BESE approves agenda, committee motions and ceremonial oaths at Jan. 10 closeout meeting

The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Jan. 10 approved its meeting agenda, administered oaths of office for board officers, approved prior meeting minutes and passed multiple grouped committee motions across several committees.

The board approved the meeting agenda without recorded objections. For agenda item 3.1 the board administered the oath of office for 2025 BESE officers; Deputy Executive Counsel Jeffrey Whale of the Louisiana Office of the Governor administered the oath. The board also approved the Dec. 11, 2024 meeting minutes after a motion and second.

Committee packages approved during the meeting included: - Academic Goals and Instructional Improvement Committee: motions 1 through 12 (motion moved by Mr. Appel and seconded by Miss Champine; no objections recorded). - Board Administration and Education Finance Committee: motions 1 through 24 approved; a board member announced a recusal for motions 11–14 prior to the vote (motion moved and seconded; no recorded opposition for the package after the recusal). - Educator Effectiveness Committee: motions 1 through 5 and 7 through 29 were approved; motion 6 was pulled as read (moved and seconded; package approved with no objection recorded). - School Innovation and Turnaround Committee: motions 1 through 9 approved (moved and seconded; no opposition recorded).

Other business included a brief superintendent’s report thanking staff for recent engagement with the board; no substantive questions were recorded during the report. The board adjourned at the conclusion of the agenda.

Where the transcript records individual votes or distinct actions—such as the revocation of a teaching certificate and the direction to plan a truancy summit—those items were recorded as separate actions in the meeting record.