subject to talk about. And the tax did fail,

683
00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:01.440
and I'm and I'm sorry the tax failed. But at

684
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:03.160
the end of the day, we need to go look

685
00:33:03.160 --> 00:33:05.640
at ourselves in the mirror and say, okay, well what

686
00:33:05.720 --> 00:33:08.079
can we do. You know, the independent audit, we did

687
00:33:08.119 --> 00:33:09.839
do an independent audit, and we did do a lean

688
00:33:09.880 --> 00:33:13.240
frog spending assessment. The independent audit showed that, look, you know,

689
00:33:13.799 --> 00:33:15.880
we're going to be short. We need twenty four million

690
00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:18.839
dollars reoccurring yearly. You know, at the end of the day,

691
00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:22.880
you know, the school board has their militic meeting on Thursday.

692
00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:25.799
I think what people don't understand is the little bit

693
00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:28.920
of revenue they're going to get from that militic, which

694
00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:31.000
isn't much. I think it's like three point five million

695
00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:34.240
more dollars. The cost of fuel this year alone is

696
00:33:34.359 --> 00:33:37.599
from twenty twenty one is insane. The school, the parish

697
00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:40.359
was spending six hundred and something thousand in fuel just

698
00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:43.319
three years ago. It's over one point two million this year.

699
00:33:43.400 --> 00:33:43.759
Wow.

700
00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:46.599
So I mean and just take just just take that,

701
00:33:46.799 --> 00:33:50.079
take that chunk and then we lose COVID esser money

702
00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:51.640
at the end of the year or I'm sorry, we

703
00:33:51.680 --> 00:33:55.160
lost that for this school year, so that those eser funds,

704
00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:57.039
that COVID money, it's gone.

705
00:33:57.319 --> 00:34:00.160
It's gone. And you know as well well.

706
00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:03.000
As I do, at the price of groceries, the price

707
00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:04.200
of this, the price of that.

708
00:34:04.599 --> 00:34:06.960
Look everything, car insurance.

709
00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:10.440
I was fixing the saying, and homeowners insurances. My home

710
00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:12.119
is built in two thousand and eight. I mean I

711
00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:14.199
have been through. I bought my home in twenty twenty.

712
00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:17.159
I'm on my fifth homeowners insurance company. Yeah, I can't

713
00:34:17.159 --> 00:34:19.320
get I can't get a price now under thirty four

714
00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:21.719
hundred dollars. And I can't get a new roof either,

715
00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:24.239
you know. So it's either me go finance or pay

716
00:34:24.239 --> 00:34:26.000
cash for a roof and I can get back down

717
00:34:26.039 --> 00:34:28.880
to twelve hundred dollars a year. But it's it's everything,

718
00:34:29.079 --> 00:34:31.840
and there's some things that are that us the people

719
00:34:31.880 --> 00:34:34.079
in our local government. We don't have any control over

720
00:34:34.599 --> 00:34:38.119
you know, where does car insurance easeman and where does

721
00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:40.719
homeowners insurance come in at with? In my opinion, that

722
00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:42.599
comes from our state level. You know, we have to

723
00:34:42.639 --> 00:34:46.119
incentivize insurance companies to come to business in Louisiana again,

724
00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:48.360
you know, and I don't think I don't have to

725
00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:49.840
and I don't think we need to be in the

726
00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:53.599
back pocket of big lawyers. Yeah, you drive around Louisiana

727
00:34:53.599 --> 00:34:55.320
and you're not from here, you would think attorneys are

728
00:34:55.320 --> 00:34:55.760
the governor.

729
00:34:55.960 --> 00:34:58.519
You know, they got billboards everywhere. That's true.

730
00:34:58.559 --> 00:35:00.840
But you know why is our car insurance so high? Well,

731
00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:03.599
so many people are uninsured and and they can sue,

732
00:35:03.719 --> 00:35:05.119
you can get the offender bender and things. So you

733
00:35:05.199 --> 00:35:06.599
for half a million dollars a year and you never

734
00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:08.679
went to the doctor. Yeah, you know, so I mean

735
00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:11.679
that there's what Why is our homeowners insurance so high?

736
00:35:11.719 --> 00:35:14.880
Because the state of Louisiana made it so difficult to

737
00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:17.320
write policies and if you made one little mistake, they

738
00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:20.199
would penalize you and they would regulate you. And then

739
00:35:20.239 --> 00:35:23.079
taking mind, we also had what was it, three hurricanes

740
00:35:23.079 --> 00:35:26.159
in a calendar year, of full twelve months, you know, yeah,

741
00:35:26.199 --> 00:35:28.800
one and one and I guess two in Lake Charles

742
00:35:28.840 --> 00:35:31.480
and then Hurricane Ida. So yeah, that didn't help either.

743
00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:34.639
But I mean, we're we're affected on every end of

744
00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:36.760
the spectrum right now. You know, there is a lot

745
00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:39.199
of stake, there's a lot of at stake on our

746
00:35:39.239 --> 00:35:42.320
federal election on November fifth, and I and look, I

747
00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:44.880
hope and only I can hope and pray that our

748
00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:48.719
that our state government can hear the issues that the

749
00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:52.000
that the normal middle class working person has said and said,

750
00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:55.840
Look I am I am struggling. You know, I've got

751
00:35:55.880 --> 00:35:58.440
to get some easement on on on insurance wise. I mean,

752
00:35:58.480 --> 00:36:01.320
I've I've done business with the same insurance company ever

753
00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:05.239
since I was an adult, when I always had American National.

754
00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:09.639
American National quit writing policies in the state of Louisiana.

755
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.000
So them, as the insurance company I was with, they

756
00:36:14.039 --> 00:36:17.599
sent my home. Out of all the people they deal with,

757
00:36:17.639 --> 00:36:19.719
which I don't remember the number, she told me, only

758
00:36:19.840 --> 00:36:22.559
seven companies came back to underwriting to say, look, we'll

759
00:36:22.559 --> 00:36:25.559
cover his home. Wow, it's an epidemic, and look my

760
00:36:25.719 --> 00:36:29.159
roof is not old. Yeah, it's not like I've got

761
00:36:29.159 --> 00:36:30.840
a hole in the middle of my roof. I mean,

762
00:36:30.880 --> 00:36:32.800
it's just the home was built, No.

763
00:36:32.880 --> 00:36:33.039
Eight.

764
00:36:33.199 --> 00:36:36.119
The roof is two thousand and eight. And insurance companies

765
00:36:36.119 --> 00:36:39.039
look at that nowadays and go, look, we're still getting

766
00:36:39.239 --> 00:36:43.280
regulated the crap out of in Louisiana. And you know,

767
00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:45.760
who knows a Category five might come around there tomorrow.

768
00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:47.159
We're not going to cover that thing. And if we do,

769
00:36:47.199 --> 00:36:49.639
he's gonna pay for it. Right, thirty six hundred dollars

770
00:36:49.679 --> 00:36:51.920
a years, a lot of money for a home of

771
00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:56.039
my size. It's a very modest, you know, starter family

772
00:36:56.079 --> 00:36:56.599
type home.

773
00:36:56.760 --> 00:37:00.679
Yeah, no, I agree, And so that create has.

774
00:37:00.519 --> 00:37:02.719
It and seen and you mentioned it that you know

775
00:37:02.840 --> 00:37:06.840
this this uh raise for the teachers.

776
00:37:06.480 --> 00:37:08.679
Was on the ballot. It was voted down.

777
00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:13.320
I think that that you know, from a and this

778
00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:17.159
is a citizen speaking, but I think from my perspective,

779
00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:19.599
it could have been promoted a little better. I don't

780
00:37:19.679 --> 00:37:24.719
think a lot of people understood it. And I think

781
00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:28.360
that when you want to get anything passed, you have

782
00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:31.559
to almost go overboard on education of it and what

783
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:33.880
it is and why we're asking for it and who's

784
00:37:33.920 --> 00:37:38.719
it benefiting. Because I don't believe the vast majority of

785
00:37:38.719 --> 00:37:41.199
our citizens here in Livingston Paris do not want to

786
00:37:41.239 --> 00:37:42.039
pay our teachers.

787
00:37:42.079 --> 00:37:43.639
I just refuse to believe that.

788
00:37:45.079 --> 00:37:47.599
And I would almost bet anybody any amount of money

789
00:37:47.679 --> 00:37:49.519
that I think that it came down to.

790
00:37:50.559 --> 00:37:52.599
The promotion of it and making sure.

791
00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:55.400
I think one thing that's important to the citizens is

792
00:37:55.400 --> 00:37:58.320
that they know it's going where we're being told it's

793
00:37:58.360 --> 00:37:59.079
going for sure.

794
00:37:59.079 --> 00:38:04.639
And so you know, look, I think unfortunately social media

795
00:38:04.639 --> 00:38:07.760
plays such a large role in everything we do nowadays. Yes,

796
00:38:07.960 --> 00:38:10.960
and it's a double edged sword. So I you know

797
00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:14.000
that the tax was voted on. I believe in March

798
00:38:14.039 --> 00:38:16.599
of twenty three, I went to two meetings. I went

799
00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:18.400
to one at live Oak and I went to one

800
00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:22.400
in Denham. Between both of the meetings, I was probably

801
00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:25.760
one of between fifty and sixty people there. Yeah, it

802
00:38:25.880 --> 00:38:29.400
was a public meeting. Nobody nobody wants to be educated,

803
00:38:29.440 --> 00:38:31.719
but they will believe whatever they see on social media.

804
00:38:32.119 --> 00:38:34.320
And it's unfortunate. You know, I talked to the mother

805
00:38:34.400 --> 00:38:37.239
last week. You know, she she wants to educate her children,

806
00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:40.639
they're thirteen and eleven. She she wants to educate them

807
00:38:40.679 --> 00:38:43.639
as to what's going on in their and their and

808
00:38:43.679 --> 00:38:46.920
their local government. What's going on in their the federal government?

809
00:38:46.960 --> 00:38:49.679
Who why we're going to vote for this person? But

810
00:38:49.920 --> 00:38:52.039
ask why why are we going to vote for this person?

811
00:38:52.039 --> 00:38:54.360
I said, props to you. Not everybody does. Nobody does

812
00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:56.960
that anymore. You know, nobody wants to be educated. But

813
00:38:57.000 --> 00:38:59.360
if somebody said, I can put on Facebook tonight the

814
00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:02.440
grass said denim springs is is going to turn purple

815
00:39:02.519 --> 00:39:05.679
on thirsty, Somebody's gonna believe it. Well it's on he

816
00:39:06.119 --> 00:39:08.519
said it, it must be true, you know. So so

817
00:39:08.639 --> 00:39:12.400
there was some things out there that you know, there

818
00:39:12.559 --> 00:39:15.480
was some there was some half true, half truths to it.

819
00:39:15.760 --> 00:39:15.960
You know.

820
00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:19.000
I think that there was a lot of there was

821
00:39:19.039 --> 00:39:20.920
a lot of intake about hey, look, you know, if

822
00:39:20.920 --> 00:39:23.400
we buy a vehicle in Livingston Paris, the one percent

823
00:39:23.519 --> 00:39:26.559
is going to really really affect us on that end. Well, look,

824
00:39:27.320 --> 00:39:30.559
there's in my and I think there's four main manufactured

825
00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:33.280
dealerships and Livingston Paris. They're all on tube and denim.

826
00:39:33.320 --> 00:39:37.679
So you got Kia, Nissan, Dodge, and Jeep. Okay, so

827
00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:41.039
let's just say you buy a sixty thousand dollars vehicle

828
00:39:42.559 --> 00:39:44.719
and at one percent of that that a FI detacks.

829
00:39:44.800 --> 00:39:48.559
That's six hundred dollars. Let's just say the life of

830
00:39:48.599 --> 00:39:49.360
your loan is.

831
00:39:51.079 --> 00:39:53.400
Let's just say four months.

832
00:39:53.480 --> 00:39:55.920
Let's just say the life of your loan is sixty months.

833
00:39:56.360 --> 00:39:58.960
It's ten dollars a month, you know, and it and

834
00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:01.599
it didn't affect grocery and obviously we weren't taxed on gas.

835
00:40:01.719 --> 00:40:06.480
I mean, yeah, look, I do I think the tax

836
00:40:06.519 --> 00:40:09.480
had some good things to it. I do, I believe that.

837
00:40:10.320 --> 00:40:12.760
But at the end of the day, it didn't pass,

838
00:40:13.719 --> 00:40:16.039
and we have to do something, you know, and I

839
00:40:16.079 --> 00:40:18.639
keep I keep going to that. You know, East bat

840
00:40:18.719 --> 00:40:22.159
Rooge has the same one percent of the f ID tax. Yeah,

841
00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:25.000
Tangibahoa has a half cent. And Ascension was smart they

842
00:40:25.079 --> 00:40:27.239
put it in their property taxes, right and I mean

843
00:40:27.360 --> 00:40:29.679
I was down on Highway thirty. I travel for work

844
00:40:29.679 --> 00:40:36.280
around the Louisiana area driving down Highway thirty. They were

845
00:40:36.280 --> 00:40:38.079
smart to put it in the property taxes because they

846
00:40:38.119 --> 00:40:40.119
have the industry. Oh yeah, you know, they're going to

847
00:40:40.159 --> 00:40:42.280
collect way more revenue on that one percent in the

848
00:40:42.280 --> 00:40:44.679
property than they ever would in the sales taxes, no doubt.

849
00:40:44.679 --> 00:40:46.400
I mean, I can take I can name you five

850
00:40:46.480 --> 00:40:48.400
chemical plants right off the bat and we haven't even

851
00:40:48.400 --> 00:40:51.159
gotten until unite at Rentals and Granger and you know,

852
00:40:51.239 --> 00:40:55.159
I mean just Cubellus, I mean since so, yeah, Ascension

853
00:40:55.159 --> 00:41:00.800
has the industry where we don't people support our education system.

854
00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:01.239
I don't want to.

855
00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:03.679
I don't want people to think that they don't. It's

856
00:41:03.760 --> 00:41:06.719
just we're burdened by things right now. We have to

857
00:41:06.760 --> 00:41:08.960
figure something out. We have to look at the numbers.

858
00:41:08.960 --> 00:41:12.119
And I think the independent audit showed us that that hey, look,

859
00:41:12.199 --> 00:41:16.079
you know, there's you know, unless we cut some serious,

860
00:41:16.079 --> 00:41:20.000
serious fat, there's not twenty four million dollars there reoccurring yearly,

861
00:41:20.599 --> 00:41:22.960
and a raise is eminent. I mean, we have to

862
00:41:23.199 --> 00:41:25.360
we have to give them something. We have to show

863
00:41:25.400 --> 00:41:27.679
that that hey, look we can we can do this

864
00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:29.719
because we need to be back number one.

865
00:41:30.079 --> 00:41:30.719
I agree.

866
00:41:30.880 --> 00:41:35.480
And and look, you know it's not even like a

867
00:41:35.599 --> 00:41:39.239
raise as much as it is with the inflation. They're

868
00:41:39.280 --> 00:41:41.920
really at a loss. They're really making less money than

869
00:41:41.960 --> 00:41:43.840
they did two years again.

870
00:41:43.639 --> 00:41:46.519
And you are, yeah, maybe our dollar doesn't go as

871
00:41:46.559 --> 00:41:48.800
far as what it did in t twenty twenty nineteen.

872
00:41:48.880 --> 00:41:51.760
I mean, we're all we're all impacted by this. Yeah,

873
00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:53.280
you know, I think that that's why I said it earlier.

874
00:41:53.320 --> 00:41:55.159
I think there's a lot at stake at the federal

875
00:41:55.239 --> 00:41:58.320
side in November. You know, I mean, we're we're we're

876
00:41:58.639 --> 00:42:00.920
we're hurting. People are hurting, you know, I mean, we're

877
00:42:00.920 --> 00:42:03.480
not There's not many one percenters floating around the Saint

878
00:42:03.480 --> 00:42:06.159
Malibu in California. You know this, Saint We're we're the

879
00:42:06.199 --> 00:42:09.159
We're the backbone of the United States economy. We're middle

880
00:42:09.159 --> 00:42:11.079
class people. Get up every day, we go to work,

881
00:42:11.119 --> 00:42:13.239
we put our boots on, and and you know, we're

882
00:42:13.239 --> 00:42:15.360
tired in the afternoons. When we come home, we cook supper,

883
00:42:15.400 --> 00:42:17.159
we play with our kids, we love on our wives,

884
00:42:17.159 --> 00:42:19.679
and you know, we do the same thing five six

885
00:42:19.719 --> 00:42:20.199
days a week.

886
00:42:20.360 --> 00:42:20.800
That's right.

887
00:42:20.840 --> 00:42:23.119
We were we are middle class people.

888
00:42:23.400 --> 00:42:27.920
You know, that's right. I agree, and I have no doubt.

889
00:42:27.679 --> 00:42:32.360
That I got a really big feeling that that's probably

890
00:42:32.599 --> 00:42:35.559
top on your agenda of things to look at and

891
00:42:35.559 --> 00:42:39.280
and solve and work with people on, because you know,

892
00:42:39.360 --> 00:42:41.840
you can't do it alone. You've got to work with others.

893
00:42:41.880 --> 00:42:45.000
And like you said, uh, you know, if you have

894
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:46.760
the smartest person in the room, you're probably in the

895
00:42:46.760 --> 00:42:50.519
wrong room. Yeah, So sure, you're open to ideas and

896
00:42:50.519 --> 00:42:52.760
and uh and things of that nature.

897
00:42:52.760 --> 00:42:55.360
And that's what I like. You got to get creative, Jim. Look,

898
00:42:55.119 --> 00:42:57.800
we're hired. The parish is hiring people right now. We

899
00:42:57.800 --> 00:43:00.119
wouldn't have hired ten years ago. Yeah, you got to

900
00:43:00.159 --> 00:43:01.760
throw a warm body in the classroom. And at the

901
00:43:01.840 --> 00:43:03.119
end of the day, do you want a warm body

902
00:43:03.119 --> 00:43:03.880
teaching your child?

903
00:43:04.480 --> 00:43:04.679
You know?

904
00:43:04.880 --> 00:43:07.519
I mean, look, we twenty years ago there was forty

905
00:43:07.599 --> 00:43:11.719
job openings and that's probably high for twenty years ago. Yeah,

906
00:43:11.960 --> 00:43:14.639
there was four hundred people applying. Yeah, you got two

907
00:43:14.760 --> 00:43:17.159
hundred job openings. Now you got twenty people applying.

908
00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:18.320
We need to get back to that.

909
00:43:18.360 --> 00:43:22.079
So where do you find the mix? And the mix

910
00:43:22.199 --> 00:43:23.880
is you got to recruit and you got to retain.

911
00:43:24.639 --> 00:43:26.519
And how do you do both. Well, you got to

912
00:43:26.519 --> 00:43:30.000
pay them, yep, you can give them good insurance, which

913
00:43:30.039 --> 00:43:32.000
they have, but you got to recruit them and you

914
00:43:32.079 --> 00:43:34.000
got to retain them. And at the end of the day,

915
00:43:34.079 --> 00:43:37.039
unless you're one heck of a salesman, money talks.

916
00:43:37.280 --> 00:43:38.679
Yeah, you know that's right.

917
00:43:39.920 --> 00:43:43.280
Let's talk about something that recently occurred in the school system,

918
00:43:43.320 --> 00:43:47.559
and that is cell phones. So, man, when I went

919
00:43:47.599 --> 00:43:51.159
to school, cell phones, I'm not that old y'all.

920
00:43:51.199 --> 00:43:53.599
But because they had cell phones, they just zipped up

921
00:43:53.639 --> 00:43:56.360
in a bag and they were like a million dollars.

922
00:43:56.440 --> 00:44:01.960
But nowadays, apparently that's something you can bring to school

923
00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:05.840
and having your booksack and look to me personally, citizen

924
00:44:05.880 --> 00:44:10.880
here speaking, I think it's a distraction. I don't think that. Look,

925
00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:14.039
there are plenty of people that made it through high

926
00:44:14.079 --> 00:44:17.480
school and middle school and elementary school when cell phones

927
00:44:17.559 --> 00:44:21.440
never existed. I promise y'all out there that are just

928
00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:24.719
now to the age that your kids are getting into school,

929
00:44:25.679 --> 00:44:30.559
you don't have to have those. And the legislature had

930
00:44:30.639 --> 00:44:32.840
figured that out, and they figured out this may be

931
00:44:32.880 --> 00:44:35.800
a distraction that's taken away from education, so we're not

932
00:44:35.920 --> 00:44:39.599
going to have them, and that there's a new law

933
00:44:39.639 --> 00:44:40.400
in the books now.

934
00:44:40.559 --> 00:44:44.239
I support I supported it, and I do agree. I

935
00:44:44.239 --> 00:44:46.199
think it's a huge distraction. I think when you look

936
00:44:46.239 --> 00:44:49.039
at most night through twelfth graders probably got to give

937
00:44:49.079 --> 00:44:51.079
them a xenax for the first week of school because

938
00:44:51.079 --> 00:44:55.400
they were so so true they didn't know what to do. Yeah,

939
00:44:55.400 --> 00:44:57.039
I mean I talked to some of the principals. They

940
00:44:57.039 --> 00:44:59.760
are like it, they're having like withdraws, and it looked

941
00:44:59.760 --> 00:45:02.360
it's unfortunate, right, but it's the generation we live in.

942
00:45:02.400 --> 00:45:06.760
Everybody's glued to Facebook, everybody's glued to t to TikTok, Twitter,

943
00:45:06.920 --> 00:45:07.679
social media.

944
00:45:07.800 --> 00:45:11.480
I mean it love us, you know, parents, no exception.

945
00:45:11.719 --> 00:45:14.559
Right, I've got a snapchat, a couple of emails of

946
00:45:14.599 --> 00:45:17.480
Facebook notification, and four text messages already and we've only

947
00:45:17.480 --> 00:45:18.519
been on the air for less.

948
00:45:18.320 --> 00:45:19.800
Than an hour. Yeah, it's crazy.

949
00:45:19.840 --> 00:45:22.000
And we live and die by these cell phones.

950
00:45:21.800 --> 00:45:22.519
Yes we do.

951
00:45:22.760 --> 00:45:27.519
And uh, and that's something that I think has.

952
00:45:27.400 --> 00:45:28.800
Created a distraction.

953
00:45:28.920 --> 00:45:31.960
And I'm not a grandpa here saying back in my

954
00:45:32.079 --> 00:45:33.039
day and all that.

955
00:45:32.920 --> 00:45:33.719
Sort of stuff.

956
00:45:33.960 --> 00:45:39.159
Although I feel like not that old old, but I

957
00:45:39.199 --> 00:45:42.480
can I know that had I had a cell phone

958
00:45:42.559 --> 00:45:45.079
when I was in high school, that's what I would

959
00:45:45.079 --> 00:45:45.480
have been on.

960
00:45:45.559 --> 00:45:47.920
I wouldn't have been learning about, uh, you know, the

961
00:45:47.960 --> 00:45:51.000
Civil War, things like like that. I would have been

962
00:45:51.079 --> 00:45:54.239
learning about you know, snapchat and stuff. So there's a

963
00:45:54.280 --> 00:45:58.280
place for it, and uh. And I just personally felt

964
00:45:58.280 --> 00:46:01.400
like school was was not somewhare that that need to be.

965
00:46:01.480 --> 00:46:03.559
I don't think it compromises the safety.

966
00:46:03.599 --> 00:46:05.960
I know some parents, well what if something happens, I

967
00:46:06.000 --> 00:46:09.039
can't get, you know, call school like like we did

968
00:46:09.079 --> 00:46:11.880
in the old days, and the principal of page gym

969
00:46:11.960 --> 00:46:13.039
to the office.

970
00:46:12.679 --> 00:46:15.679
And yeh, that's how we have a wonderful an alert

971
00:46:15.760 --> 00:46:18.239
system as well. So I mean, let's just say, let's

972
00:46:18.280 --> 00:46:21.840
just say something happened at the school our parents has

973
00:46:21.920 --> 00:46:25.000
a wonderful I see national that's not the word, but

974
00:46:25.360 --> 00:46:28.639
we have a wonderful alert system that reaches parents in

975
00:46:28.679 --> 00:46:29.599
a snap of a finger.

976
00:46:29.760 --> 00:46:30.079
Yeah.

977
00:46:30.119 --> 00:46:34.920
Why because of technology, because of the Apple and Android

978
00:46:34.960 --> 00:46:38.079
market that has dominated our environment for the last fifteen years,

979
00:46:38.239 --> 00:46:41.480
you know. So, I mean, look, it was a distraction.

980
00:46:41.719 --> 00:46:43.880
I think the legislature looked at it and said, look,

981
00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:47.719
technology is evolving. We need to evolve. And at the

982
00:46:47.800 --> 00:46:50.360
end of the day, there's a thing called chat GPT.

983
00:46:50.719 --> 00:46:50.960
Yep.

984
00:46:51.400 --> 00:46:53.800
You know, how do we know that these students aren't

985
00:46:53.920 --> 00:46:56.800
using this to cheat on this algebra test, this physics test,

986
00:46:56.880 --> 00:46:59.880
this geometry, this write this English paper.

987
00:47:00.079 --> 00:47:00.280
You know.

988
00:47:00.719 --> 00:47:04.159
So we had to the legislature really had to look

989
00:47:04.199 --> 00:47:07.519
at that and say, we might, we might make some

990
00:47:07.519 --> 00:47:10.280
some feelings hurt. But like I said, about five minutes ten,

991
00:47:10.280 --> 00:47:11.960
you won't make everybody happy. Go sell ice cream.

992
00:47:12.039 --> 00:47:14.400
That's it. That's it. It's not gonna happen.

993
00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:18.000
You just can't make everybody happy. So you're exactly right.

994
00:47:18.400 --> 00:47:21.039
Last thing before we get out of here, I want

995
00:47:21.079 --> 00:47:24.039
to get you know, we were talking earlier about thinking

996
00:47:24.039 --> 00:47:24.920
outside the box.

997
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:26.480
I watched the most.

998
00:47:26.159 --> 00:47:32.079
Recent school board meeting and in that meeting, a lieutenant

999
00:47:32.159 --> 00:47:36.280
from the Denham Springs PDE spoke and he spoke about

1000
00:47:36.480 --> 00:47:39.960
a occupancy tax that the City of Denham Springs is

1001
00:47:40.880 --> 00:47:45.039
looking to place on hotels in the city, and that

1002
00:47:45.159 --> 00:47:50.519
will pay for pay for your police officers and fire.

1003
00:47:50.559 --> 00:47:52.559
They're going to kind of like split it or something,

1004
00:47:52.559 --> 00:47:56.400
if I understand it correctly. I thought it was a

1005
00:47:56.400 --> 00:48:00.199
great idea, and I'm like, why have they not be

1006
00:48:00.280 --> 00:48:02.599
doing that? But you know it's it's like every great idea,

1007
00:48:02.639 --> 00:48:04.599
You're like, why didn't I think of that twenty years ago?

1008
00:48:04.679 --> 00:48:05.159
Exactly?

1009
00:48:05.480 --> 00:48:09.920
So you know that that is an example of what

1010
00:48:10.119 --> 00:48:12.960
thinking outside the box will give you. You have a

1011
00:48:12.960 --> 00:48:15.960
passion for it, you can see when we talk, and

1012
00:48:16.119 --> 00:48:19.079
that's what I look for in any candidate for any

1013
00:48:19.199 --> 00:48:24.079
job that's serving the public. So I think that that

1014
00:48:24.440 --> 00:48:27.320
is an out of the box way of thinking to

1015
00:48:27.360 --> 00:48:31.000
find money. And I hope that y'all can come up

1016
00:48:31.039 --> 00:48:34.159
with some sort of idea there, because I think that

1017
00:48:34.239 --> 00:48:37.599
it all starts. It all starts with your teachers. See,

1018
00:48:37.599 --> 00:48:38.239
I believe that.

1019
00:48:38.679 --> 00:48:43.159
You're correct, and people also, and this speaks to the

1020
00:48:43.159 --> 00:48:45.679
people inside the city of them Springs. They need to

1021
00:48:45.679 --> 00:48:48.280
be educated on it. This is not a text that's

1022
00:48:48.280 --> 00:48:53.760
going to affect them now unless their wife kicks them out.

1023
00:48:53.039 --> 00:48:58.000
Or there our air conditioner breaks the Look this this effects.

1024
00:48:58.039 --> 00:48:58.800
Take my company.

1025
00:48:58.840 --> 00:49:01.239
We put people up in at the Comforting right there

1026
00:49:01.239 --> 00:49:05.719
off of off of South Range by Dallons, Uh, probably

1027
00:49:05.760 --> 00:49:07.519
four or five times a year. You know that our

1028
00:49:07.559 --> 00:49:11.079
company pays for so when we have outsiders come in,

1029
00:49:11.280 --> 00:49:14.239
we want to keep some of that money. And I'm

1030
00:49:14.280 --> 00:49:17.519
all for building another hotel. I mean, I mean, if

1031
00:49:17.559 --> 00:49:19.920
you're running out of room and the three hotels you got,

1032
00:49:20.119 --> 00:49:22.639
build another one. Get the money out of it, you know.

1033
00:49:23.159 --> 00:49:25.480
So at the end of the day, people need to

1034
00:49:25.559 --> 00:49:27.639
know that if you live in them, it doesn't it

1035
00:49:27.639 --> 00:49:31.400
doesn't affect your bottom dollar. This is for outsiders coming

1036
00:49:31.440 --> 00:49:35.159
in to support your first responders, the ones that respond

1037
00:49:35.639 --> 00:49:39.760
the fire, the police that you know, and it goes

1038
00:49:39.800 --> 00:49:41.880
to recruitment and retention, you know.

1039
00:49:41.840 --> 00:49:44.119
How do you do it? And it's and it's pay

1040
00:49:44.400 --> 00:49:45.840
and we got to pay them.

1041
00:49:46.039 --> 00:49:52.039
You know, they're they're worth it. Without them, we we're

1042
00:49:52.119 --> 00:49:53.760
just running around the streets.

1043
00:49:53.760 --> 00:49:55.159
And like the movie.

1044
00:49:54.840 --> 00:49:57.159
Out of the Purge, you know, we got to have

1045
00:49:57.239 --> 00:49:59.440
our first responders, you know, just like we've got to

1046
00:49:59.480 --> 00:49:59.960
have our teacher.

1047
00:50:00.320 --> 00:50:00.840
Yeah, you know.

1048
00:50:00.920 --> 00:50:02.320
So, I mean, at the end of the day, we

1049
00:50:02.320 --> 00:50:06.199
we People just need to understand that that is not a.

1050
00:50:05.880 --> 00:50:06.960
We're we're we're.

1051
00:50:07.760 --> 00:50:10.559
Tax is a bad word, and I get it, it's

1052
00:50:10.639 --> 00:50:12.719
not a good word. But when people see that, and

1053
00:50:12.760 --> 00:50:14.360
you live in Denham Springs, you need to you need

1054
00:50:14.400 --> 00:50:16.599
to understand and know that that that's.

1055
00:50:16.400 --> 00:50:18.599
Won't affect in your mind. It will affect you in

1056
00:50:18.639 --> 00:50:21.039
a good way. Well, you're going to be getting.

1057
00:50:21.800 --> 00:50:23.719
You may see two more patrolmen in the city of

1058
00:50:23.800 --> 00:50:26.480
Donam Springs, which is a good thing. Yes, yeah, because

1059
00:50:26.880 --> 00:50:30.039
we're growing, we're developing, and we want more officers to

1060
00:50:30.280 --> 00:50:31.840
to to reach that development.

1061
00:50:32.119 --> 00:50:36.079
That's right, and that's why the education is so important.

1062
00:50:36.480 --> 00:50:40.480
You're asking for any sort of change in the way

1063
00:50:40.519 --> 00:50:42.840
that you collect money, and and so they're doing a

1064
00:50:42.840 --> 00:50:44.719
good job of that by going to the school board

1065
00:50:44.760 --> 00:50:48.119
and saying, hey, here's what we're looking at doing and

1066
00:50:48.159 --> 00:50:50.039
it'll be a but of the people and all that

1067
00:50:50.079 --> 00:50:53.480
sort of stuff. So, man, I wish you the best

1068
00:50:53.519 --> 00:50:57.400
of luck. You're coming in on the on the back

1069
00:50:57.480 --> 00:51:01.199
end of this thing. I think you're doing a great Uh.

1070
00:51:01.719 --> 00:51:05.039
And for if people want any more information, where would

1071
00:51:05.039 --> 00:51:05.599
you send them to?

1072
00:51:05.679 --> 00:51:05.920
You can?

1073
00:51:05.960 --> 00:51:08.639
You can just follow me on Facebook? Yeah, my my

1074
00:51:08.719 --> 00:51:12.119
personal email is out there on Facebook. I'm I'm I'm

1075
00:51:12.119 --> 00:51:16.000
pretty active walking a lot of neighborhoods right now. First off,

1076
00:51:16.039 --> 00:51:17.119
I want to thank you for having me.

1077
00:51:17.239 --> 00:51:18.880
Oh man, my pleasure.

1078
00:51:19.039 --> 00:51:21.320
I'm just trying to reach trying to reach some people.

1079
00:51:21.559 --> 00:51:21.840
Uh.

1080
00:51:21.880 --> 00:51:24.119
And I mean, if anybody has any questions that all

1081
00:51:24.400 --> 00:51:26.440
do not hesitate to reach out, whether that's be a

1082
00:51:26.440 --> 00:51:29.599
Facebook messenger, if you have my cell phone number, my

1083
00:51:29.719 --> 00:51:32.679
personal email, I'll come to your house and drink coffee

1084
00:51:32.679 --> 00:51:35.960
with you. I don't I'll go any time anywhere. We'll

1085
00:51:36.000 --> 00:51:38.280
make it happen, you know. And I mean, it's it's

1086
00:51:38.960 --> 00:51:41.920
it's it's doing the right things, saying the right things,

1087
00:51:41.960 --> 00:51:43.840
and meeting the right people. And at the end of

1088
00:51:43.880 --> 00:51:45.880
the day, if you can you can spread your message

1089
00:51:45.920 --> 00:51:48.039
that we need to get back to loving one another.

1090
00:51:48.280 --> 00:51:49.280
We're all, We're all.

1091
00:51:49.320 --> 00:51:52.159
I told you this earlier. We're all We're all God's children.

1092
00:51:52.199 --> 00:51:52.679
That's right. You know.

1093
00:51:52.719 --> 00:51:54.360
We need to we need to eliminate the hate. We

1094
00:51:54.400 --> 00:51:56.280
need to love each other and we need to we

1095
00:51:56.320 --> 00:51:59.199
need to make sure our intentions are are the best

1096
00:51:59.480 --> 00:52:05.119
and and and my utmost, foremost goal is what's best

1097
00:52:05.199 --> 00:52:08.880
for the children all over twenty six thousand students of

1098
00:52:08.920 --> 00:52:11.920
Livingston Parish Public schools. That's why I'm running. I'm running

1099
00:52:11.920 --> 00:52:13.719
to be a voice. I'm running to be an advocate.

1100
00:52:14.039 --> 00:52:16.639
I'm running to get things done. And I mean I'm young,

1101
00:52:16.679 --> 00:52:18.880
I'm energetic. I work in this parish, I live in

1102
00:52:18.880 --> 00:52:21.360
this parish, my wife works in this parish. I'm proud

1103
00:52:21.400 --> 00:52:23.679
to be from Livingston Parish. Livingston Parish has been home

1104
00:52:23.719 --> 00:52:27.440
since two thousand and two. I want to continue to

1105
00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:29.960
try to serve in a different way, to lead in

1106
00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:32.519
a different way, and try to help our students and

1107
00:52:32.559 --> 00:52:35.519
our employees of Livingston Parish be the best people that

1108
00:52:35.559 --> 00:52:35.960
they can be.

1109
00:52:36.280 --> 00:52:37.480
Perfect. I love it.

1110
00:52:37.639 --> 00:52:40.079
And look, when you win, you come back on and

1111
00:52:40.119 --> 00:52:42.239
we'll have you on maybe about six months in and

1112
00:52:42.280 --> 00:52:44.960
you can give me an update. Absolutely all right, thank

1113
00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:47.840
you for coming on once again, and thank all of

1114
00:52:47.880 --> 00:52:52.360
you for listening, supporting, share the podcast and get the

1115
00:52:52.400 --> 00:52:54.639
word out on this awesome human being.

1116
00:52:54.719 --> 00:52:55.239
Right here.

1117
00:52:55.400 --> 00:52:59.639
He is running for the District two seat in the

1118
00:52:59.679 --> 00:53:03.400
school board in Livingston Parish. And until next time, I'm

1119
00:53:03.519 --> 00:53:07.840
Jim Chapman reminding you love your community, support local business

1120
00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:08.800
and keep leading.

1121
00:53:08.880 --> 00:53:09.760
Thank you very much,