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Nevada Board Helps Band; Downgrades Purchase of Pickup

Published Wednesday, December 20, 1995 in the Nevada County Picayune

In order to help the Nevada school bands, the Nevada School Board agreed to downgrade the pickup the district had planned to buy.

The board, in October, had voted to purchase a diesel pickup for its maintenance department at a cost of $19,000.

At that time, it also planned to buy a Dodge Intrepid from state purchasing for about $14,000.

However, the district had also been seeking bids for band equipment as well. Superintendent Rick McAfee told the board, during its regular monthly meeting Thursday, Dec. 14, the lowest bid received was $23,000.

He said the district could start out by budgeting $15,000 to $18,000 for the purchase of the instruments, and hold fund raisers to get the rest, or, there was the option of not buying a diesel pickup for the maintenance department, and purchasing a gas powered one instead. This, McAfee said, would save the district about $5,000, which would allow it to buy the instruments outright.

"It's been seven years since we bought any instruments," he said.

According to McAfee, some of the instruments for the concert band cost between $3,000 and $5,000 each. "We've been improving each year," he said of the band.

Some 500 students showed up at NHS for regional band tryouts Saturday, Dec. 9, with seven from Nevada going out for regional band. Five of the seven from NHS were selected.

In addition, he said the gas-powered pickup could be bought under state purchasing for $13,959.

McAfee informed the panel of other purchases the district needs to make. He said they need to buy about $5,000 worth of equipment for the chemistry and physics lab, which will be matched by the state; and two copiers are needed. McAfee told the board the copiers the district has do more than a million copies per year. Two copiers, he said, which would handle the load, would run $20,000.

He also said the library and administration section needs new carpet. The carpet in these places is eight years old and shows wear badly. According to McAfee, 300 yards of carpet for the two rooms would cost $5,000.

The other purchase he told the board about was a new bus for $38,998.

The total amount of purchases the district would need to make, he said, is $82,000. McAfee suggested going through the revolving loan program to make these buys as the district is retiring four buses from the program this year.

McAfee said with the exception of the science equipment and the driver's education car, which is already set, the money from revolving loan can be used as the district pleases.

He said even by borrowing $82,000 the district would owe less than $200,000. A district can borrow up to $500,000 from the revolving loan program, but it must be paid back within eight years.

When questioned about an instructor for driver's ed, McAfee said the district should have someone certified by this summer, and, if necessary, he will get certified and teach two classes himself.

In other business, the board agreed to send a letter of congratulations to the Prescott School District on its undefeated football season, which culminated with a Class AA state championship title.

Elementary principal Natalie Sherwood said notices for parenting classes have been sent out, and they are encouraging those who need parenting help to attend these classes.

She said the Artist in Residence was on hand with Russian folk tales and students made Russian Nesting Dolls. Santa also made an appearance.

Hardy Herrington, NHS principal, said there has been a lot of basketball going on.

He said the junior girls were second in the Blevins Invitational Junior Tournament, while the junior boys won. The senior boys captured the Genoa tourney as well.

Semester tests began Dec. 18, with school being dismissed at 1 p.m. each day.

Following the Christmas holidays, he said, will be more basketball with the Jays in the Southwest Arkansas Invitational Tournament at Saratoga. "We'll try to have school go with it," he said.

Jim Cross, transportation director, said the district is beginning to see the effects of an old bus fleet.

A spare bus was put back into operation because of a breakdown. He said a 1984 GMC with about 200,000 miles on it will be worked on after the holidays.

Maintenance personnel will cannibalize parts from other buses, especially one which has a cracked body and has been retired.

In addition, the school's van broke down and is being repaired in Conway.

McAfee, in his portion of the reports, said the trip to Denver for the National Vocational Convention was excellent. "Schools will not be the same in the next three to five years," he said. "We saw programs that will help our school down the line."

He said Gov. Jim Guy Tucker spoke at the state school board meeting, telling the board members about the highway construction plan.

The plan is to try and pass gasoline and diesel taxes of 5 cents per gallon each, along with a one-half cent sales tax to guarantee bonds for the $3.5 billion program to upgrade Arkansas' highways.

"I disagree with the one-half cent sales tax," McAfee said. "We've never had the general revenue fund highways, and once they get in it, there will be nothing left for schools. It could be dangerous for schools."

Changing topics, McAfee said November was a good month in collecting taxes as the district received more than $314,000, or about 43 percent of the taxes projected.

The board also agreed on three policies. The first dealt with changing the meeting date of the board itself, from the second Thursday in the month to the third. The second policy change moved payday to the 15th of each month from the 20th, with the final change giving substitute teachers a pay raise.

Under the change, non-certified substitute teachers will receive $35 per day, while certified instructors get $40. However, after a substitute teaches for 20 consecutive days, they go to Class I, Step I on the pay scale.

McAfee also reminded the board the annual budget includes $30,000 to upgrade technology.


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