Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

School board appoints member, hears reports

The Gurdon School Board once again has a full slate of members after a vacancy on the board was filled during its meeting on Tuesday, March 20.

Ronnie Lasker was appointed by the board to fill the zone nine position left vacant by the recent death of board member David Hunter. Lasker attended the meeting and said he was ready to begin his service on the board. He will officially join the board during the April meeting. He will serve until the regular school election in September when voters will chose someone to fill the three years remaining in the term.

Hunter was remembered at the beginning of the meeting. School board president David Williams presented a plaque to Hunter's wife in recognition of his years of service on the board.

"We're certainly going to miss him," Superintendent Bobby Smithson said of Hunter. "We already do."

Also during the meeting, Smithson discussed estimates for the district's 2007-2008 budget. With the local assessment up $4.8 million this year, the district will likely see a $200,000 decrease in state funding.

"As your local assessment goes up, state aid goes down," he said.

The district is also facing the possibility that it may have to find a new way to fund the salaries of eight staff members who are currently paid with funds from the national school lunch program. The district receives a certain amount of money per student based on the percentage of students receiving free and reduced priced meals. The higher the percentage, the more money a district receives.

Gurdon currently has 72 percent receiving free and reduced price meals which results in about $600,000 per year for the district.

Smithson said the legislature is considering changing the rules as to which staff members can be paid with the money. If the district does not comply with the new rules, it could face the loss of all of the money.

"We can't afford to lose $600,000," he said.

Smithson said minimum salary requirements put in place by the legislature in recent years makes this money situation even more difficult.

"I hope that we can keep paying our people like we have," he said. "If we can't, we're going to have to shift some money around."

The board will not decide until the fall whether a cost of living adjustment for employees can be afforded. Smithson said any raise given to teachers will likely only offset new health insurance rates which will be going up $71 per month for each employee.

"What we've got to decide between now and May 1 is how many staff members we can afford to keep," he said. "We're limited on what we can do."

In other business, Smithson gave an update on a proposed JROTC program at Gurdon High School. The board agreed to pursue the program previously and has been placed on a waiting list.

Smithson said the program, although needed in Gurdon, is not made for a school as small as Gurdon. Minimum cadet numbers and initial funding is more than the district could handle. He said it would be perfect if the program could be co-oped with another district.

"I just don't think we can afford it," Smithson said.

The board took no action on the matter.

Also during the meeting, the board:

- adopted changes to the district's personnel policy manuals;

- received the official notification that the district has been removed from accreditation probation status;

- received updates on district construction programs;

- evaluated certified personnel during an executive session.