The McDonald County R-1 School District Board of Education is in the early stages of planning for a new athletic sports complex.
At a work session before its May 10 meeting, the board narrowed down a list of possible architects, from eight to five, which will be invited to give presentations to the board on June 7 at 6 p.m.
The five companies are Controlled Technology Solutions, Paragon Architecture, Insight Design Studio, Hight Jackson and Associates, and Dake Wells Architecture.
During the meeting, transportation director Clyde Davidson gave a presentation on the state bus inspection which did not go well for the district. He reported slightly more than 50 percent of the buses failed the first inspection. He said he believed the state was being more rigorous in its inspection process because there were certain repairs on buses that had passed inspection last year and failed this year. Superintendent Mark Stanton pointed out all except two of the buses passed upon re-inspection after repairs were made.
Athletic director Nick Martin requested permission to start a girls' golf team. He said eight conference schools already have girls' golf, and McDonald County would be the ninth. Three girls are playing on the boys' team, he noted. The total cost to start a team is around $5,500, he said.
"Scholarship-wise there's more girls' golf scholarships wasted than used," he said.
The board agreed it was time for the girls to have a level playing field and approved the girls' golf team.
Michael Shaddox presented a project called the Stream Team. He said for character education he wanted to add a service project where students would do trash pickup on the creeks twice a year in September and May. He said Two Suns campground agreed to furnish canoes free of charge. He said he would require students to wear a life jacket and sign a waiver.
School board president Scott Goldstein said the idea was excellent, but the board needed to have its attorneys look at the waiver. The board approved the project contingent upon the waiver.
Assistant Superintendent Angie Brewer gave a presentation on the curriculum resource adoption cycle, which, this year, is for science material for kindergarten through eighth grade.
In looking at vendors, the district looks at their reputation in the industry, whether it is innovative, and their ability to adapt to the district's needs, Brewer said. This year's vendors are Discovery Science, Cengage and Pearson.
Teachers have a rubric to rate the vendors, and that is how they vote on the final decision, Brewer said.
In other business, the board:
• Approved seeking bids for seal coating and striping of parking lots;
• Approved seeking bids for new copiers;
• Gave permission for the wrestling team to go to camp in Miami, Okla.
General News on 05/17/2018