OFFICIAL
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE
MOUNTAIN HOME BOARD OF EDUCATION
The following members of the Board were present for the
meeting: Bob Byrd, Mark Hollingsworth, James Madison, Linda Pitts, and Nell
Ponder. Administrators, media and other
guests were also present. Mrs. Pitts
called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
PRESENTATION
Mrs. Pitts presented Mrs. Nancy
Reed, German Instructor, with a plaque in celebration of the 20th
anniversary of the German American Partnership Program, 1984-2004. Mr. Singleton also presented the German Club
with $2,500 from MH school district to help with some of the travel
expenses. We appreciate all you have
done for the MH students. Mrs. Reed
thanked the school board and Mr. Singleton.
She expressed gratitude to all who have been involved with this
program. Deep friendships have been
formed and a loving friendship between these two countries. The rewards are great because of the
students who have been involved in this program. Mrs. Reed said the plaque means more than anyone will ever know
and she expressed her appreciation for it.
Mr. Singleton asked the Board to add an Item
E. Hiring of Architect to the proposed agenda.
Mr. Madison made a motion, seconded by Mr. Morgan,
to approve the agenda with the addition of Item E. Hiring of Architect.
The motion was unanimously approved.
Mr. Byrd made a motion, seconded by Mr.
Morgan, to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of March 25, 2004.
The motion was unanimously approved.
PRESENTATIONS
Mrs. Susan Bergman, High School Academy
Coordinator, presented to each Board member a blue denim shirt which had the MH
academy logo on it. Academy Directors,
Mrs. Patty Marion, Mrs. Joan Gross and Mr. Owen Carpenter shared with the Board
information on their projects for the Academy Day tomorrow. Each one thanked the School Board for all of
their support.
POSITIVE
NOTES
Mr. Madison said a record 5 Odyssey of the
Mind teams won in their respective problems/divisions at the state competition
and will be traveling to the World Finals at the University of Maryland. Congratulations to the students and the
coaches and the district OM coordinator Patti Budolfson.
Mr. Hollingsworth congratulated all of the
F.I.R.S.T. students, MHHS sponsor Devona Pendergrass and Baxter Healthcare
Corporation staff who act as mentors to the Bomb Squad for their fine
performance at the national competition at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Mr. Byrd stated we are extremely proud of the
fact that 14 members of the Lady Bomber basketball team were named to the AAAAA
East Academic team. To earn this honor
the girls must carry a 3.5 or above GPA.
The scholar athletes are Allie Stewart, Lindsey Hollingsworth, Tara
Davidson, Samantha Dean (who was also named the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Sophomore of the Year and Democrat-Gazette All-Sophomore team, and AAAAA East
All Conference First Team), Micaela Cully (who was named to the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette All-Sophomore team, and AAAAA East All Conference First team),
Daysha McGrath (also AAAAA East All Conference Second team), Kaitlin May (AAAAA
East All Conference Second team), Rebecca Wise, Rachel Wise, Jessica Minton,
Victoria Rios, Marci Morgan, Jane Ann Hanson (AAAAA East All Conference First
team), and Kayleigh Alexander.
Mr. Morgan extended congratulations to all
the students, sponsors and parents involved in both the Junior-Senior Prom and
the After Prom Party, sponsored by CHOICES.
It was a memorable evening for all involved.
Mrs. Pitts said the following juniors at MHHS
have been selected to attend Boy’s State: Preston Stone, Jong Shin, Nathan
Johnson, Jordan Burr, and Matthew McAllister.
Congratulations boys!
Mr. Madison stated our junior high school FFA
Chapter recently competed in the Northeast District Career Development
Competition. FFA’ers qualifying for
state competition are Dakota Hardcstle, Justin Coleman, Lance Haflich, Tyler
Williams, Justin Ulch, Harmony Martin, Chaz Caughell, Doug Banasiak, Kolin
Paulk, Austin Manchester, Tim Grimes, and Ryder Pierce.
Mr. Hollingsworth congratulated MHHS
sophomore Aprille Hanson for placing first in poetry contest in the 2004 Youth
Suicide Prevention Week Poster and Poetry Contest. There were 750 entries.
Mr. Byrd extended congratulations to the MHHS
juniors who have been selected to attend the Arkansas Governor’s School. They are Kim Allen, Clell Chatman, Jennifer
Davis, Ashley DeMass, Cody Gilbert, Clark Grant, Ashley Haskins, Benjamin
Kennedy, Bruce Neel, Sarah Novak, Jong Shin, Mallory Shy, David Steece, and
Courtney Tucker. In addition, Ashley
Carney and Sarah Rhodes are alternates.
Mr. Singleton expressed appreciation to
Wal-Mart and Frito O Lay for donating computers to five of the area
schools. We are one of those schools
and we really appreciate their donation and will see that it goes to the most
deserving program in our school district.
Thank you for this program.
BOARD ACTION
ITEMS
2003-2004
School Calendar Change
Coach Shane Patrick, representative from the
PPC, said the vote on the change to this school years calendar was 208 for and
1 against to take the three unused snow days off the end of the calendar.
Coach Patrick also shared the vote on the
2004-2005 school calendar. The vote was
163 for calendar B and 86 for calendar A.
Mr. Byrd asked what the difference was in the two calendars. Coach Patrick said that calendar B has both
an Easter Break and a Spring Break.
Calendar B has one less snow day built into it. Mr. Byrd asked about adding any extra snow
days should we need to use more than the two day already built into the
calendar. Coach Patrick said these days
would have to be added on to the end of the school year. Dr. Quinn said there would be four extra
student days because we will not have any waiver days next year. Also, the teacher contract days will be
increased from 186 to 191 days. Mr.
Madison asked what did the committee decide about any extra snow days we might
use. Coach Patrick said it was agreed
that these days would be added to the end of the school year. Mr. Madison said he was concerned about
having only two snow days in the calendar.
Mr. Singleton said once the calendar is set parents will plan vacations
and it would be better to have the days already in the calendar rather than
adding them.
Motion on
2004-2005 School Calendar
Mr. Madison made a motion, seconded by Mr.
Byrd, to send Calendar B back to PPC with the recommendation from the Board to
change the 2 snow days to 5 emergency days, making the last day of school June
8.
The motion was unanimously
approved.
Sick Leave
Bank
Coach Patrick thanked PPC members, Dr. Quinn
and Mr. Bergman who have worked on the Sick Leave Bank Policy. He said the committee proposed the Emergency
Sick Leave Policy. This policy would
allow an employee to donate sick days to a specific employee. Once a person has exhausted all current and
accumulated regular sick leave, annual leave (vacation days) and catastrophic
sick leave, then they could ask employees in the district if they would donate
days to them. Only 45 days can be given
to any one employee. Coach Patrick
stated there are other districts in the state who have these policies. Board members asked Mr. Singleton if we have
had very many of these instances. Mr.
Singleton explained the catastrophic days are mainly what we have had. He said he felt like our current policies
were very generous. Maybe changing the
catastrophic days policy or adding a clause to the catastrophic days policy
might be what we would need to do instead of the emergency sick leave
policy.
It was suggested this item be tabled until
the meeting next month.
Summer School
Calendar
Dr. Quinn asked High School Assistant
Principal, Bill Keaster, to come and explain the proposal for this year’s
summer school calendar. Mr. Keaster
said in the past we have had only one term of summer school, but this year we
would like to have two terms. The
summer term in the month of June would accommodate the English and Drivers Ed
and then another summer term in the month of July have a summer school for
Algebra A & B. The reason would be
because of the number of students we would be able to serve. Last year we had a large number of students
who failed both English and Math, so this year we are going to offer English
the first summer school term and Math the second summer school term. We are trying to make these classes
available to the students. Mr. Keaster
stated the dates for the first summer term for English & Drivers Ed would
be June 7- July 1 and the dates for the
second summer term for Math would be July 6-July 30.
Motion on
Summer School Calendar
Mr. Madison made a motion, seconded by Mr.
Byrd, to approve the summer school calendar as presented.
The motion was unanimously approved.
Resolution on
Revolving Loan
Mr. Singleton asked Mrs. Arnold to address
the Board concerning the notice of intention to borrow funds for the
construction of an administration building and professional development
facilities. Mrs. Arnold recommended the
Board adopt a resolution reading as follows: “that, this School Board, in
accordance with the provisions of Arkansas Code Annotated 6-20-809, will file
application with the State Board of Education for a loan from the Revolving
Loan Fund in the amount of $500,000.00, to be evidenced by a Certificate of
Indebtedness, and to be retired over a period of not to exceed ten years, from
revenues accruing to operating and or surplus fund(s). The proceeds of the loan will be used for
construction of an administration building and professional development
facilities”. Mr. Singleton stated he
felt that the best way we could pay for this proposed building would be with a
revolving loan. We should be able to
pay the loan back with incentive money or dedicated M & O in possibly a two
or three period. Currently the interest
on a revolving loan is 4.95%. Mr.
Singleton recommended the Board approve the intent to borrow funds as presented
for the stated purpose.
Motion on
Resolution on Revolving Loan
Mr. Morgan made a motion, seconded by Mr.
Byrd, to approve the intent to borrow funds as recommended by Mrs. Arnold and
Mr. Singleton.
The motion was unanimously approved.
Hire Architect
Mr. Singleton recommended the Board hire
Terry Cooper as architect for the administration building and professional
development facilities project. There
would be a fixed price to draw these plans.
Mr. Walker handed out to the Board a
preliminary plan for the administration building and professional development
facilities. Mr. Cooper will draw a full
set of plans for a fixed price. The
cost to draw a full set of plans would be $17,500. Mr. Cooper has been asked to stay with Mr. Walker until up
through the roof stage. Mr. Walker said
there is considerable ground work that must be done before beginning the
building.
Motion on
Hiring Architect
Mr. Madison made a motion, seconded by Mr.
Hollingsworth, to approve Mr. Singleton’s recommendation to hire Terry Cooper
as architect for the administration building project.
The motion was unanimously approved.
SUPERINTENDENT’S UPDATE AND BOARD DISCUSSION
Mr. Singleton said the Finance Committee
needed a Board member on that committee because Mr. Milholland was the Board
member on the Finance Committee. Mrs.
Pitts asked Mr. Morgan if he would be willing to serve on the Finance
Committee. Mr. Morgan stated he would
be glad to serve on the Finance Committee.
Mr. Singleton asked Mrs. Arnold to come and
bring to the Board information on salaries.
Mrs. Arnold gave the Board information on the 2003-2004 certified salary
schedule and also a certified salary schedule for the 2004-2005 school
year. We are not sure of all of the new
programs that will be required for next year because of all the various laws
that have been passed as well as the application of the new funding
formula. We are working on this. We do feel that we can give a little more
this school year and also a proposal for a beginning salary schedule for next
year. Mrs. Arnold explained the
proposed salary schedule for this school year and for the 2004-2005 school
year. Mr. Singleton asked the Board to
please give any feedback they might have on these proposed salary
schedules. Mr. Singleton stated both
the teacher salary increases and the building project we just discussed, none
of these funds are from dollars that are from the new tax revenues. Our top priority has been our teacher
salaries and staff salaries. We rank 25th
out of 308 districts in teacher salary.
This is with a district that ranks 278 in tax rate out of 308 school
districts. Our tax rate at 29.2 mills
is the 278th lowest in the state out of 308 districts. We are doing a lot with not a whole
lot. The mandated programs that the
state has added will come at a pretty high cost and we are taking our time
looking at and evaluating these programs to see what the cost is going to
be. We must do this before we can look
at what we can do for teacher salaries for next year.
A break was taken at 7:55 p.m. after which an
executive session was called.
The regular meeting reconvened at 10:00 p.m.
Executive
Session Results
Recommendations
on Resignations/Retirements
Mr. Singleton recommended that the Board accept
retirements of Peggy Seay, NWH (North) Librarian; Joan Hodges, NWH Food Service
Manager, effective end of 2003-2004 school year; and Doris Snyder, Central
Office Secretary, effective June 30, 2004; and the resignations of Dean Cole,
Pinkston Middle School Custodian; Norman Metz, Junior High Custodian, June 30,
2004; and resignations of Nancy Priest, Food Service Secretary, and Lori
Sanders, NWH Classified PE Instructor, resignations effective end of 2003-2004
school year
Motion to
Accept the Superintendent’s Recommendation on Resignations/Retirements
Mr. Madison made a motion,
seconded by Mrs. Ponder, to approve the Superintendent’s recommendation to
accept the resignations of Dean Cole, Norman Metz, Nancy Priest and Lori
Sanders and approve the retirement of Peggy Seay, Joan Hodges and Doris Snyder.
The motion was unanimously
approved.
Mr. Singleton and the Board
members expressed appreciation and thanks to Ms. Seay, Mrs. Hodges and Mrs.
Snyder for their many years of faithful service in the Mountain Home School
District.
Recommendation
on Resignations of Duties
Mr. Singleton recommended the Board accept the
resignation of duties from Shane Patrick, sophomore class sponsor and Gena
Smith, Late Bus Monitor, effective end of 2003-2004 school year
Motion to
Accept the Superintendent’s Recommendation on Resignations of Duties
Mr. Morgan made a motion,
seconded by Mr. Byrd, to approve the Superintendent’s recommendation on the
resignation of duties on Shane Patrick and Gena Smith.
The motion was unanimously
approved.
Recommendation
on Employment
Mr. Singleton recommended the
Board approve the employment of Josh Baker, High School Agri Teacher, Rebekah Cruse, Pinkston Middle
School Counselor, 200 day contract, and Michelle Padgett, Junior High English
Teacher, for the 2004-2005 school year and Kelly Morris, Junior High & High
School Special Ed Clerical Aide, effective 4-12-04.
Motion to
Accept the Superintendent’s Recommendation on Employment
Mr. Hollingsworth made a
motion, seconded by Mrs. Ponder, to accept the Superintendent’s recommendation
to approve the employment of Josh Baker, Rebekah Cruse, Michelle Padget, and
Kelly Morris.
The motion was unanimously
approved.
Recommendation
on Contract Changes
Mr. Singleton recommended that the Board approve the
change in contract for Barbara Horton and Sharon Zink, Guy Berry Tutoring
Sessions, $450 (9 sessions for Collette Dillard), Kallie Copeland, Junior High
ACSIP Co Chair, $1,000, and Clint Pevril, Bus-Loading Monitor, 2004-2005 school
year
Motion to
Accept the Superintendent’s Recommendation
Mr. Byrd made a motion,
seconded by Mr. Morgan, to approve the Superintendent’s recommendation on the
contract changes for Barbara Horton, Sharon Zink, Kallie Copeland, and Clint
Pevril.
The motion was unanimously approved.
Recommendation
on Transfers
Mr. Singleton recommended that the Board approve the
transfer of Linda Bauer from NWH Title I Parapro in the computer lab to NWH
Parent Center Coordinator, effective April 26, 2004 and Angie Wilhite from NWH
Parent Center Coordinator to Guy Berry Secretary, effective April 7, 2004; and
for the 2004-2005 school year transfer Jackie Bolt from PMS 5th
Grade Teacher to KDG Special Ed Teacher (part-time-0.60); Heather Hatman from
200 day to 220 day contract, Pinkston MS Counselor; and Nora Regan from NWH to
High School, Special Ed Teacher
Motion to
Accept the Superintendent’s Recommendation on Transfers
Mrs. Ponder made a motion,
seconded by Mr. Hollingsworth, to approve the Superintendent’s recommendation
on the transfers of Linda Bauer, Angie Wilhite, Jackie Bolt, Heather Hatman,
and Nora Regan.
The motion was unanimously approved.
Recommendation
on Leave of Absence
Mr. Singleton recommended that the Board approve a
leave of absence for Peggy Seay for the remainder of 2003-2004 school year
Motion to
Accept the Superintendent’s Recommendation on Leave of Absence
Mr. Madison made a motion,
seconded by Mr. Madison, to accept the Superintendent’s recommendation to grant
a leave of absence to Peggy Seay.
The motion was unanimously approved.
Recommendation
to Rehire Classified Staff for 2004-2005 School Year
Mr. Singleton recommended the Board rehire classified staff for the 2004-2005 school year per the attached list.
Motion to
Accept the Superintendent’s Recommendation
Mr. Morgan made a motion,
seconded by Mrs. Ponder, to accept the Superintendent’s recommendation to
rehire classified staff for the 2004-2005 school year per the attached list.
The motion was unanimously
approved.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Madison made motion,
seconded by Mr. Hollingsworth, to adjourn the meeting.
The motion was unanimously approved.
_______________________________ _________________________________
Linda
Pitts, President Bob
Byrd, Secretary