Board discusses budget concerns, filling positions

Members of the Senath-Hornersville Board of Education, including, from left, Carl Johnson, Terry Scott, and Byron Small, hear budget concerns during the board's meeting on Thursday.

Staff photo by George Anderson

During the regular session of the meeting, the board heard letters of resignation from Crystal Johnson, Title I reading; Kim Harden, fifth and sixth-grade science; and Courtney Rhew, high school Spanish.

Following the closed session of the meeting, Superintendent Larry Wood said the board opted to open two empty positions at the middle school -- fifth and sixth-grade science and social studies -- to applicants within the district. Wood said the positions will be open to middle school faculty first, then elementary faculty. The position of study skills instructor, which was recently vacated by Tim Carter, will not be filled.

Wood said the moves were made as cost cutting measures to help the district's budget.

Also in the meeting, the board heard reports from the various campus administrators.

In the elementary report, Principal Kevin Reddick said the school currently has 371 students enrolled, including preschool, with an average daily attendance of 95.1 percent.

Reddick said the teachers have been focusing on getting ready for the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test since coming back from Christmas break.

"The teachers are working hard," Reddick said. "I appreciate how hard they are working."

At the middle school, Principal Chad Morgan said the school has 236 students enrolled with an average daily attendance of 93.2 percent.

Morgan said the school recently held its MAP celebration party for the entire school for having the highest test scores in seven years on last years MAP test. He then said this year's MAP test will be held April 5-23.

Morgan then informed the board that Jonathan Crafton recently won the school's geography bee and has qualified to represent the school at the state-level.

Morgan said Parent-Teacher Conferences were held on Thursday evening with a good turnout. He added that an art show was held during the event. More information from the art show will follow at a later date.

At the high school level, Principal Kim Campbell said the school has 217 enrolled with an average daily attendance of 92 percent.

Campbell said the high school Parent-Teacher conferences were underway, although the turnout is usually not as good as the lower grade levels.

Campbell said the school will be hosting a Career Fair today, Friday, March 19.

In April, the school will be presenting its spring musical, "The Nifty 50's."

In the superintendent report, Wood said the state is trying to decide what cuts to make, however, with it being an election year, "no one wants to make the cuts."

"They said there has to be between 300 million and 500 million [dollars] cut, so somebody is going to have to make something," Wood said. "We are going to be in the middle of it. When the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education makes up 34 percent of the budget, you can realize that we are going to have cuts. We are just going to have to deal with it."

Wood said there are currently some bills being sponsored that could help the district, one of which will exempt schools on the motor fuel tax.

Another bill being looked at would excuse districts from putting $31,000 into professional development, according to Wood.

Wood said in terms of the budget, the district is preparing for an eight percent cut.

"I can't paint a very cheerful picture on the budget," Wood said. "But we will work through it and do the best we can."

In other matters, the board:

* Approved allowing the Kennett Schools to do the district's summer school feeding program, and;

* Approved the 2010-2011 school calendar.

During executive session, the board voted to employee Marsha Morrison as a cook, and to rehire tenured and non-tenured teachers.