Blevins board meets

BLEVINS – The Blevins School Board met Monday night at 7pm in the administration building.

First up was the financial report. Proposals for the moving of funds from accounts in surplus to accounts in deficit were reviewed, and most everything was easily balanced out. There was, however, one department where money was not so easy to move around – athletics. Apparently, athletics budgets are more strictly enforced, the idea being that if you move money from one athletics program to another, you have to ask yourself “what kid are you taking that money away from?” as Superintendent Stephanie Dixon put it. For this reason, any deficits in the sports budget must be covered by fundraising efforts. There was brief discussion of condensing the four annual “cloth fundraisers” – that being the sale of school shirts, hoodies, and the like – into just one fundraiser annually.  The idea was a more limited opportunity to buy school merchandise would result in more funds raised. Once this discussion was complete, the financial report was accepted.

The next order of business was the acceptance of the school age application – special education. The school board had to formally accept the agreement that specific federal funding granted them would be used for special ed. programs. The board accepted it unanimously.

After that, the board reviewed the 19-20 school year school improvement plan, seeking higher test scores and attendance rates. It was suggested that the school should raise expectations for the students, with the hopes that the students would rise to meet them.

The next order was REAP Technology bids. Using the money budgeted and received by grant, the school board decided to purchase chromebooks for the students. Dixon expressed her frustration that Blevins is one of the last school districts in the state to not have a “one-to-one,” each student having a chromebook or similar device for educational use that is dedicated to only them. With electronic tests becoming the standard, the board is hard-pressed to provide devices for the entire student body. Building upon the devices already purchased, the board decided to acquire 165 new devices for the next school year.

The high priority bonus, granted by the state to encourage and retain the hiring of teachers in low-income areas, was reviewed. The board went over the list of recipients, noting that only instructors who spent at least 80 percent of their time with students received the bonus – excluding administration. The district has to pay benefits in accordance to the bonus earned, and sometimes school districts turn away the funds for this reason. Despite this concern, the board approved the bonuses and their recipients unanimously and moved on.

The board quickly reviewed the board policy updates, which involved changes in wording and phrasing, and moved on to principal reports. The principal of Blevins High School, Jeffrey Steed, gave an account of the 17-18 school year, including attendance records, achievements and recognition the school received.  He addressed events that have happened and have yet to happen this year. The principal of the elementary school did not report, as she has only very recently been welcomed into the position.

The curriculum coordinator’s report had a new, experimental event to report – an elective course fair. Having noticed unbalanced class sizes in various elective courses in the past, with concerns that one reason students may avoid a course is not knowing what it had to offer, the high school offered an elective course fair for the next school year. It was reportedly very well received. Class size may still vary before the next school year begins, but it seems this idea was a winner.

The technology report touched on the school district’s need for a new server, as well as instructing the students with the technologies required to take tests before the test day, reinforcing the need to achieve “one to one” as soon as possible.

The superintendent observed, due to previous years’ budget deficits and this year’s challenges of breaking even, she was very happy to report that the district is in the black by a significant margin.

The last order of business before the executive session was a discussion on the district’s need for new buses. The district can buy new, buy used, or lease. A new bus would cost roughly $82,000, yet new buses almost without fail break down immediately. Used buses would cost about half as much, and it may be possible to secure buses from a district that has fewer gravel roads, thus less wear and tear. However, perhaps the best received was the leasing option. With a three-year contract, the school could lease one bus for $26,000 total for the duration, and the leasing company would not only cover all maintenance and repair costs, but repair the bus themselves. Once the contract is up, the school can let the buses go and lease newer ones. Dixon noted concerns towards leasing in general, but admitted it sounded like a very good deal. The school board decided to wait until all the options could be more thoroughly examined and reviewed to satisfaction.

The board went into executive session behind closed doors, and a few minutes later, at about 9 p.m., it emerged. The meeting was concluded by a motion to begin the school board meetings at 6:30 pm from now on. It was unanimously accepted, both by the board and those in attendance.