Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Board Amends Check Out Policy

Gurdon High School's check out policy was amended Monday, March 26, by the Gurdon School Board.

During its regular meeting, which had been moved from March 19 because of spring break, the board addressed the check out policy.

Several parents had requested a change in this policy during the February meeting, saying it was a hardship on them to have to leave work and come to the school to physically sign their child(ren) out.

Superintendent Bobby Smithson spoke to GHS Principal Leonard Gills on the matter after the February meeting as well.

The two main areas of concern discussed were what to do when students get sick at school and how to handle medical/dental appointments.

They agreed notifying the parent their child is ill and telling them the student will be going home would be fine. However, the two (along with the board) had a little more trouble with appointments.

Smithson recommended the parents making sure the school is notified at least three days in advance of any appointment. He said the notification needs to be on the doctor or dentist's letterhead so it can be verified. He also said in the event the appointment isn't made at least three days in advance, the physician or dentist could fax the information to the school on their letterhead.

The board agreed to amending these two items in the school's check out policy, and will address the entire policy at the end of the school year.

There was some good news for members of the Marching Go-Devil Band, as the board approved a trip to St. Louis, Mo. for them.

Band Director Bruce Burson addressed the board saying he and the band parents had talked about this trip as a reward for the students' hard work during the year.

He said the trip will help expand the students culturally, and give them a chance to perform before a panel of national judges.

A total of 20 members of the band will be making the trip, May 3-5, and a regular school bus will be utilized -- including a Gurdon bus driver.

The students will visit Six Flags over St. Louis and go to the St. Louis Zoo as well as performing in a contest.

Burson said the band parents would like to see trips such as this made every other year. He said the school district wouldn't be asked to fund any part of the trip as the parents will be paying for the motel and meals for the students.

Five parents will be going along as chaperons during the trip.

Smithson said it would be unfair for the district to allow students in the agri classes to go to Kansas City, Mo. for contests and not allow the band to go to St. Louis.

The board agreed and approved the trip.

In other business, Smithson brought up the subject of getting a new sign for the new GHS. He presented the board with a number of choices, including one which would stand 19-feet tall.

However, the sign he suggested would be 16-feet tall, double sided, bear the GHS logo and have room for announcements.

But the board did not approve buying a sign at this time. Smithson said he would like to check with a Texarkana-based sign company to see if a better price could be obtained.

He will bring his findings to the board's April meeting.

Smithson expressed his concerns about the district's operating budget for the remainder of the year. He said with four months left, it will be close.

The board was informed the district owes contractors and sub-contractors, who worked on the gymnasium, $240,231 for the work they've done.

The district, he said, received $18,00 recently from the state for facility improvements.

Discussing the gym, Smithson said the contractors are working to get the maple floor laid, but the district has to finish painting the interior before the floor is completed.

According to Smithson, the floor will not be sanded or striped until after the district has finished the painting. He said it would take about two weeks before this is done.

It will still take the $50,000 from the operating fund to pay off the gym.

He said phase II of the gym is almost complete. Sidewalks will have to be poured, but all other work is inside. The other work includes getting tile laid in the restrooms and lobby.

With the exception of the bleachers and goals, everything one the gym should be done in three weeks, Smithson said.

Turning to the topic of bleachers, Smithson said the district is looking for more bids. These bids, he said, would include plastic and wood seating, and would be mechanical and manual folding bleachers.

Once the bids are received, he told the board, it would be a good idea to see who the low bidder is and go look at bleachers the company's installed at another school. Then the board could decide if this is what the district needs or wants for the new gym.

All bids must be for at least 1,200 seats as this is the minimum seating capacity for a school to host a district tournament.

However, Smithson said the board doesn't need to rush into anything as it has until fall to get the bleachers installed for the 1996-97 basketball season.

Goals for the new gym will cost more than $4,000 to buy and install, the board was told. Additionally, the school will move the clock and scoreboards from the old GHS gym to the new facility for next season.

The cost of a transit bus for the district was discussed, with a decision made to look to another company for one.

Smithson said he had talked to Vernon White about supplying a transit bus to the school, and had been told the cost would be about the same as the last bus purchased. However, when the bid came in, it was for $52,000, some $4,000 more than the last bus purchased.

"I think he's trying to squeeze us," Smithson said of the bid. "He's too high."

However, Smithson had also been in touch with a Conway company to look at their Amtran transit buses. He said they have a Genesis model and an Amtran RE which has the engine in the rear.

The board was told the Amtran RE was the quieter of the two buses because the diesel engine was in the rear.

Steve Ward, a company representative, asked for specifications the district needed and said the Amtran may not fit exactly what is required.

But, Smithson recommended the board reject Vernon White's bid and ask for new bids involving the two from Amtran.

He said it may take two months to get the new bids in, but thinks the district could get a lower price.

Regardless, he said, the district wouldn't have gotten the new bus in before the end of the school year anyway.

One of the final orders of business for the board was to decide the fate of all teachers in the district.

Going into executive session with the principals of the respective schools, the board heard all recommendations.

The board agre