School Board hears Covid 19 plan

The El Dorado Springs R-II School Board met Thursday, July 9, back in the High School Library but with a new board president and a new superintendent.

Josh Floyd was at the helm as the new board president and Heath Oates as the new superintendent.

All other board members were present – Mark Burley, Bennie Brower, RJ Kinnett, Craig Carpenter, Nathan Murry and Chad Whitesell. Board Secretary Tania Molz was at her station.

In closed session, the board approved the hiring of Calem Simrell as Middle School History teacher and Middle School wrestling coach.

Supt. Oates said, “The state released information today and that was helpful. The default is to have school. We would rather have students physically in school.”

Dr. theresa Christian, assistant superintendent, reviewed progress on the 20-21 Strategic Plan for Covid 19.  The instruction plan has three phases – Green – school is in session; Red – school is shut down and learning will be conducted remotely. The middle phase, Yellow, is murky depending on the situation and the grade level.

She said that every teacher needs to have a backup plan for tomorrow even though they are in  regular class today.

RJ Kinnett asked about thresholds. Dr. Christian said, “We won’t know until we have a case in Elementary.”

She said that in Elementary at lot of the classes are conducted with the teacher sitting at a table with the students. The unknown is what happens if one of the students at a table comes down with Covid 19.

Supt. Oates said the school has received an unbudgeted $489,246. “So, we have flexibility and we have over a year in which to spend this.”

He said, “We are ready for school to start. We are making provisions for on line instruction for all of our students if we have to go red. It will not look like red looked in the spring. We will provide on-line instruction to all those kids. If we have to bring kids in from out of town and stick them in the cafeteria and put something in front of them, we will do that. So that’s what this money is for.”

He said, “The county has a significant amount of money and we have to ask. We will ask the county for personal protective equipment for teachers and students. We’re going to ask the county for somewhere between $75,000 and $100,000. We’ll have the paperwork to them by next Friday.”

It was reported that the sewer project is almost complete.

The board took up discussion of the sports uniform contract with Nike.  On a motion by Kinnett, second by Murry, the vote was 4-3 in favor with Burley, Brower and Whitesell voting no.

The board readopted the conflict of interest ordinance.

The board approved the purchase of a 2018 Dodge Caravan from Fugate Motors.

The board set the tax rate hearing for 7 p.m. Thursday. Aug. 27.