Willow Springs Approves New Board Members

During their April meeting, the Willow Springs School District board swore in two new board members. The school board approved the results of the April 8 election. Board Secretary Mandy Scarbrough swore in new board members Roger Shanks and Meagan Jones.

 

In reorganizing the board, Mac Gum was chosen again as Board President, Matt Hobson as Vice President, Roger Shanks as the MSBA delegate. District employees were designated Mandy Scarbrough and Jaime Bryan were named board secretary and treasurer, respectively, and Dr. Marty Spence as custodian of records.

 

This meeting was the first for the board, in which they held their budget workshop before the regular meeting. Dr. Spence began the presentation with an insurance update, with the school moving from MASC to Show-Me Benefits Consortium, SMBC. This is a larger consortium with rate increases of 4.7 percent. The superintendent suggested the board pay the rate increase, a cost of $30 per employee, or a budget increase of $56,000, as they had done in previous years. No action was taken by the board.

 

During the regular portion of the meeting, Dr. Spence told the board that repairs to the Bears Den were completed, but more work was on the way. "The repairs to the roof are complete, at least for the Bears Den. We've got some repairs that need to be done at the middle school." He said this is all under the school's insurance claim.

 

The board approved twelve policy changes. Most of the changes are to pull the school's policy in line with state statutes and clean up existing policy language. Most of the policy changes are due to Senate Bill 727, which affects homeschooling, attendance, virtual students, and out-of-district students. The board approved these changes unanimously.

 

The board unanimously approved the purchase of a new HVAC unit for the middle school FEMA shelter. The scope of work included the installation of a 15-ton air handler, 15-ton condensing, and gas duct heater. The quote included all equipment, labor, materials, crane, and integration in the current system. The only bid came from Wood Mechanical. Gum said he had spoken with Mike Bailey, who said the two HVAC units were old, with Spence saying the units were 23 or 24 years old.

 

The board approved the career ladder plan for the district. The state pays sixty percent of the career ladder. Spence said all the school's eligible staff members participate in the career ladder. This is a three-stage program. Stage One pays $1,500, Stage Two $3,000, and Stage Three $5,000. Spence said, "I probably get more questions on the career ladder than I get on any other topic. (Our teachers) want to make sure that what they're doing is eligible for career ladder." Stage One is for teachers under two years of teaching, Stage Two is for three to five years, and Stage Three is beyond six years.

 

A closed session for the purposes of a superintendent evaluation took place after the open session. The board took no action during this session.

 

The next Willow Springs School District Board meeting will be held on May 13, and the board approved a special board meeting on May 27 for MSBA training, with the meetings starting at 5 pm.