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School board approves consent agenda and authorizes demolition of Arlington Preparatory Academy after DBE questions
Summary
At its March 20 meeting, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board approved a multi-item consent agenda and separately authorized demolition of Arlington Preparatory Academy. Board members pressed staff about disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) participation and how the district advertises public construction bids.
The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on March 20 approved a consent agenda of routine items and separately authorized staff to advertise for and award a demolition contract for Arlington Preparatory Academy.
Board President Stewart called the meeting to order and the board first approved the consent agenda as presented with one item — demolition of Arlington Preparatory Academy — pulled for separate consideration and discussion.
Board members later moved and voted to authorize staff to advertise, accept the low responsive bid meeting specifications, and award a contract for demolition of Arlington Preparatory Academy. The motion carried, and staff said it will issue a public solicitation and hold a pre-bid meeting for prospective contractors.
Board Member Paul Lewis said he supported clearing the vacant property but raised concerns about equity in contracting. "There's no doubt that Arlington needs to come down. It's an eyesore in the community," Lewis said. "However, my concern is the fact that that job is listed as 555,000. And I'm just wanting to know about the DBE participation in this project." The amount discussed at the meeting for the demolition was stated as $555,000.
District procurement staff told the board that the demolition job will be advertised publicly through The Advocate newspaper and the Bid Express platform and that the district coordinates outreach with the Fair Share office. A district representative said there is not a fixed DBE participation percentage that will be guaranteed by the solicitation, but staff will "strive to meet the goal" and will host a mandatory pre-bid meeting where general contractors and subcontractors can connect.
During the discussion a board member said they believed the district DBE participation threshold had been revised in recent years and asked staff and the district attorney to confirm current policy. District staff noted recent projects that exceeded Fair Share goals, including the recently completed demolition of Glen Oaks Middle School and other construction projects where minority- or woman-owned firms participated as prime contractors or major subcontractors.
Several board members requested clearer public links to the Bid Express listings and that procurement staff provide regular updates on DBE participation on large capital projects. The boards secretary called the vote following those requests and the motion carried.
The consent agenda items approved as part of the meeting included site use and relocation requests, job-description updates, millage-leveling resolution submission notice to the assessor, graduation venue agreements, an intergovernmental agreement to fund a school resource officer at McKinley High, a right-of-way agreement with Entergy Louisiana LLC, and the 2025-26 board meeting calendar. Item details were read into the record before the vote.
Notes and next steps: staff will advertise the demolition bid on Bid Express and in The Advocate; a mandatory pre-bid meeting will allow general contractors and subcontractors to connect; procurement and the Fair Share office will be asked to report back to the board on DBE outreach and participation for the project.
