School Board approves computer, curriculum purchases

Members of the Calico Rock District School Board, absent Jennifer Brickell, met in regular session last Monday evening in their final meeting before the beginning of the new school year.  New district superintendent Rick Green was also in attendance for his first formal meeting with the Board since his recent hiring during a special call meeting.

Following the opening formalities and approval of June bills and the Treasurer’s Report, Board President Chris Brandon turned things over to Green who proceeded to deliver his first monthly Superintendent’s Report.

Green advised first that he had held multiple meetings since his hire with both principals, maintenance staff, transportation supervisor, athletic director and many of the teachers.  He’s also visited with the regional Co-Op director, the Sheriff and all the district SRO’s.  Going forward he has scheduled leadership meetings each Monday morning from 10:00-11:00.

Progress is being made on the renovation work underway at the Old Gym.  The plan is not to make it “perfect” but to make it, “serviceable, functional and usable”.  Additionally, Green mentioned the beginning of an effort to improve the look of both the high school and elementary school campuses, work with which he has engaged the inmate work crews from the ADC North Central Unit to assist.

Some leaks were identified following recent torrential rains, so of them old and some new.  A contractor has been called in to take a look and give estimates on what Green described as, “temporary repairs until we have the opportunity to apply through the state for some matching funds to do more extensive repair.”

Green was pleased to announce that initial work had been done to apply for a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant and looking at some other rural and community involvement grants.

High school principal Anita Nordrum began her report advising that three high school teachers were to receive Merit pay under a program which was stared this year.  Those teachers include Amy Cowgill, Melva Brannon and Carson Gibson who were recognized for their hard work and dedication to education.

Students are scheduled to come to campus on July 29-31 to complete their schedules for the coming year.

A professional development day was held in late June which was dedicated to introducing PLC, the professional learning community process that is rolling out this year at the high school.  Teachers worked on their essential standards for their campuses as well.  The presentation was led by Ashley Coley and Carson Gibson from the elementary school and Amy Cowgill from the high school.

Basketball teams are continuing to practice and attend team camps.  Teachers have been coming in and working in their rooms.  The evening of July 23 the school will be honoring the 2024 Lady Pirates Bowling Team during which team members will receive their championship rings and enjoy a meal with their families.  They will also be honored during this year’s Black & Orange Night.

Elementary school principal Baily Whiteaker began her report giving a big Thank You to Wade Pittman and the maintenance team for all the hard work done in getting the buildings ready for school.  Teachers have been working putting their rooms back together and are excited for the new school year.

Back-to-school info include teachers coming in for professional development on August 6,7 and 13, with the school open house also scheduled for the 13th from 4:00-6:30.  August 15 is the first day of school!

Board president Chris Brandon advised that he had been approached by FNBIC which would like to sponsor a meet-and-greet for the new Superintendent to correspond with the open house during which they’ll prepare hotdogs for all who attend the open house.  All Board members were excited at the offer, especially since FNBIC also plans to provide a meal for the Board to coincide with their next regular meeting.

Whiteaker proceeded with her report by sharing that quotes had been received for the rubber playground mulch to be placed on both playground areas at the elementary school.  For four inches of mulch the quote was $17,000, for six inches the cost goes up to $25,725.

 

Green noted that if the cost exceeds the $25,000 bid threshold then bids would have to be requested.  Consensus was to proceed with the four inches of mulch.

 

HSI from Harrison came to look at the roof leaks and will be getting back with quotes for each facility, breaking it down into chunks to allow the prioritization of which leaks to deal with first.

 

In response to a question from this reporter, it was confirmed that enrollment figures for each campus would resume being provided at the September meeting once firm enrollment numbers for this coming year were available.

 

Mountain Home Glass has proposed the use of composite glass for the bottom of the front doors as this material is less likely to be kicked in than glass.  The work to be done was quoted at $700 with the work to be done this week.

 

Moving to New Business, the Board first voted unanimously to approve proposed changes to the Student Handbooks, most of which involve bringing the policies into alignment with new state legislation and/or recommendations from the state Dept of Education.

 

Next the Board considered the purchase of 25 new Dell computers for the Business Department at the high school.  The cost from BIT Direct totaled $37,673.  This action was also quickly approved by unanimous vote of the Board.

 

The purchase of new curriculum to include Envision Math and Language Arts and Physical Science books for a total cost of $25,989 to be provided by Savvas Learning Company.  Following a motion and a second, the purchase was approved unanimously.

Bids for the providing of fuel (gas and diesel) for the district for the coming year were opened with MFA being selected to continue as the provider as the other bid from Littlefield contained no specific price quote.  As a result the bid was awarded to MFA Oil.

 

Mr. Green next asked the Board for approval to advertise the acceptance of bids for two old buses and a Chevy Lumina owned by the district however inoperable.  The Board quickly gave him the ok to proceed to advertise the vehicles.

 

A request for a student transfer into the district, a 15 year-old from the Timbo area, was also quickly approved by the Board.  Apparently, the young man has a great interest in welding and was impressed by our program.

 

Moving to the last item on the agenda, approval of the district Family & Community Engagement Plan was next considered with the only change from last year being the naming of Chelsea Moss as the new Coordinator.  The plan was quickly approved by a unanimous vote of the Board.

 

Having no other business, the Board set it’s next meeting for Monday, August 26 at 5:30 p.m. in the elementary school library.  As always, this meeting is open to the public.