Band director hired

Gentry School Board fills numerous staff positions at its June 20 meeting

— A new band director, along with six other certified teachers, were approved for hire at the Gentry School Board meeting on June 20.

With only four of the seven-person board present - Jim Barnes, Coye Cripps, Ted Dorn and Scott McCollum were present; Dani Cypert, Gary Dunlap and DavidWilliamson were absent - board members approved the recommendation of a special committee to hire Karri Altrogge as the Gentry Middle and High School band director, replacing Michelle Slayton who resigned at the end of the 2010-2011 school year.

Altrogge was highly recommended and called a “good fit” for the Gentry School District by the district’s athletic director, Brian Little.

Also hired were Beau Collins, to teach at Gentry Middle School and be a coach for the district; Courtney Powell, a speech-language pathologist in the consortium, to be assigned to the Pea Ridge District; Lisa Hillis and Kimberly Stewart, to teach third grade in the Gentry Intermediate School; Joseph Fugate, to teach fifth-grade science and socialstudies at the Gentry Intermediate School; and Alexis Welch, to teach art in the Middle School.

A request from speechlanguage pathologist Lindsay Leach to transfer from the Pea Ridge consortium assignment to Decatur was also granted.

Tabled until the July meeting when all the board members can be present were contract extensions - from 225 days to 245 - for Terrie Metz, Kim Fougerousse and a stipend for Michael Graham to coach boys’ and girls’ cross country.

“I’m not wanting to add to the contract days,” Dorn said. “We keep adding days to the contracts. I’d like to wait until all the board members are here,” he said.

A contract adjustment of $300 for Darla Wilson to prepare the high schoolnewsletter was approved.

Also hired at the June 20 meeting were Bobbie Sullivan as a bus aide at step one and Sharon Selvidge as an aide at the Gentry Primary School.

In other business, the board approved the hiring of Hight Jackson Associates, P.A., as the architect firm for the Middle School roof project.

The hiring of an architect to prepare drawings is required, Gentry School District superintendent Randy Barrett told the board, on projects of $100,000 or more.

A single bid of $24,300 was received from Texas Scenic Company of San Antonio, Texas, on a project to replace the 19 theater curtains and panels in the Gentry High School auditorium. The project was the last step in renovations to the auditorium, Randy Barrett said. The old curtains have been in place since 1984, he said, and were recently ignited by a spot light.

At the recommendation of Dorn, the decision on the purchase was tabled until the July meeting so that the full board would be able to consider the bid and need for the expenditure.

Three bids were received for the purchase of two Type-C school buses for the district: Central States Blue Bird, $89,350 per bus; Thomas Built Buses (with a dealership in Van Buren), $96,147 per bus; and Diamond State Bus Company (with a dealership in Lowell), $92,375 per bus.

“The current fleet is basically Internationals,” Randy Barrett said. “The board could deem, if it so chooses, the Diamond State bid to be most advantageous.”

“They’re all good buses,” said newly-hired transportation director Jason Barrett. “The Diamond dealership is only about 20 miles away and International delivers parts two or three times per week.”

Barrett said having a dealership and parts close by could save the school district money in down time and paying drivers toshuttle busses to dealerships which are several hours away.

The board unanimously accepted the bid of Diamond State Bus Company.

The board also gave unanimous approval to a lone bid of $19,700 from Walls for Walls to paint the high school gymnasium ceiling, walls and all rooms (including the locker rooms).

No bid was received to purchase and install a video system in congested areas at the high school. Barrett asked board members if there was still interest in obtaining such a system. He estimated the cost to be between $40 and $50 thousand and said building fund money could probably be used if the board chose to proceed.

Barrett said the video monitoring equipment was not an immediate need because there were no current problems making it necessary.

The board tabled further discussion of the matter until the July meeting.

An expenditure of $3,000 was also approved to repair playground equipment at the Gentry Intermediate School

News, Pages 1 on 06/29/2011