Dexter Board meets in final fiscal year session

Dexter Schools' Board of Education met for a brief and routine session in a rescheduled June meeting which represented the final meeting of the fiscal year. The June meeting is historically changed to the final week in the month in order to allow time for end-of-the year financial transactions to be finalized.

The June meeting was perhaps the most skeletal board in recent years, as Dr. Thomas Sharp had already fulfilled his contract and has moved on to a new home in Nebraska and newly hired superintendent, Mitch Wood, was not yet seated. Also absent were Board President Kevin Bishop and board member, Mark Nea.

The first order of business for the board was to approve the 2015-16 budget. Assistant Supt. Corey Mouser noted, "Part of this budget includes the purchase of two new busses, new textbooks, and things that we've gotten behind on. It's hard to play catch up."

Board Member Herman Morse noted that the current textbook purchase totaled nearly one quarter of a million dollars, and Jim Reiker noted that the district was about to spend a significant amount of money on technical items. The purchase refers to items acquired using the government E-rate system which reimburses the district for infrastructure upgrades.

"The beauty of this purchase is that we're going to get basically $200,000 worth of material for about $40,000."

After a brief discussion, the tentative budget received unanimous approval from Vice President Rick Williams and Board Members Morse, Bob Thrower, Nancy Mayer and Jim Reiker.

Board members accepted a bid in the amount of $26,000 from ASA Asphalt, Inc. out of Advance, Mo. to complete three separate summer projects. The first involves repairing the roadway that leads to the bus garage near Central Elementary with a 350' x 20' with a two-inch overlay and 145' x 6' milled out with the placing of four inches of asphalt.

The second project calls for placing 141' x 6' of added base rock and three inches of asphalt on the Central Elementary playground, and the third is another asphalt project at T.S. Hill Middle School.

The ASA bid was the only one submitted to the district.

A bid from B&K Asphalt Seal Coating, a branch of ASA Asphalt, was also accepted to place the seal coating at both Central and Middle School. At a cost of $8,830.

Randy Laird & Sons Concrete of Dexter was hired to complete a concrete pad at the high school at a cost of $9,500. They will also be completing some dirt work near Central School to improve water draining. That bid was for $2,800.

On the agenda Monday night was the issue of introducing a Cross Country program at the middle school level. The program was proposed at the May meeting, but it was decided at that time that a level of interest needed to be established and other details confirmed prior to a commitment by the board. Discussing the same issues Monday night, it was learned that no additional information had been brought forward and no school officials were in attendance to discuss any of the findings, and so the proposal was once again tabled until the next meeting.

Members also unanimously approved the annual review of the district's Vocational Program, and discussion took place regarding the recent results of the Annual School Bus Inspection for the district. Twenty-six busses were inspected for the district, of which 12 were rejected. One other was put out of service, granting an average of only 50 percent -- the lowest percentage in recent history.

Mouser explained to the board the circumstances that led to the unusually low grade.

"It was raining the day of the inspection," he said. "The busses had been out on the routes, and when they pulled in for the inspection, if the brake caliber was wet, it was determined as a brake leak. We had to take them back under the canopy and get them dried off and bring them back in and then they when they determined it wasn't brake fluid, it was ok."

Mouser went on to explain, "It looks worse on paper because all of the busses did eventually pass."

In executive session, the following were employed for paraprofessional positions for the approaching school year: Curt Hillis, Adrian Byrd, Christopher Muzny, Roxanne McGhee, Maryssa Campbell and Lauren VonRuden. Specific duties have not yet been disclosed.

Employed as bus drivers for the coming year were Jackie Ash and Regina Dowdy, both of whom drove previously for the district.