Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prescott School Board Changes Policies

Prescott's School Board approved some policy changes certified personnel and parents will be interested in.

One change involved teacher contracts and when they are signed and returned.

Under the new policy, certified staff members failing to sign and return their contract for the upcoming school year shall, on the 32nd day after it was issued and delivered to them, be deemed voluntarily resigned. This voluntary resignation would be effective on the last day of their prior contract.

The idea behind this, Ron Wright, Prescott superintendent, said, is to prevent the district from behind held hostage by those who are looking elsewhere for jobs and wait before giving notice after finding one.

Some employees, he said, have waited until just a few weeks before school begins to either tender a resignation or return their contract.

But, he added, 99 percent of the employees have their contracts signed and returned before June 1.

This policy wasn't formally adopted by the board, as the district's personnel policy committee hasn't seen and approved it yet.

The other policy change concerned graduation. The district's existing policy requires a student receive one of three different diplomas when graduating.

However, the board agreed there could be extenuating circumstances for a student who had been unable to complete their course requirements, yet still wish to participate in commencement ceremonies with their friends.

Under the change, a student in such instance could go through the motions of graduating and receive a blank document instead of a diploma. Once the student meets the requirements for actually graduating, they will be given a diploma, but will not be allowed to participate in a second graduation.

This policy, Wright said, doesn't have to be approved by the PPC because of the time of year. However, he added, it hasn't been shown to the district's attorney, Christi Gould, yet either.

The board also formally accepted the resignation of head football Coach David Bennett.

Bennett had tendered his resignation earlier, accepting a job with the Dierks school district as athletic director and head football coach. Bennett is from Dierks originally.

He told the board this was the hardest decision he's ever had to make, but had no choice because of his mother.

Three years ago, he said, he and his father talked about a worst case scenario when his dad was sick. Bennett said he expected his father to get better and there be no problem.

However, his father suffered a fatal coronary, leaving Bennett to wrestle with the decision on living up to his agreement with his dad or staying at Prescott.

His father had asked him to return home and care for his mother as she is in poor health.

Bennett said Prescott is the best community and school he's been affiliated with, having outstanding facilities, a new scoreboard, new press box and a new gym to be built.

"This is without a doubt the toughest decision I've ever made," he said. "There are great kids here, a tradition of winning and you won't find a better district. I weighed it all. This was really a guilt trip about my mother and father."

In other business, Wright updated the board on construction underway.

"I didn't realize how much space there would be from the (agri) building," he said. "It came down quickly."

The old agri building was knocked down Wednesday, July 12, being felled in 18 minutes with the refuse moved to the parking lot between the home economics building and old gymnasium.

A special board meeting will be needed in August, Wright said, to open bids and find a contractor for the job of building a new gym.

When the bids are opened, he said, the district will know what it will cost to actually get the gym built.

Once the budget is set the clock starts ticking on the contract. With a little luck, he said, construction crews will be far enough along by the time the October and November rains arrive to be working indoors.

Wright said Don Odom of Hope has been hired as the job superintendent for the project,

It is expected to take a full year to build the new gym.Other projects, Wright said, are going well. Work continues at McRae Middle School on its gym.

The front of the building was removed, with a surprising amount of concrete needing to be removed. This, he said, slowed work down somewhat as it took a week to get it broken up and cleared away.

The footing has been poured for the new front, and once the plumbing has been set the foundation can be laid. Then, he said, the rest of it should go up fast.

Once the new front is on, the entire structure will be painted to resemble the other buildings on campus.

At Prescott High School, he said, work has begun on the science lab. This project needs to be finished by the time school starts.

There is a slight problem with some of the construction being done. Wright said because of time constraints, the renovation of restrooms will likely have to be done during the school year.

Wright told the board the funds should be in place to cover all of the construction costs.

He said the district has one certificate of deposit worth $527,000 when it matures, and another worth $251,000.

The smaller CD will be redeemed to pay for demolition of the agri building. The other will be used to pay for the other construction and renovation projects.

The new gym is expected to cost $2 million, and the district has the funds in a CD that will mature Oct. 30, 2000.

"We have ample money to do what we planned," he said, "with some left over.

"We've tried to maximize the bond issue proceeds with the most interest we could."

The board also approved contracts for milk and bread for the 2000-2001 school year. Ideal Baking Co. was awarded the bread contract, while Borden Milk Co., got the milk bid.

Wright provided the board with a report on utilities cost, with the figures running from the 1986-87 school year until the 1999-00 year.

The cost of natural gas for the 1986-87 year was $38,028.52. This figure has gone up and down over the years, with the 1999-00 year showing an increase over the 1998-99 year, from $32,205.80 to $34,099.56.

However, this was still less than it was for the 86-87 academic year.

The phone bill for the district has been on an upward spiral pretty much every year.

The phone expense in 86-87 was $8,534.98, and has increased to $22,234.27 for 99-00.

The bill for Prescott Water and Light has doubled from 86-87 to 99-00.

For the 86-87 year, the bill was $50,278.34. It was $102,865.58 for 99-00, but down from the 98-99 cost of $118,146.22.