The Madison County School Board gathered on Tuesday, July 5 in regular session with much to go over.
With no public comment, staff trips or out-of-county school trips up for approval, the board began their meeting by discussing transfer requests. Superintendent Doug Brown stated that there were 34 transfer requests that were all acceptable with the exception of the transfers involving Pinetta Elementary School's (PES) and Lee Elementary School's (LES) kindergarten class, as these classes were full. The transfer requests involving these two schools will be brought back at an appropriate time. The board approved all of the requests, excluding those involving the PES and LES kindergarten class, unanimously.
Next, a public hearing was held regarding the updated student code of conduct. With no comment from the audience, the board approved the updates, 5-0.
Ray Griffin, Chief Financial Officer for the district and Iris Wynn, Food Service Clerk for the district, approached the podium with recommendations for upgrading the food service point-of-sale software. There were three options Griffin presented to the board: Harris School Solutions Nutrition, Horizon and Heartland School Solutions. Wynn informed the board that she contacted schools in surrounding counties to see which service worked best for them. Both Jefferson County and Holmes County spoke good things about Harris School Solutions Nutrition, stating that it was user-friendly with no issues thus far. The board voted to go with Harris School Solutions Nutrition unanimously.
Brown went over Achieve 3000 with the board, a learning tool that will allow students to access non-fiction articles in many different subjects. The district will be in a three-year contract with Achieve 3000 and it will cost approximately $85,000 for three years. Last school year, a total of 160 Madison County High School and Madison County Central School students used this program. The program will be used for several different subjects, including English, history, science, social science and ELA classes, according to MCHS Principal Ben Killingsworth. Not only will the program help students absorb reading in every subject, but it will also help them raise their reading scores. Achieve 3000 will start the student off at their current reading level and allow them to build their reading level. Students will use Achieve 3000 four to five times a week, according to Brown. The board approved the contract with Achieve 3000 unanimously.
Board member Bart Alford raised some concerns about the Excel School, stating that students who transfer from Excel to the other schools need to be self-contained, as the younger students could be absorbing the “inappropriate behavior” from other Excel students. To discuss this matter, the board scheduled a workshop for Monday, July 11 at 4 p.m.
Next, the board approved matters involving CareerSource of Madison. CareerSource will be charging $300 for the use of their facility, plus utilities. These costs will be covered by the Adult Education grant. The board also approved an additional agreement with CareerSource.
Willie Williams took to the podium next to ask for permission to advertise repeal of current school board policies and adoption of new policies. The board approved this request. The new policies will be posted online and a hard copy will be placed in the district office for individuals to view.
Williams also presented personnel changes to the board. These were all approved unanimously.
In construction project updates, Brown informed the board that most of the portables up for sale at MCHS have been removed but there are three in front of the gym still. Brown also commented that $45,000 needs to be used to add asphalt around the high school. The asphalt must connect to Hwy. 90 and the entrance of the school. The money to fund this project will be coming out of the asphalt fund, which has about $80,000-$82,000 in it. The board approved the request to use the money to put asphalt down at the school.
The next school board meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 19 at 6 p.m. at the District School Board office, located on 210 NE Duval Ave.