Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

VIDALIA, La. — Thursday’s regular meeting of the Concordia Parish School Board offered standing room only as several parish students were recognized for their achievements.

The Ferriday High School cheerleaders earned the special recognition they received on Thursday by competing regionally in the Worldwide Spirit Association Grand Nationals on March 9 and 10 in Shreveport, becoming overall champions in Cheer and Game Day. The Trojan cheerleaders then — for the first time in school history — advanced to capture the grand championship after being named the best at The One Global Finals in Orlando, Florida.

The Concordia Parish School Board adopted a resolution at Thursday’s meeting honoring their historic performance.

“Be it resolved that the Concordia Parish School Board hereby acknowledges and commends the Ferriday High School cheerleaders for their historic and extraordinary performance at the WSA Grand Nationals and The One Global Finals for representing the school and community with pride and distinction,” Superintendent Toyua Bachus read from the proclamation on Thursday.

The school board also recognized 4-H members and officers and Sidney A. Murray Jr. Good Citizen Award winners on Thursday.

The citizenship award winners at each school are as follows.

For Concordia Education Center the 9th grade recipient is Thomas Moss, 10th grade Aidan Ford and 12th grade Jeremy Pugh.

For Concordia Parish Academy the 9th grade recipient is Jarrod Wooten, 10th grade Oreonna Bates, 11th grade Mia Collins and 12th grade Noah Armstrong.

For Ferriday High School the 9th grade recipient is Antwoine Amado, 10th grade McKenzy Clay, 11th grade Jalexia Watson and 12th grade Joshua Shinard.

For Monterey High School the 9th grade recipient is JW Poole, 10th grade Tessa Duffy, 11th grade Sean Barnes and 12th grade Arden Crawford.

For Vidalia High School the 9th grade recipient is Macee Steele, 10th grade Chaney Mearday, 11th grade Landry Merritt, and 12th grade Tommie Jean Wagley.

In other matters, the school board awarded a $130,195 bid on a project to resolve a drainage issue at Monterey High School. It has long been an issue that rainwater which drains between the new gymnasium and the school building during heavy rains causes water to leak into the school itself.

Four contractors bid on the work to mitigate this issue, though all were over the engineer’s projected cost of $105,000, said the school board’s Business Affairs Director Tom O’Neal.

“The difference between the lowest bidder and the second lowest is within 7 percent, which tells us that it’s a pretty good bid. It’s a tight bid,” O’Neal said. “We’re about $25,000 over. I told the engineer I didn’t think that the board would let $25,000 stop this project.”

In his motion to accept the lowest bid, Taunton said, “We need to go ahead and accept the bid. This has been an issue for two years.”

Lastly, the school board adopted a salary schedule for the Associate Educator Program, which allows the district to hire elementary and secondary school educator candidates with an associate’s degree, at least 25 years of age, who are enrolled in an undergraduate teacher education program at an accredited college or university.

The salary cannot exceed 75 percent of a certified teacher’s base salary, Superintendent Bachus said. Paraprofessionals make on average $34,000 per year and teacher’s base pay starts at $46,000. The board passed the salaries by a vote of 7-0. Derrick Carson voted “nay” on the salary schedule. Fred Butcher was absent during Thursday’s meeting.