Oktibbeha County School District board members welcomed a new member Monday night and elected officers to handle the district”s business in 2011.
All board members were present for the meeting, including Melvin C. Harris, the newest board member elected to replace Yvette Rice. The meeting was scheduled for 5:30 p.m., but did not begin until 6 p.m. as board members were “scattered,” Superintendent James Covington said. Curtis Snell and Charles Avant arrived late for the earlier-than-usual meeting, as did board attorney Bennie Jones.
The meeting began with the election of Snell again as president, a position he has held for the past many years. Avant was elected as vice president and Cynthia Ward as board secretary.
Most of the open meeting was taken up with the discussion of a Mississippi Department of Education, Office of School Improvement report on the struggling East Oktibbeha High and East Oktibbeha Elementary schools.
The board handled five items of 16th Section land business, accepting three leases, denying one bid and setting another aside as it was not ready. They also approved the high school curriculum guide for 2011-2012.
Covington said three-month average daily attendance data for the district showed an attendance percentage in the mid-90s for the schools. However, November-December attendance data is not yet available, and board members were concerned about heavy absences during this time because of the flu.
The board paid its bills and handled items of mostly routine business except for a fairly lengthy discussion of their ongoing service contract with Johnson Controls. The district contracted with Johnson Controls two years ago to implement extensive energy savings measures districtwide. The contract promised energy saving or a refund to the district each year, but the district has not seen the savings or refunds they expected.
“Johnson Controls showed about a $66,000 energy savings, but they didn”t return anything to the school district,” Avant said as he made his report.
The board discussed their need to see that programmable thermostats are programmed correctly, not altered and operating as expected. They also discussed how they will need to create a data log of every time the programmable thermostats are altered, such as when a gymnasium must be heated in the winter for an evening basketball game or cooled in warm weather for an event after regular school hours.
The board took no action on this discussion.
Covington announced that the eighth graders at East Oktibbeha County High School will be tested Jan. 27 as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress from which data for the nation”s report card is drawn.
The board went into closed session to perform the superintendent”s annual evaluation, and to handle personnel and student matters.
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