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South Pike School Board holds meeting

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imagesThe South Pike School Board Meeting was held August 11, 2015 on the Murfreesboro Campus at 11:45 am.  The meeting was called to order and the group was led in prayer by Joe House.  Those in attendance were Alan Walls, Steve Conly, Joe House, Trent Cox and Superintendent Roger Featherston. Chris Sharp, Jeramy Humphrey, and Angie Fabian were absent.

The minutes were approved by acclimation.

The financial statement was reviewed and in the discussion Steve Conly questioned the money used to pay building projects that had come out of the CDs.  He was thinking that it be better to now move money back to CDs even if it is only for a period of time.  The next project coming up will be re-roofing the gym.  After the discussion Mr. Walls recommended that the school look into what the interest rates are currently and if there will be any penalties of transferring out of this account.  The financial statement was then approved by acclimation.

Under Old Business the Superintendent gave his report . The morning of August 11 was the Back to School event for teachers and staff and board members attended this, giving the staff & teachers a chance to meet some them.  The speaker for this event was Dr. David Lee from Southern Mississippi University.  It was very inspirational to those in attendance.

Under New Business, the Special Education Assurance Agreement has to be presented to the board each year.  This statement of assurance is presented as to what needs to be done in the special ed department.  This was passed with a motion by Walls and a second by House.

The second item was the resolution to finalize the donation of the school buildings in Delight to the City of Delight.  Currently the school’s attorney has the survey documents provided by the City of Delight and with this resolution the process to finish this  donation will be finalized.  A motion was made by Conly and a second by Cox and the motion passed.

While the board waited for Chad Brinkley to join the meeting they moved on to personnel resignation and hirings.  First the board accepted Carol Lingo’s resignation as a bus driver.  She will continue custodial work.  A motion was made by Conly and Cox Seconded and this was approved.

Hiring personnel recommendations were to hire Reggie Lamb as a bus driver, motion by House and Walls seconded and motion passed.

A motion was also made by Cox and seconded by Conly to approve the hiring of Markie Bell as a Special Ed Aid.  This motion was passed.

While the board was waiting for Chad Brinkley to join the meeting Mr. Walls asked Mr. Featherston to check on the price of repairing or replacing the sound system in the activity room. The board also discussed the cost of air conditioning the gym.  The cost escalates because the school has to use an architect, and an engineer and then there are multiple governmental regulations.

Chad Brinkley from the Technology Department came in to present the Technology Handbook and the form parents have to sign off on. This is the Acceptable Use of Technology Policy. as well as the Parent/Student Laptop/iPad Agreement.  This was passed by a motion from Conly and seconded by House and the motion passed.

There will be two parent presentations on Thursday August 13 at 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm.  Before any device can go home this presentation must be seen and the agreement must be signed, by parent or guardian.  There will also be presentations the first and second week of school in the evening as well as a video on the website for those that were not able to attend.

There were a number of questions from the board about what would happen if a student’s device was broken or their privileges had been revoked or whether their parents did not want  them to take a device home.  There will still be desktop computers in each classroom and the students will have access to all the assignments.  There will also be day users and full time users.  Day users, are those that do not have the privilege or their parents do not want their children to bring their device home.

In addition the school has purchased cases that the devices are to be kept in at all times, when they are not in use.  Students are also responsible for keeping their devices charged and ready to use when they come to class.  For security the school is using a software program on the devices called Undercover.

Through this whole process the teachers have really gotten excited about this change and are stepping up and out of their comfort zones and making the changes that need to happen to integrate their lessons onto the devices.

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