Items on the slate for this month’s meeting of the Vance County Board of Education include:
* A buget work session will be held at 5:30 p.m. before the regular school board meeting at the Administrative Services Center break room at 1724 Graham Avenue.
* The attendance awards for the first month of school. An award is given for best attendance in an elementary school and a secondary school.
* The Board will consider a resolution to join in filing a Notice of Dismissal for the eye exam lawsuit. The lawsuit contested the constitutionality of H.B. 2699 which required that all incoming Kindergarteners have an exe exam within six months before the first day of school. However, the Board has found that the constitutional issues have been resolved, since children will not be excluded from school for failure to undergo an eye exam.
* The Personnel Committee will report that it discussed a background investigation, a dismissal hearing, a grievance filed by a Henderson Middle School staff member, and an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission hearing.
* Among various personnel recommendations, it will be recommended that a new Tobacco Prevention position be hired. The funding source for the position will be federal. A new security guard position is also recommended, funded from local sources. It is unknown where the security guard will be placed.
The City of Henderson recently removed School Resource Officers from the two middle schools. So far, no other law enforcement agency has filled the positions.
* The Finance Committee will report on the retention bonus repayment follow-up. The $850 retention bonus is paid to teachers at the end of the school year as a loan which is “repaid” out of paychecks issued during the subsequent school year. The committee asked staff to provide a detailed list of staff members who have left employment with the system and owe the retention bonus.
Staff discussed new school construction and how to pay for it.
The City of Henderson has implemented a grease ordinance for cafeterias that was in turn mandated by the state. According to the ordinance, grease traps must be in place by January 1, 2007, at a cost of $70,000.
* A meal price survey was presented by Phyllis Newcomb, the Child Nutrition director. It was recommended that meal prices be raised by $.25 in January, 2007, with an annual evaluation.
* The Building and Grounds report may be viewed here.
* The Curriculum Committee will report on a proposed outline for a Senior Graduation Project to be implemented with the class of 2010.
* Two overnight field trips will be considered for approval: one to the University of South Carolina School of Journalism in Columbia, the other to Columbia University in New York. Both are being requested by Northern Vance’s Crinkum-Crankum literary magazine.
A copy of the Board’s agenda may be viewed here.