The McDonald County R-1 School District Board of Education, in a work session before its June 13 meeting, voted to hire Paragon Architecture for a master plan and design on the district's athletic sports complex.
After a year of design work with Controlled Technology Solutions, the board voted last month to start over with a new company. The project design had come in over bid and had been reworked. Board members became frustrated with the process when CTS proposed moving the site of the project from the practice field to behind the football stadium.
Superintendent Mark Stanton told board members he spoke to their legal counsel and learned that, since the board had narrowed their options down to three when choosing the first time, they could move forward with choosing one of the other top two without having to put out another request for qualifications.
Members of Paragon were on hand to answer questions. Brad Erwin of Paragon said the design phase for the athletic facility would take about six months. Kirsten Whitehead said the construction would take about nine months. Erwin said Paragon has worked on several athletic facilities, including one at Crowder College in Neosho and has also created a master plan for Seneca School District.
The board approved hiring Paragon for the master plan and athletic sports complex.
In the regular board meeting, Jessica Struckhoff of Paragon gave a report on the Noel Primary FEMA safe room. She said the board can move forward with bidding for a general contractor and, hopefully, a general contractor can be selected at the August board meeting. According to that timeline, a groundbreaking will be held right after school starts, and the building will be complete by the following school year, she said.
The board quickly approved the K-8 handbook but had a lot of discussion about the high school handbook.
Board member Andy McClain questioned a policy that allows students to not take finals if they have not missed a day of school. He said it encourages kids to come to school sick. Assistant Superintendent Angie Brewer said the handbook committee has considered 95 percent attendance instead of 100 percent. High school principal Julie Holloway said there was a representative from every department at the handbook meeting, and some people felt that everyone should take the final.
"If everyone takes the final, are we encouraging them to miss?" McClain asked.
Board member Chris Smith said some things in the handbook are not being enforced, such as the dress code, tobacco and students not having their phones out during school hours. He asked Holloway what she needed to get the handbook enforced on a daily basis.
Holloway said she and others have been brainstorming ways to enforce the handbook. No hats inside is another rule that has become difficult to enforce, she said, adding they will cover some of these rules in Freshman Academy.
The conversation turned to phones in the classroom. Smith said there is bullying going on over social media and that people have withdrawn their children from school over it and homeschooled them. He said many teachers do not enforce the rule about no phones in class because they don't think anyone will back them up.
Stanton said a smartphone can be a wonderful, powerful tool for a teacher in a classroom. It was widely agreed that teachers should have the discretion to allow students to use their phones for instructional purposes.
Board president Scott Goldstein said he does not have a problem with students using their phones during lunch time. He said the policy needs to be tweaked and that staff needs to know what is in the handbook. The board has to let the staff know the administration will support them when they enforce the policy, he said.
The board tabled the high school handbook until adjustments can be made.
In other business, the board passed the budget at $40,118,396.
General News on 06/20/2019