Hope School Board

The Hope School Board met in the High School Auditorium on Monday(5-20). After being called to order, the minutes from three previous meetings were approved as were the expenditures for May. Presentations were made by School Nurse Gretchen Carlton and Sallie Nix about the Collegiate Academy.   Marilyn Marks and Philip Herron made a presentation on the Hope Academy of Public Service.  For the HAPS presentation, Philip Heron spoke about what his students were making in class. Herron is a teacher for the magnet programs in broadcast journalism.

The aspiring teachers included Sandra Roan, Sheila Hopson and Carmen Galvin. Roan spoke about how to improve the reading scores for seventh grade. Sheila Hopson spoke about methods of reading at Hope High School. Carmen Galvin spoke about loss of instruction at Clinton Primary.

Deanna Gilbert spoke about food service. She talked about the students who eat free and how the upping of minimum wage without upping the income limit has affected the students who qualified.

There was a discussion on the pay of bus drivers. The drivers have asked for an increase. Hope was compared to Magnolia on bus driver salaries.  Given not all the employees in the district will receive incremental increases, a board member expressed his opposition to the idea.  Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Crossley said bus trips have been supplemented.  No increases were approved.  Dr. Crossley said the district will revisit the issue next year.

A joint recommendation of the Classified Personnel Policy Committee and Superintendent was accepted. This related to doing an interview instead of automatically rehiring staff.

The students’ insurance with a $29,000 premium was approved. This amount is lower than the surrounding districts.

The Board Meeting dates will be set at the third Tuesday of each month as Dr. Crossley’s recommendation was approved.

Juneteenth was named an official holiday for the District.

An Employment Waiver Request was approved.

There were two facilities rental requests, both of which were approved. The first was of Beryl Henry and the other of Yerger.

There were three student hearings on the agenda. The Board had an executive session and voted to accept the Superintendents suggestion for the first student.  The other two students weren’t there so there was another executive session and afterwards the recommendation for both students was accepted separately.

For the personnel packet there was an executive session. The personnel packet, motion for salary changes, and classified contracts were all approved.

The meeting adjourned.