GENTRY — The school board, on March 13, opened bids and accepted the low bid of Countryside Farm and Lawn in Springdale for the purchase of a John Deere tractor and front-end loader, pallet forks, box blade and brush mower for the school district at a cost of $45,185, approximately $5,000 less than the National Joint Powers Alliance cooperative purchasing price of approximately $50,000.
Bids were also received from two other tractor dealers, with the highest bid being $45,888 for the tractor and equipment. The tractor has an enclosed cab with heating and air conditioning.
Jason Barrett, transportation and maintenance supervisor for the district, brought a recommendation to the board for the purchase of a tractor and front-end loader for the district in February. He said the equipment would enable the district to do much work on school grounds and athletic fields for which they now have to borrow a tractor from a school employee. He also said the district could use the tractor in the many agriculture projects at the high school and for snow removal on the school parking lots (relieving the district of the need to contract out snow removal services). He suggested that students who might not otherwise have access to a tractor might be taught the safe operation of a tractor in their agriculture classes.
The board voted to approve on a second reading a number of policy changes approved on a first reading last month. The policy changes, according to Randy Barrett, district superintendent, were mostly to make the policy reflect current practices.
Approved on a first reading were a number of policy recommendations which failed on a first reading last month. They were recommended by the personnel policy committee last month and brought back and recommended by Barrett this month. Included are an increase to the night custodian supervisor's base salary to make it the same as other similar supervisor positions, adding school nurses to the APSCN stipend and increasing the stipend for senior-high track coaches to make it the same as received by other spring-sport coaches. Another measure set the entry level for a full-time information technology assistant to $9.11 per hour.
The board unanimously approved offering new administrative contracts for the 2017-2018 school year to Gayla Wilmoth, Gentry Primary School principal; Keeta Neal, Gentry Intermediate School principal; Larry Cozens, Gentry Middle School principal; Brae Harper, Gentry High School principal; Angela Dennis, special education supervisor; and Judy Winslett, assistant superintendent for the district.
Randy Barrett reported a good audit of the school district's finances for the last school year, with the board accepting the audit. He also reported the district to be on course for the needed $1.5 million balance in operating funds at the close of the current fiscal year.
General News on 03/22/2017