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Simpson County School Board met Thursday, January 12, 20243, for their regular scheduled meeting.
Before the meeting, new board member Ralph Walker and re-elected board member Lillie Hardy were sworn into office by the Honorable Patricia D Wise. A reception was held prior to the meeting hosted by the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Rho Iota Zeta Chapter.
Raya Camper an eight grade student at Mendenhall Middle School led the meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance.
One of the first orders of business for the new board was to elect officers. Danny Cowart was elected President, Lillie Hardy -Vice President, and Ralph Walker – Secretary.
Several Awards and presentations were acknowledged by the board and district. Mendenhall High School Assistant Principal Durial J. Banks was recognized as Administrator of the Year for Simpson County School District. Joe Hanna received the Teacher of the Year for the District.
Latoya Banks received Parent of the Year for Simpson County School District.
Innovative Teachers were Angelia Snellgrove and Haleigh Walls.
The District recognized the Top 3 communicators through School Status for the district. A total of 3178 parent communications, 111,000,066 text and 13,057 emails were made first semester. Casey Harlan, Brad VanCleve and Amy Gary were the top teachers.
The following consent agenda was approved.
- Request for Dr. Toriano Holloway to attend the American Association of School Administrators Conference on February 18-18, 2023 in San Antonio, TX.
- Dt. Toriano Holloway to attend the EdLeader Network Advisory Council, March 7-9, 2023 in Columbus, Ohio.
- Permission to advertise for a request for proposals (RFP) on English.Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Technology, Leadership, Data Analysis, Student Assessments, and Grades 3012 remediation services.
- Permission for Magee High School to use Entourage yearbooks to provide 2022-2023 yearbooks.
The following 16th section leases for 2023 were approved.
- Susan Powell 16-1N-6E 1 acre $300
- Brent Warren 1601N-19@ 7 acres $700
- Michael Taylor 16-2N-3E 1 acre $300
The following bids were approved and awarded to South Mississippi Land and Timber.
32 Acres section 16-TION-R18W
- South Mississippi Land and Timber $97,000
- Monticello Forrest Products. $80,238
- Good Hope Timber $93,312
- Jack Batte and Sons $76,838
- Blackwell Timber $75,251
- LandMax $68,250
86 Acres Section 16-TION-R19W
- South Mississippi Land and Timber $344,909
- Monticello Forrest Products $239,100
- Good Hope Timber $273,312
- Landmax $318,750
- Charles Donald $233,540
The following Human Resources Report was approved:
The following new certified employees Tiffany Juarez-Longion – English Teacher and Erika Slayton – PE Teacher were approved for hire.
The following classified employees were approved:
Arlandas Johnson – Baseball coach for Mendenhall, Deneen Brown – Child Nutrition, Joshua Thigpen – Bus Driver, Frenchie Walker – Custodian, Candice Brewer – Custodian, Barbara (Babs) Gibson – Long Term Sub. Jeffery Walker former Maintenance and Transportation Director was changed to the Maintenance Director and Wayne Magee was hired as the new Transportation Director.
Construction Updates
Mendenhall Elementary new 5th grade building is moving slowly toward complication. Windows required reordering. The students will most likely not move into the new building this school year. The Contractor is being penalized each day for being late with completion. A total of $60,000 more/less will be withheld from the final distribution of the project.
Dr. Holloway reported a new phone system had been installed and was up and working. The board approved to move February’s board meeting to Simpson Central. The board will tour the required visit of the school and then hold the board meeting immediately following. The time of the meeting will be updated closer to meeting time. Hosting the meeting at Simpson Central will hopefully engage community participation in the Simpson Central area.
Four calendar options were submitted to the faculty for approval. Two options were narrowed down and decision will be picked by the nest board meeting for approval. One Option has teachers returning July 17th and other other option has teachers returning July 18th.
The meeting ended to the public to enter executive session.
A video is attached for viewing.
All board meeting will be videoed via MageeNews.com going forward. This meeting there were complication with MageeNews.com equipment being compatible with Simpson County School District technical support. The meeting was videoed on a backup plan which had poor quality and sound. The problems have been resolved and will be better going forward.
MageeNews.com is a news source covering Simpson and surrounding counties as well as the State of Mississippi.