Education Matters US

There was a brief Levy Hearing before the Board meeting. There was only 1 public comment reminding the board members to be fiscally responsible and to be transparent with any levy rate increases.

The board meeting was very short tonight. Here are my notes:

• Three board members mentioned the Music Man performance was very well attended and performed.
• Jill extended thanks to the Leadership team for being creative to find a solution to help the board in restoring programs.
• Ellen attended the Middle School Assembly and stated the students had collected a large amount of food for a food bank. They raised so much food that Principal, Marcus Smith and Asst. Principal, Rhonda Mathis had to kiss a pig.
• During public comment a resident thanked the board for all their hard work and willingness to work all night in the negotiations.
• The Jan. 3^rd board meeting was moved to the 4^th
• All resolutions regarding the 2005 tax year levies were approved
• There was 1 item from the personnel report. A resolution was read and approved to dismiss a tenured teacher. The resolution stated a remediation plan was established 4/25/2005 that was to be completed in 90 school days. The improvement plan was not completed satisfactorily as shown by the teacher’s review on 12/15/2005.
• In the final public comment section a resident asked for clarification on whether a faculty member could be on more than one of the Superintendent’s committees. Ellen was to get back to that individual later with the specifics.

Note 1: The board will most likely vote on the Teacher’s Contract at the Jan 17th meeting.

Note 2: As a side note to the meeting I had a discussion with maintenance personnel. I wanted an update on the cleaning supplies being purchased by the district. I was informed that the district will be continuing to purchase from Vacuum Mart through the remainder of this school year. It was claimed that Vacuum Mart was still the cheapest provider of H2Orange. The manufacturer of H2Orange provided the district with three providers, but were refused to allow them an out of state bidder.

This situation is an outrage. It once again shows that school districts have agendas and the ability to circumvent the taxpayers. Even though information was given to them with lower costs, they were unable to use those vendors or chose not to in some instances. This makes it difficult to trust them when they continually overspend. How are we ever to believe them when they cry poor? They continue to over spend the money we currently give them they take from us. I am hopeful that the board can rectify this situation before the next school year by going out to bid for cleaning supplies district wide.