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Board approves routine consent items, solar power purchase and technology refreshes; calendar passes with one dissent
Summary
At its March 18 meeting the Decatur Public Schools Board of Education approved consent items and multiple contracts including a power‑purchase agreement for district solar arrays and several classroom technology purchases; the 2025–26 and 2026–27 school calendars were approved with a single no vote.
The Decatur Public Schools Board on March 18 approved a package of consent items, personnel moves and several contracts, including a long‑planned solar power purchase agreement and classroom device refreshes.
Votes at a glance - Approve 03/18/2025 open‑session meeting agenda — motion carried (voice vote; no roll‑call names recorded in transcript) - Consent items (minutes, bills, financial condition report, treasurer’s report) — approved 6‑0 (1 absent). Roll call: Reynolds: aye; Collins: aye; Wetzel: aye; Clevenger: aye; Dionne: aye; Scheider: aye; 1 absent. - Nonrenewal: building & grounds administrative support employee (Mitchell Johnson, effective 6/30/2025) — approved 4‑2‑1 (motion carried). Recorded roll call: Scheider: no; Reynolds: aye; Wetzel: aye; Dion: aye; Collins: no; Klevich/Clevenger recorded aye; 1 absent. (Transcript shows two nay votes; motion carried.) - Personnel action items (human resources memo) — approved 6‑0 (1 absent). Recorded roll call names present in transcript all voted aye. - Employment: Eric Newbon, assistant principal, Stephen Decatur Middle School — approved 6‑0 (1 absent). - Internal substitution memorandum of understanding (Decatur Education Association) — approved 6‑0 (1 absent). - Power purchase agreement / contract with Straight Up Solar (district solar arrays; six sites once property purchase completes) — approved 6‑0 (1 absent). Administrators said the district will add Dansby when an adjacent park property purchase is completed; operations and maintenance and any panel replacement during the PPA term are the responsibility of the asset owner/third‑party financier, not the district. - High school iPad refresh — approved 6‑0 (1 absent). - Prep Academy MacBook purchase — approved 6‑0 (1 absent). - 2025–26 and 2026–27 district calendars — approved 5‑1‑1 (one board member announced a no vote on the calendars citing concern with half‑day schedules and instructional minutes; one absence). The calendar roll call recorded five ayes and one nay. - Multiple school improvement and curriculum purchases and contracts (Lakeshore Learning, Blue Star, HMH Center for Model Schools, Elevate Your Classroom, 95 Percent Group) for specific schools — each approved by roll call, typically 6‑0 (1 absent) as recorded in the meeting.
Notes on procedure and context Board roll calls in the minutes repeatedly recorded six ayes and one absent for many consent and contract approvals. The calendars vote drew the only formal dissent; the dissenting member said the district’s half‑day professional‑development schedule reduces instructional minutes and that alternatives should be explored.
Ending: The board concluded with scheduled dates for upcoming community Roadmap 2030 forums and administrative finance and personnel follow‑up; no facility reconfiguration votes were taken.
