Board Revisits Pineville Primary Discussion

The McDonald County R-1 School District Board of Education, at its meeting on June 11, held further discussion on changes at Pineville Primary.

Before that discussion, new members were sworn in. The meeting was opened and vice president Frank Woods recognized Dr. Scott Goldstein for his 18 years on the board. Goldstein was leaving the board that night following the recent election.

The meeting was adjourned and new members John Carlin, Bobby Parish and Dennis Bergin were sworn in. Superintendent Mark Stanton called a new meeting to order and took nominations for president and vice president. Woods was elected president, and board member Josh Banta was elected vice president. Woods took over the meeting and took nominations for the rest of the officers. Bergen was elected treasurer and Kathie Mitchell was re-elected as secretary.

Regarding Pineville Primary, Stanton said there was no recommendation on the school yet, as the school district was trying to get information through a survey, emails, visits, etc. Last month the board discussed moving K-2 students at Pineville Primary to neighboring elementary schools and moving more pre-k students into Pineville Primary. Stanton said the preliminary results of the survey showed 133 respondents, while the information has been viewed 1,900 times.

"We want to hear from parents of the students in those classes," he said urging them to go to the school district's website to find the survey.

A presentation that precedes the survey explains the district is no longer considering moving K-2 students away from Pineville Primary. It is considering moving a number of pre-K classes from other schools to Pineville Primary or Noel Primary.

Woods said the public should not worry that if they put their names on the survey, someone is going to come looking for them. He said, with only 133 respondents out of 1,900 views, it is hard to make a good decision.

"Please respond in some fashion," he said.

Tiffany Lilly of the transportation department told the board that the fleet received the Fleet Excellence Award on its recent inspection.

She also gave a report on the district's mileage. She said mileage was much less than last year, due to school being out for the covid-19 pandemic. This year's mileage was 672,250, and last year's was 821,179. She added the buses drove 34,772 delivering meals during the time that school was out.

Assistant Superintendent Angie Brewer presented changes to the K-8 and high school handbooks. She said the one change to the K-8 handbook was that, instead of getting a letter after four absences, the building principal will contact parents, and then a letter will be sent out after nine absences. She said one change to the high school handbook will be that students' phones will be required to be locked up during class.

In other business, the board accepted a bid from contractor Marion Company LLC/CSG Construction Services Group for work on the new weight room.