Hope School Board January meeting

HOPE – Hope School Board met on January 20th. The meeting started with the recording of the Board members present and was followed by the approval of the consent agenda. The consent agenda was the previous meetings minutes and the financials. It passed unanimously.

The Superintendent’s Report included community recognitions for three schools – Pre K, Beryl Henry Elementary and Yerger.

For the update on the Board seats Dr. Crossley said the district was good to go with Mr. Hamilton’s seat which still has one election cycle left.

An update was given on the millage. There will be weekly planning and information sessions. There have been a lot of great conversations in the community and Mr. McClain has a great PR in getting the word out.

There was an Athletic Hall of Fame update about the weather and the planned events on Friday with Dr. Crossley not anticipating any problems but seeming quite confident there would be no issues with the 1:00 event and he didn’t expect any issues with the evening one either, but the weather was being monitored.

Dr. Crossley said he was more concerned about Monday’s weather. People would be let know as soon as possible if there were a change in plans.

Dr. Crossley talked about a conversation with the Co-op. He said their take was specifically to help schools to improve their letter grades. Math and science coaches will be working with the schools that have identified some need in those areas. Yerger Middle School, Beryl Henry and Hope High School have all identified needs in these areas.

Also talked about were teacher growth scores which aren’t uniformly high enough.

Next agenda item was the High School recommendation for a digital cinema/broadcasting studio. This would be paid for with Magnet money. A motion passed to accept $2,584 being paid for Apple Store Educational Institute.

New curtain for the stage for the gym was discussed and approved.

The Board discussed pursing a recommendation for the award of the Grounds Maintenance Contract. A motion passed to the contract out to bid.

Two possible school calendars were discussed with the faculty having voted previously on both and overwhelmingly supported the first with 129 votes or 84%. Both options were modified hybrid calendars. The option chosen has teachers returning on July 27th and students on August 5th.

The Board were shown the new band uniforms with students showing wearing them for the Board members to see. Mr. Davis talked about the design and quality and said they would last decades if taken care of. They’re expensive uniforms which will be signed out and numbered. Students wore them to a Four States event where the uniforms were admired.

Mr. Jimmy Courtney talked about the Athletic Booster Club. He said it spent a lot of money making banners. This is all paid for by the Booster’s Club. The Club also feeds the team with PB and Bread and a bar and protein drink affordably priced.

Courtney talked about the important role his wife plays in attending all the games she can and taking and posting photos. She goes to youth football and tries to get it on social media trying to advertise all the kids.

Courtney talked about the help he has received and its increase.

The Booster Club gives out scholarships and Courtney mentioned a matrix which is used.

Appreciation was expressed for the work Mr. Courtney does.

The Board discussed E-Rate for a cable upgrade. Yerger Middle School and Hope High School have been identified as most on need of upgrades so the improvement will start there. The intention is to position the district for a network that will last 10 to 15 more years. The goal is to create a state-of-the-art system. After those two schools are completed Beryl Henry and Clinton Elementary are next.

Doug Smith, the new Technology Director, talked about maintaining what Jeff Matlock had put into place making sure it was the same everywhere. Mr. Smith updated Prescott’s cable system.

Smith will work with CRW that will oversee the bids. The district has worked with CRW for over 2 decades.

The school district will be required to contribute 15% of the total funds with the rest of the 500,000 paid for by a grant.

The Board voted to give CRW and Dr. Crossley permission to continue with ERate.

Personnel packets were passed as presented.

There were three closed student hearings.

There was discussion of the annual Superintendent Evaluation and when it would take place.

The meeting adjourned.