The Mansfield School Board met on Monday evening, September 23 at 6 p.m. All members of the board were present including Trent Hayslip, Mark Barton, Mike Gipson, Dewayne Ward and Rick Nicodemus. Also present, Superintendent Joe Staton.
The first item on the agenda, approving the annual report to the public. Tina Smith, Director of Instruction and Federal Programs at the district, shared that report. She highlighted the percentage of free and reduced lunches at 71.94 percent and the total enrollment of 759 students.
Next the board moved on to other items on the agenda including the approval of financial reports and the August meeting minutes.
Items listed on the agenda for requiring board action included the approval of the 2019-2020 budget:
Revenue: $6,892,703.00, which includes a $371,000.00 building transfer
Expenditures: $6,878,585.78
Estimated net legal balance: $763,827.00
Estimated building fund balance: $563,000.00
The members voted unanimously to approve the 2019-2020 budget as presented.
The next five items on the agenda were passed by the board. Those included a statement of Assurances for Accreditation, a resolution to hold the election in the March 2020 primary, the 21-22 proposed budget of expenditures, the minority recruitment plan, and the Act 1120 – 5% salary increases.
Members took no action on the remaining items: fundraiser requests, overnight trip requests and board training dates. Staton shared dates and locations of upcoming opportunities for board training hours.
Current experienced educator Ron Key was unanimously appointed as interim Special Education Coordinator with no pay increase. The board will consider filling that position next year.
In the Superintendent’s report, Staton shared that he has been busy since the first day of school and has been working to prepare the budget. Next, he will be contacting contractors to begin repair work on the track.
Staton also commended Food Service Director, Sonia Norris, on the increased participation and revenue in the cafeteria. “She’s done an excellent job preparing menus the students like…to have a positive balance is great.”
Elementary Principal Kim Arnold noted that the district would be hosting a flu clinic on October 8. The middle school and the high school will be bussed to the elementary, where the clinic will be held.
In other board communications, Gipson inquired about a broken water fountain at the middle school. Principal Floyd Fisher responded that the fountain is “so old…and has to be fixed two to three times per year.” Gipson recommended that the fountain be shut off “so kids don’t get sick.”
Next, the board discussed an issue with the Booster Club and the concession stand. Gipson said, “this has got out of hand, every one of these are good people, and they all help…It shouldn’t be like this.” Staton responded that “too many people have gotten involved.”
Currently, according to Staton, the Booster Club has different divisions, one for each of the sports categories. “At one time, they worked together as one unit, under one big Booster Club. They haven’t been working as one unit as well lately.”
Additionally, Staton shared that the Booster Club took over managing the concession stand. The club traditionally meets with the athletic director to “see where they stand.” Then, at the end of the year, the monies from the concession stand is divided up amongst all sports. “I can’t speak as to how that was divided, I haven’t found that out yet, I am still looking,” commented Staton. “Right now each of those branches and the main Booster Club need to get back together.”
The board agreed for Staton to set a date and time for a meeting of all interested parties to come together and work out these issues. “If it is going to continue being an issue, maybe the school just needs to take over running the concession stand,” Staton concluded. Nicodemus responded that there will be differences in opinion at this meeting, but that everyone needs to come together.
Next, Ward commented on the planned changes for the upcoming homecoming. He asked High School Principal Donnie Eveld about those changes. Two of those include the construction of floats outside of school time and the crowning of the queen at half-time, during the game. Gipson asked, “what’s the reason behind that? That doesn’t make any sense to be queen for a whole hour.” Staton responded that “that’s where the crowd is, and that’s where the festivities are.” Gipson went on to question the timing, as the announcement came just weeks before homecoming. Eveld said, “we weren’t here last year, so we didn’t know what was going on.” Nicodemus responded that this should be the job of a committee and subcommittee to look at past, present and future events and plan as such. Nicodemus recommended that Eveld and others review the video of last year’s homecoming.
Member Hayslip brought it to the attention of fellow board members of a parking issue with his son. “He was took out of class to move his vehicle over one spot onto the gravel, and all this other parking is available…I think we need to re-address all this. We paid all this money for this pavement for kids to park on…”
A discussion followed about who the reserved parking area is for. Nicodemus said, “it’s kind of ridiculous to pull a kid out of class to move one spot over.” Hayslip added that it was “pouring down rain that day.”
Lastly, Hayslip inquired who was in charge of sending kids home for dress code violations. Several members of the board shared that they had received calls regarding this. Fisher said, “we don’t go around as clothing Nazis, but when I get them sent to me there’s not a doubt about it. It is our duty to address it at that point.”
Gipson followed up by noting that he welcomes phone calls of concerned parents. “We are elected by the people, so you (Staton) work for us and we work for them. We will continue to take calls from the people, it’s what we do.”
With no other items of business to discuss, the meeting of the Mansfield School Board was adjourned.
