The Spickard R-2 Board of Education approved a request from a parent, accepted the resignation of a board member and gave the principal/superintendent an increase in salary during a meeting held Monday evening at the school.
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Principal/Superintendent Lyle Best reported that Andrea Ciskowski addressed the board requesting that the school bus route be changed in order to have her children picked up. The board discussed school and state policies regarding bus routes and Best presented information on how the district’s state aid could possibly be affected by the decision. The board approved the change in the route to allow the children to be picked up at the Ciskowski residence.
Best was given approval to purchase a new accounting and payroll program from STI, as well as the training needed to operate the system. He had told the board that the current accounting system, which operates on DOS, will be discontinued this summer, with no further updates available for the system to operate effectively. The newer version is operated on Windows software.
Several budget amendments were approved for a total of $15,460. One amendment accounts for the salary of a special education aide, which was not included in the original budget, as well as the replacement of the cafeteria furnace and purchased service of an AHERA Building Management Plan. Other amendment items include the addition of the Technology Coordinator stipend, soft drink revenue and cheerleading revenue and expenditures for uniforms. Best told the board that state and federal funding will account for some of the amendments involving expenditures.
Best discussed the MSIP review update, noting that the district is scheduled for a targeted review on Feb. 12 and 13 and the Items Not Waived portion of the review will be held Thursday. He shared with board members the MSIP standards and indicators that the review team will be focusing on and presented the results from the advanced questionnaires.
The resignation of board member Dixon Munday was accepted and it was announced that any person interested in being appointed to that position would need to submit a letter of interest to the board.
In other business, the board agreed to look at the cost of a new vacuum cleaner and warranty options, agreed that it is not cost-effective to have the board secretary become a notary and reviewed school board policy and Sunshine Law policy regarding executive session procedures and agenda postings of executive session. The board also reviewed the AHERA Report, which is available for public viewing at the school office, and reviewed a list of new library books, including several non-fiction books that were purchased to increase the research possibilities for the students.
Board members tabled the School Health Program evaluation until the next meeting, as well as a discussion of the MARE Conference.
In the principal’s report, Best discussed the attendance rate, elementary basketball and recent professional development opportunities for the faculty/staff.
An executive session was held to conduct the administrator’s evaluation. After returning to open session, the board voted to offer a one-year contract to Best, with a $3,000 increase in salary.
The next regular meeting is scheduled for Feb. 18.