That Langston Hughes Academy should create a separate bank account for payroll. That was the most salient suggestion to emerge from discussion of an otherwise routine financial audit by the school’s board of directors, NOLA 180, at their monthly meeting, Jan. 24.

In other business, the board voted to authorize chief financial officer  Shailendra Baghel to sign checks in place of board member Jeremy Perdido; two signatures are required for every check.

A parental concerns and complaints committee was formed, with board members Dow Edwards and Kristina Kent volunteering to serve on it. It was agreed that parents should first bring their issue to the teacher; if unsatisfied, they should approach the school director, then chief executive officer Jay Altman, then the director of student support, the parental concerns committee, and, as a last resort, the Recovery School District. The goal is to have issues resolved at the teacher level.

Two hundred volunteers will build a KaBoom! playground at Hughes on Monday, Feb. 6. Students participated in the design of the playground.

In other school news:

– Poet  Langston Hughes’ birthday will be celebrated with a program on Feb. 1 at 2:45 p.m.

– A special-needs intervention night will be held on Feb. 2 to  train the families and guardians of students with special needs.

– Report cards will be distributed Feb. 13.

-The Hughes’ Marching Eagles await the arrival of their band uniforms for the upcoming parade season.

Those present in addition to Baghel, Altman, Edwards and Kent were chief executive officer Adrian Morgan and board members Paul Pechon and George Freeman. The next meeting is Feb. 28 at 6 p.m.