Before the meeting, Kent “Pete” Fulkerson was sworn in as a new board member, replacing Richard J. Kuykendall, who resigned at the last month’s board meeting. Fulkerson will fill out the remainder of Kuykendall’s term
The Board approved a donation from Greg Brown of Brown Fertilizer and Chemical for a softball and practice football field that is now being built in honor of his late grandfather, Archie Brown. It will be called the Archie Brown Memorial Park. It’s a five acre property located off Stewart Street just south of First Street. It’s to be used only for high school and junior high softball and a practice facility for junior pro football. The target date for completion is April first. Archie Brown was a well-known giver to the community and Carmi athletics.
They also approved the lease of four 71-passenger school busses from Midwest Bus Sales for a three year period at a cost of $12,318 per year.
The school district currently owns a 2,600 square foot property located at 713 Seventh Street, formerly the Pre-K building, and would like to take bids to sell it. There was a discussion on the matter in the closed session.
In the Superintendent’s report, Brad Lee said spring break for students and staff will be Good Friday, March 25th and the week of March 28th to April 1st.
This year’s high school prom will be held in New Harmony, Indiana on Saturday April 16th at 7:00 p.m.
After a survey of parents and staff concerning completion ceremonies for grades K through 3, Dr. Amy Dixon recommended that teachers have awards for first, second and third grade students in their classrooms, rather than having ceremonies at the high school. Kindergarten will stay the same.
Brad Lee said they have received two state aid payments and other funds totalling $770,528 in February. The state still owes $75,000.
In other business, they renewed their three year contract with Bushee Human Resources of Effingham for human resources support and insurance consulting services.
They declared six regular busses, two mini busses, a Chevy 4-door car, a Toro Reelmaster mower and Cub Cadet mower as surplus property. They are very old and have high mileage and may be sold by sealed bid or traded in.
Membership in the IHSA was renewed.
The school calendar for the 2016-17 school year was approved.
The board accepted the retirements of Jill Musgrave as a classroom aid at Washington School effective at the end of this school year and June York as a cook at the junior/senior high school effective July 31st.
Also the resignations of Tonia Lamont as building secretary at Lincoln School effective March 18th and John Galik as Spanish teacher at the high school at the end of the school year.
And they also approved a $500 donation to the Brownsville School.
The board went into closed session at 7:33 p.m. In the closed session, the board re-employed first year certified staff members Jean Browning, Melissa Dartt, Brittany Griffin, Matthew Hopson, Jara Mitchell, Tina Mosier, Michael Rushing, and Ariana Watts, second year staff Zandrea Hafenrichter, Beth Hart, Megan King, William Knight, and Danielle Shane, and third year staff member Alison Childers for the 2016-17 year.
The board also re-employed administrators Amy Atteberry, Amy Dixon, Cindy Hoskins, Bart King, and Jarrod Newell for next year, and reassigned Melissa Dartt as a 1st grade teacher, Anna York and Marcy Deam as 4th grade teachers, and Stacy Simon as a 6th grade teacher.
The next meeting for the Carmi White County School board will be on Monday, April 18th.
