Monticelllo School Board Report – Student Expulsion, $100,000 EAST Grant, Improved Door Locks, Harper Recognizes Board
February 1st, 2013 by Sarah Spencer
The Monticello School Board met Tuesday night, with all Board members present. After the meeting was called to order, Superintendent Bobby Harper announced that January has been declared Arkansas School Board Member Appreciation Month by Governor Mike Beebe. Harper introduced the Monticello High School Madrigal Choir before reading Governor Beebe’s decree. After the reading of the decree, the award-winning Madrigal choir performed two a capella selections for the school board members, and guests.
The minutes for the Board meeting and the financial report for December, 2012 were presented and approved.
A special session was held to discuss a student’s expulsion. The student, along with his representatives, met privately with the School Board, and at the conclusion of that meeting, the Board agreed unanimously to uphold the recommendation that the student be suspended for a period ending January 15, 2014.
Following up on the MHS EAST Core Grant in the amount of $100,000 that was awarded to the school, Supt. Harper discussed some of the steps necessary to implement the program. He asked the Board to approve going ahead with using the school’s maintenance staff to complete some necessary work to get the school ready to implement the program. The work would involve removing a wall, painting interior walls, installing wiring and other superficial work needed before moving and installing computers and equipment in the new labs. The Board approved the work to be done.
Superintendent Harper presented and briefly reviewed recent legislative issues, including a number of bills dealing with funding of teacher retirement issues. He also discussed House Bill #1040. This bill would create a Department of Education exclusively for charter schools. All of the bills can be read and tracked on the AAEA web site under the Advocacy and Bill Tracking tabs.
An update of the Facilities Report was reviewed by the Board. All the projects have now been completed, with the exception of some finish work remaining to be done in the Home Economics department. The irrigation system is finished except for some work that will need to be done after track season is over. Replacement of a damaged storage building was discussed. The Board also discussed changing all the door locks throughout the schools to push-button door locks for security purposes. The door locks are estimated to cost about $150 each, and 100 locks will be needed. Forty door stops, costing $25 each, are also needed. Several companies have been asked to submit quotes. The school district is also looking into purchasing the hardware from Lowe’s and doing the installation themselves. A discussion of school safety procedures followed.
A State Education Rally was announced, to be held at the Old Supreme Court room (south end of the State Capital in Little Rock, at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 30th.
The next Board meeting was set for February 19, 2013.
The closed executive session held to discuss accepting employee resignations was interrupted by tornado warnings. Following the session, employee resignations were announced and the meeting was adjourned.
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