Legal matters were discussed earlier this month at a special meeting of the Webster County School Board.
The special meeting was March 4 with all members present. After Superintendent Brian Jones announced that board attorney Hugh Gibson would address the board concerning legal matters, the members voted to go into executive session to discuss legal matters, according to the minutes.
While in executive session, the board voted to approve the superintendent’s plan to seek professional opinion from outside counsel, the minutes state.
Others present at the meeting were Business Manager Angela Avent-White, Maintenance Director Kim Jones, East Webster High School Principal Jim Ray and superintendent’s secretary Lydia McCrory, records show. The board adjourned until March 18 and its next regular meeting is 6 p.m. April 8.
Feb. 11 Meeting
The board previously met for its regular monthly meeting on Feb. 11.
Each principal introduced the selected Teacher of the Year from their school and presented them with an award. The teachers recognized were Lynn Kolb from East Webster Elementary School, Paul Orr from Webster County Career and Technology Center, Randee Jernigan from Eupora High School and Lavelle McAlpin from East Webster High School.
Ray then recognized McAlpin as District Teacher of the Year and Jones recognized Eupora Elementary School Principal Chip Powell as District Administrator of the Year. (Editor’s Note: a photo of the Teachers and Administrator of the Year was published Feb. 20).
Jones and the board heard a report from each principal concerning test data and current events at each school.
In items not requiring action, Jones recognized and presented a certificate to each board member in accordance with School Board Member Recognition Week, presented an attendance and discipline report for each school for the school year to date and resented Section A of the board policy manual for review.
Other Action
Other action taken by the board on Feb. 11, as reflected in the minutes:
• Approved the 2019-20 school calendar.
• Approved requests from Rodabough Education Group to award bids for procurement of E-rate Category 1 and 2 -eligible products and services. The winning bids were from CSpire (Category I) and Howard Technologies (Category 2). Rodabough manages the district’s E-rate requests and compliance.
• Approved a revision to the “School Admission” policy because of an error that occurred when the policy went online.
• Approved an Appalachian Regional Commission grant applied for along with Winston, Choctaw and Kemper counties. The board has previously been addressed regarding the grant.
• Approved the same administrators and department heads for 2019-20 as recommended by Jones.
• Approved the hiring of Becky Oliver as a substitute teacher at Eupora Elementary School.
• Approved a request for a student to be released to attend Starkville-Oktibbeha County Schools as his mother is an employee there.
• Approved a resolution congratulating the Eupora High School competition cheer team for winning the 2018 MHSAA 1A-3A Game Day Cheer Championship.
• Approved a request for the Eupora High softball team to stay overnight while playing in a tournament in Oxford on March 1 and 2.
• Approved a request for some teachers from East Webster Elementary School and Eupora Elementary School to attend a workshop in Memphis in February.
• Accepted various donations to EWES, EWHS Athletics and EWHS Band.
• Approved requests for EHS Softball and the WCCTC Forestry class to sell meat sticks as fundraisers, and for EHS Basketball to host a little league for elementary students.
• Accepted a donated 1995 golf cart to be added to the asset list at East Webster High Schools.
All board members except Jimmy Hood (District 3) were present Feb. 11.
