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The Special called meeting of the Simpson County School Board was held Monday night, March 30th at the County Office @ 6:00 PM All board members were present.
President Doris Perkins called the meeting to order. Board member Linda Curlee led in prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
The agenda and travel agenda were adopted.
Mrs. Mary Ann Weathersby presented the 16th section land report.
(Details of each report are available in the video from the Monday night meeting which will be posted on MageeNews.com)
Mrs. Elizabeth Christian presented the Human Resource Report to the board. Upon questioning by Pat Brown, the report was made public to those in attendance.
The following teachers have turned in their resignation: Amy Walker, Magee Elementary; Krystal Hays, Magee Elementary; Shannon Ford, Magee Elementary, Maurisa Afante, Mendenhall High School, and Janice Armstrong, Simpson Central. The resignations go into effect May 22, 2015.
Two substitute teachers were hired: Tabitha Spann and Angel Coleman at a cost of $80 per day.
Dwayne Yates was hired as a substitute Bus Drive for one day at a cost of $80 at Simpson Central.
Two substitute cafeteria workers were hired: Barbara Blanks and Brenda Rushing.
A general discussion was held concerning the Magee Elementary School building project. The board accepted a continuance on the Chris Lane property for thirty days. Board member Sammy Welch expressed feelings that 30 days was not enough time to investigate other properties (mainly the area at the present high school location). Lane has agreed to an extension on his lease for thirty days but no more.
Dwayne Fewell presented information concerning the “in town” school location. Attached to the story are the forms presented at the meeting. After much discussion, the board voted to move forward in further studying of the in town property. (at no more than a cost of $20,000).
One of the main concerns of the in town property is the flood zone issue. The attached maps show the flood zone areas. The issue of increased insurance was discussed if a decision was made to build the elementary or even a practice field in the flood plains. Due to expense, a two story building cannot be built in the track area. (more details on video)
Fewell presented a property that previously had not been brought to the board’s attention for consideration in building the school. The area is the Arrington and Joe Harold Allen property. The Arrington property consists of 39 acres and the Allen property 21 acres. Both properties are located outside the city limits of Magee that presents the problem of sewage and water.
The Arrington/Allen property was made known to the board just in the last few weeks.
The Board adjourned into a special session to discuss the termination hearing of Jim Nowell.
(A decision on the Nowell termination will be made within thirty days)
These pictures are of the track and the area around the track at Magee High School. The blue shows flood zone…the different shades of blue indicate if the area is in a heavy flood zone or a “lighter” area.
The Arrington Property consist of 39 acres
The Allen property consist of 21 acres
These prints are available at the County Office.
SchoolBoardMeeting33015 from Sue on Vimeo.
First, someone should help that poor guy out with his presentations… He seems to be stuck in an 80s era elementary school science fair. Second, did he mention that nearly thirty thousand dollars has already been spent on the Lane property just figuring out if it could be used? And now they want to do that again on another property ( which happens to be in a flood zone)? Has anyone brought up the fact that the traffic is already terrible during school time, and adding more kids ( who are mostly car riders) is only going to compound the problem? Also, who in their right mind expects a small child to carry books up and down stairs daily? Is the city prepared for that lawsuit? Where will the play ground go? How will parents of young children feel about their five year olds interacting with 18 year olds? What will happen to the grounds when it rains? How much more money are the tax payers willing to shell out to scout out yet another property and bring it up to code? Just curious.