Student transfers were a big topic of conversation at Monday’s school board meeting and how the district should administer them.
District Five Board Member Don Hardin proposed a new form requiring more information be put in place for parents to fill out before a student can be admitted into the Calhoun County School District.
Hardin said he was acting on behalf of a local principal who expressed concern over students coming in without a lot of documentation on their academic standing and/or potential behavioral issues at their previous school.
Mike Moore
Superintendent Mike Moore suggested he was familiar with what initiated this request and it involved students transferring from Calhoun Academy back into the school system.
“These students are already in our district, so it doesn’t matter, we have to take them anyway, but I’ve encouraged all our principals not to accept a student without a record,” Moore said.
He explained a previous case of a student moving in from out of state that was supposedly in the tenth grade and after six weeks here it was discovered he’s really in eighth grade.
“I tell them to tell the parents, you want your kid here, you get a record here,” Moore said. “We shouldn’t let a student in until we get a valid record that tells us everything on that student.”
Referencing back to the academy students, Moore noted Calhoun Academy is accredited, so if they pass a certain grade there you can’t put them in a previous grade when they transfer into the public school, “regardless of what reading level they might be at.”
“In this case, these students owe a lot of money (to the school) and they would not release them because of that,” Moore said.
Hardin suggested the new form would help the district learn that up front.
“You don’t see it as much with elementary kids, but we’ll have high school kids try to come in three weeks before school’s out and usually they’ve been expelled or something and if you don’t have any records you have no idea what you’re letting in,” Moore said.
“That’s why we need this form for more protection along with the records, too,” Hardin said.
“We can look at that without any problem,” Moore said.
In other news, the board had previously asked Attorney Paul Moore Jr. to look at gun policies and their impact on the schools in regard to who is allowed to carry a gun on school property, including to school sporting events.
The school district has a “no weapons” policy, but Moore explained anyone with a license to carry can enter a school with a gun on their person, according to state law.
“I don’t like it,” Paul Moore said. “I think they should exclude school functions, but that’s the law.”
It was noted weapons, regardless of license, can be prevented from being carried on private property such as a business, but public schools don’t meet that criteria.
The board also passed a revised coaching supplement schedule for the new school year which Sup. Moore said was more than comparable to other districts.
“We’re paying our head football coaches over $40,000 in supplements. There’s no school in Mississippi that pays a $40,000 supplement,” Moore said. “Because we have three schools, that’s where our supplements are. You can go anywhere and nobody is paying a $40,000 supplement because they only have one coach. We have three coaches. When you look at our supplements, maybe not individually, but total we’re so far ahead of a lot of schools it’s not even funny.”
School board member Precious Thompson asked if the board could be alerted more regularly of open positions in the district. She said she regularly gets asked in the community about a job opening she doesn’t know anything about.
“Is there any way we can be in the loop?” she asked the board.
Board Member Bubba Weeks said that’s not really the board’s responsibility, noting the hiring takes place at the individual schools.
“The last few years the legislature has introduced bills several times to take the hiring process away from the board,” Board President Danny Harrelson said. “I do understand what you’re saying though. They can put you on the spot.”
Moore said all openings are published on the district’s website as they happen so that anyone can get the information there.
Moore said the finalized testing data with new accreditation ratings would be released in September and he would have testing coordinator Raven Hawkins come meet with the board and review all the data.
Other items approved by the board:
•Personnel - Abby Daniels hired as teacher replacing Karen Brown, Bridget Lenard transfer from SpEd to regular teacher, Fernanda Salazar hired as ELL assistant replacing Megan McCormick who resigned; Rebecca King resigned as bookkeeper and hired as teacher replacing Jaleesa Edwards who resigned, Michelle Skinner resigned as secretary to take bookkeeper position vacated by King, Michelle Doler hired as secretary replacing Michelle Skinner, Hannah Burt, Sabreena Grisham, Victoria Landreth, Kayla Copeland, Rachel Harper, Leslie Haire hired as substitute teachers; Jennifer Alfaro hired as cafeteria worker replacing Kim Brown who resigned; Patrick Baker hired as student cafeteria worker; Richard Morgan hired as assistant custodian.
•Student transfers - Fisher Gage Camp from Calhoun to Water Valley; Isabella Nabors from Calhoun to Houston; Michael Brice Winter, Madisyn Reece Winter, Miranda Moss, and Mychael Moss from Calhoun to Chickasaw.
•Lorie Roberts asked the board to allow her daughter to transfer from Bruce to Calhoun City due to an altercation with another student that resulted in both being removed from the Bruce Band. Roberts said she feared for her daughter’s safety.
The board discussed the matter in executive session at the conclusion of the meeting and agreed to deny the requested transfer.
•For Calhoun City football team and cheerleaders to travel to Chattanooga Sept. 22 for a football game.
•Rental agreement between district and Cannon Motors for drivers’ Ed cars.
•For Career Center to apply for $40,000 Rockenbock robotics grant for elementary classrooms.
•Accept ARC grant of $11,232 to go with $4,814 from district to purchase Chromebook laptops for BUES and CCMS.
•Apply for $17,427 grant from Weyerhaeuser for safety and medical equipment.
•Purchase of EZ Assessment and EZ Test Tracker program for each school for $25,070.
•Memorandum of understanding between district and Sunflower Rural Health Clinic to provide preventative healthcare to school children.
•Contract with Ken Swindoll with Fluency Plus to provide FBA and BIP services and psychoeducational evaluations and consultative services.