Support personnel in the Concordia Parish School District will soon receive a few extra dollars in the mail.

The Concordia Parish School Board approved a one-time salary supplement during its regular meeting Tuesday and the checks will be mailed today.

The supplement equals $350 for full-time employees and $175 for part-time employees.

Both state and local sources fund the increase.

For example, $328.78 of each full-time supplement is funded by the state with the Concordia Parish School Board voting Tuesday to increase the supplements to $350, said Superintendent Lester &uot;Pete&uot; Peterman.

Since the state Legislature considered raises of nearly $1,000 for support people earlier this year, the amount is really a disappointment, officials said.

&uot;We were all disappointed that the state did not do more for the support people,&uot; said Martha Rabb, a member of the school board.

In other business Tuesday, the board adopted a resolution enabling it to join 54 other districts in a lawsuit pertaining to a shortfall in state funding. District officials say the minimum foundation program is due $17,210,600 for the 2000-01 fiscal year.

&uot;What we’re asking them to do is go ahead and pay us our money,&uot; Peterman said.

Tuesday’s resolution gives the school board the authority to join a lawsuit if necessary, Peterman said.

He estimated that the Concordia Parish School District is due about $80,000.

The school board also received an update on the search for a new principal for Ferriday High School during Tuesday’s meeting.

Ferriday High School Principal Fred Butcher said the district has formed a committee to look for a principal.

&uot;We haven’t nailed down a date but right now we’re looking at the possibility of meeting in late August or early September and coming back to you with a recommendation,&uot; he said.

Butcher has served as the school’s principal since the end of 1999-2000 school year when Tony Moore left to become an assistant principal in the Monroe area.

Butcher, who already has a full-time job as supervisor of curriculum and instruction for the school district, will remain as the principal at Ferriday High School for another year and eventually train his replacement.

The recommendation committee wants to find a principal with ties to the area so that the job will be more than just a check, Butcher said.

&uot;It (would) be a way of life,&uot; he said.

And the person for the job will not be someone who is always looking at a watch because &uot;the Ferriday High School job takes a lot of time,&uot; Butcher said.

Also on Tuesday, the school board agreed to look into leasing o the Old Louisiana Business College building and voted to accept a bid from Rowell Roofing for the roofing project at Vidalia Upper Elementary School.