Pope County Community Unit School District 1 Board of Education met Jan. 16.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
Meeting was called to order at 7:01 pm by Board President Hansen and the following members were present: Aly, Schuchardt, Wallace, Simmons, and Hansen. Walker and Hogg were absent.
Motion was made by Simmons and seconded by Schuchardt to approve the agenda. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons to approve the consent agenda including the following: 1) Approve Minutes of Board Meetings on 12/19/2019; 2) Approve Closed Session Minutes; 3) Approve Bills for Payment; 4) Accept Financial Reports; 5) Approve destruction of Closed Session Meeting CDs more than 18 months old; and 6) Accept resignations of Skyler Smith, Tommy Hobbs, and Chris Walker. After some discussion, roll call vote: all ayes.
Under Administrative reports, Mr. Blankenship reported the following: 1) We are in the process of completing the Aimsweb testing for the winter benchmark; 2) Progress Reports for the 3rd quarter are scheduled to go out on February 7th; 3) Dental Safari is scheduled to be at the school on February 27th for dental exams; 4) The Jr. High Girls won the GEC tournament and were undefeated in the GEC during the regular season. They started their regional tournament Wednesday, January 15th. They will begin regionals playing Jonesboro on January 28th. The boys started their GEC tournament Thursday, January 16th and will be starting regional play the last week of January; 5) The girls and boys travel basketball teams are starting to set up practice and games; and 6) Current Enrollment is 360 as of January 16th.
Mr. Fritch reported the following: 1) Boys basketball team begins the GEC tournament January 27th through February 1st; 2) Girls basketball team begins the GEC tournament on February 3rd and 6th; 3) Gymnasium floor fungus has been inspected by Enviro-Tech and stated no action is needed at this time. Since the thermostats have been installed to help regulate the temperature, the fungus should not hurt the floor. The thermostat has also helped with the slickness of the floor and has not been an issue; 4) Will be hosting boys baseball regional this spring; 5) Junior PSAT results showed our students are right at the State level but the Math scores were on a lower trend; and 6) Enrollment: Freshmen – 54, Sophomores – 42, Juniors – 26, Seniors – 42, Total 164.
Mr. Climer reported the following: 1) The District cash flow is in good shape. Expenditures are under budget and revenues are on target. Overall the budget is good. We did receive two transportation payments from the State, one from last year and one for this year, but they still owe around $70,000.
Motion to enter executive session for the purpose of personnel employment, performance, and procedures was made by Wallace and seconded by Schuchardt. Roll call vote: all ayes. Board entered executive session at 7:11 pm.
Motion to return to regular session was made by Simmons and seconded by Aly. Roll call vote: all ayes. Board returned at 9:38 pm.
Motion to approve closed session minutes and recommendations of minutes to become public record was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to amend SY 2019-2020 calendar to reflect snow days was made by Wallace and seconded by Schuchardt. Roll call vote: all ayes.
President Hansen thanked both candidates for a great job interviewing. He stated part of the Board’s goal is to bring stability in administration and we are getting there with the hire of Mr. Fritch as Superintendent. The hire of high school principal will help as well. Thanks to Mr. Climer for mentoring Mr. Fritch and working in the District. A motion to hire Seth Graves as high school principal pending contract negotiations and acquiring proper licensure was made by Schuchardt and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to post for Jr. High History teaching position was made by Simmons and seconded by Aly. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to post for Jr. High Language Arts teaching position was made by Wallace and seconded by Schuchardt. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to post for high school math teaching position was made by Wallace and seconded by Aly. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to post for Jr. High math teaching position was made by Schuchardt and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to post for high school Baseball Coach was made by Wallace and seconded by Schuchardt. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to post for high school assistant baseball coach was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to bid for fuel for remainder of 2020 and after expiration of current contract was made by Simmons and seconded by Aly. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Mr. Climer stated $30,000 of Title I funds are going toward the purchase of new textbooks for the elementary and high school. We are taking inventory and getting an order together.
Motion to accept and approve Banterra Bank financing in the amount of $89,143.00 at the fixed rate of 4.66%, amortized over five years for the purchase of one new handicapped accessible bus from Central States Bus Sales was made by Wallace and Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to approve out-of-state trip for the FFA to attend the National Farm Machinery Show to Louisville, KY in February 2020 was made by Schuchardt and seconded by Aly. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Motion to approve overnight trip for the FFA to attend the 212 Annual Conference in Decatur, IL on February 7-8, 2020 was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons. Roll call vote: all ayes.
Under Old Business, Mr. Fritch distributed the finalized report on the septic system project. There were two proposals given in the report; 1) to build our own septic system at a cost around $345,000 or 2) pump to the City of Golconda’s lagoon at a cost around $420,000. The engineer suggested going to the City and having it pumped to their lagoon would be the better option. This would be more cost effective in the long run. The City of Golconda is willing to take us on and work with us on this project. There are grants and matching grants available to alleviate some of the cost. We could issue Health Life Safety bonds to fund the project. Might look at adding other improvement projects if we decide to issue bonds. The bonds would be paid by levied monies determined by the courthouse. The principals are making a wish list. We will review all options and determine a comfortable amount to borrow for the District. Mr. Dan Coen reviewed the report and also offered up his expertise on the project with the same suggestion as the engineer.
Mr. Fritch stated he meet with Jerry Suits and interviewed the four candidates for the SRO. Two of the candidates are already employed by the county and are ready to go starting February 3rd. These two will work to the end of this school year. The other two will go to required trainings and will begin next school year. We are in the process of ordering radios and shirts for the SRO. We are developing a job description and will meet with the SROs next week to detail their jobs and responsibilities. We are also going to introduce them to all the students and media outlets.
Member Wallace stated he is still attending County Commissioners meetings giving them updates on the SRO. He is on the agenda for the meeting in two weeks and will pass along the hiring information.
Under Other School Business, Member Schuchardt asked about the status of the doors and windows project. Mr. Fritch said there has been a lack of communication between the architect and the contractor. He called them both to get an update. The window ventilator unit was not in correspondence with the door size and there was an issue with making it fit. The architect will have to figure it out and make the changes. We have paid all the fees to Baysinger for the project thus far and any changes needed to be made will be on them. President Hansen suggested it may be time to submit a RFQ for a new architect.
Mr. Dan Coen thanked the Board for allowing him to work with the high school basketball team as a volunteer statistician.
With no further business to be discussed, a motion was made by Wallace and seconded by Simmons to adjourn the meeting until the next regular meeting to be held on Thursday, February 20, 2020 at 7:00 pm in the J.H. Hobbs Memorial Library. All members present voted yea.
Meeting adjourned at 10:19 pm.
http://www.popek12.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_2554242/File/Board%20Minutes/Jan%2016%202020.pdf
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