The Madill Board of Education held its first meeting following the conclusion of the 2019-2020 school year at the MPS Administration Building.
Board president Mike Mathis led the meeting. He was joined by board members Clay Savage, Shannon Williams and Jeff Landgraf. Board member Mark Glenn was not present for the meeting.
Following acceptance of the consent agenda, the board moved on to reports.
During his superintendent’s report, Larry Case, said the district is looking at various scheduling options for the fall following the closure of schools due to the Coronavirus. He said the district was recently able to use funds from a grant to purchase Chromebooks for students to use, which should help those who want to learn remotely.
“We can do virtual school,” Case said. “But I’m a big believer in having the teacher in front of them. We’re looking into a program called Accellus.”
Case said another thing to consider will be bus routes; specially if social distancing is in place.
“Legally, if someone lives a mile and a half from the school you don’t have to transport [them to school],” Case said.
He then pointed to Bink Stafford, the MPS athletic director to discuss bus routes. Stafford, who was seated at the back of the room, spoke about one bus route that goes right the middle of town. “We will drive down to 8 th and Drew,” Stafford said. Case said that route is always full.
Stafford said there are 75 students on that route. “This route ends by Sonic,” he said.
Case added that he’s heard that schools may have to limit buses to one child per seat or have masks for all students.
“We can’t do that,” Case said. “Some [parents] are asking us what we’re gonna do.” Case thinks some parents or even students will want the option to have a mix of in-person and online instruction.
“Some [parents] may want the blended option,” he said. “We’ll probably put a survey out in the near future.”
Mathis asked about how many students were actually doing classwork while the quarantine was in effect this spring.
Case said MPS saw a 35-40% participation rate. Case said other local schools and those he’s followed out of state via Facebook show a similar rate of participation. After the meeting, Case said the figure makes sense especially considering the State Department of Education said students couldn’t get worse grade than what they had when schools closed in March. Savage was the first to respond after Case sought feedback from the board about fall schedule.
“I think it’s too far to even know what’s going on,” he said. Case asked if Savages is concerned about sending his kids back.
“I don’t mean to put you on the spot,” he said.
Savage said he isn’t concerned with sending his kids back to school. His view seemed to be shared by the other board members.
Then, Case asked Stafford to speak about MPS facilities.
“We’re really close on [opening] the fine arts building” he said. “[We’re] cleaning it up.” Staff said some work is being down on a sidewalk by Madill High School that is notorious for being flooded.
“By the high school, we’re fixing the sidewalk, so you don’t have to walk in a foot of water,” he said. “[We’re also] building a 30’ x 60’ pavilion near softball field.” Case said he likes the idea of turning the pavilion into a commons area for students.
Case finished his report by adding that the district’s principals will present their next reports at the July school board meeting.
The board approved the renewal of four contracts for the 2020-2021 school year. Three contracts related to insurance or legal services while the final one was to retain the services of Keyston Food Service.
Case said he was excited for this year cause Keystone became the district’s school meal vendor in December 2018.
“From August to March we were heading in a good direction,” he said. “They’ve done well in general. Don’t know if yall have gotten much feedback.”
Landgraf said he’s heard it’s hard work.
Williams added that the kids are happy with the food. The sentiment was shared by other board members.
The board also accepted the resignations of three teachers: James Dickey, Lora Minyard and Galynn Whitmire.
They offered temporary contracts to three teachers: Laura Hill (middle school teacher), Madison Hatfield (elementary special education teacher) and Kristy Cole (elementary teacher). They also hired Joshua Sisco as a high school paraprofessional. All of the contracts cover the 2020-2021 school year.
During new business, Case said the administration realized today that they hadn’t received their new liability insurance amount.
It is set to increase by 18 percent from $123,000 per year to $144,000 per year.
“This change is statewide,” he said. “I asked to approve it since it has to be done by July 1.”
Case provided the documentation he received from OSIG, the liability insurance provider.
The liability insurance policy will not include the Fine Arts building as it has not received its final clearance, Case said.
MPS treasurer Cindy Combs said the Fine Arts Building will be insurance just not through the liability policy.
The board members agreed to table approval of the liability insurance policy until a future date. The meeting was adjourned at 6:28 p.m.