Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon School Board Puts Hold On Auditorium As Costs Rise

Further blueprints of the new auditorium for Gurdon School are on hold, according to superintendent Bobby Smithson.

The Gurdon School board was as surprised as Smithson at the current architectural fees from the Trull-Hollensworth firm.

The auditorium isn't on hold, just the architectural drawings, which have so far totaled $8,469 for a building with an estimated cost at $3.1 million once completed.

Smithson said he had spoken with architect Wayne Trull and put a stop to the drawings unless they are approved.

Out of 15 applicants for the director's position of the Program Prime Time, four have been selected for interview at this time. During executive session and without board member Stan Escalante, the school board chose four local educators as candidates to head the over $400,000 education project.

The three grantees, educator Bonnie Ross, GPS principal Rita Roe and GHS assistant principal Charles Failla, said the screening process had been slow.

Bids were opened and highest bids were accepted for the three vehicles to be sold by the district. Bidder Mike Shaw purposed the highest bid for the John Deere 350 crawler. Dwight Malcom was the winning bidder for the Chevrolet dump truck. Finally, Roland Hughes' bid was accepted for the 1987 Chevy S-10.

Smithson and board members discussed a change in the sick leave policy. Currently, teachers accrue sick leave days with an option of being paid for those days when they retire. The proposed changes would benefit some teachers and not others.

According to information submitted, the policy allows the accumulation of 90 days of sick leave. A retiring teacher has the choice of payment for accumulated sick leave or a cash honorarium based on the number of years experience in the school district.

Most retiring teachers select the payment for unused sick leave.

There has been a new bill introduced in the legislature that would allow a retiring teacher with 120 days of sick leave to choose between the payment of accumulated sick days or add one year of teaching experience to their retirement.

If this bill becomes law, in order for the school district to take advantage, the board would need to amend the district's policy.

Counting this meeting as a first reading for the proposed policy amendment, Smithson and the board must wait for the certified teaching staff to approve the change of policy for it to become effective during the contract year.

Future construction projects by the schools have been listed with an estimated cost and possible revenue source.

These include a pavilion for Cabe Middle School, a baseball field without lighting, football parking lot expansion, high school parking lot overlay, a canopy to Cabe Middle School and a storage building for track equipment. The estimated cost for these projects in total is $87,087, with source of revenues for most of the operating fund for 2001-2002.

With five months to go in this fiscal year the district is considering paying for several instruments stolen during a break-in over the winter holidays.

Band director Allen Wimberly, concerned with the cost to the families of students who were robbed, submitted to the board a copy of the rental agreement with which one student had paid for his instrument.

The alto saxophone's total price was $1,367. Board members agreed with Escalante when he suggested, "If we pay for one, we'll need to pay for all of them. They weren't all new instruments."

Prices and other information will be collected before the next school board meeting to further discuss the options.

Smithson had already investigated the option of restitution from the offenders, but considers it unlikely.

There was some discussion of possibly having the families in the future assigning the instrument over to the school district for some time where the instruments could be placed on the district's insurance. Smithson noted the cost to the district would be nominal. No action was taken on the idea. Options are being considered.