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Board approves appointments, contracts and curriculum purchases in 6-0 votes
Summary
England School District board unanimously approved an interim Zone 2 appointment and a series of contracts and curriculum purchases, including lawn care ($37,212.75), a Lexia subscription ($11,050) and phonics materials, and accepted multiple personnel hires and resignations.
The England School District board voted unanimously on several routine but consequential items, approving an interim appointment to a Zone 2 vacancy, multiple contracts and a package of curriculum purchases and personnel actions.
The board appointed Alfred Scribner to the Zone 2 vacancy after members confirmed his paperwork and prior board service. "He's been on the school board before," a board member said, and the motion carried with a recorded voice vote of 6-0.
The district accepted a single lawn-care bid from the current contractor, Dylan Martin, for $37,212.75. Board members discussed scope items such as tree removal, noting that extra work (limb removal) would likely be billed separately. The motion to award the contract passed 6-0.
Curriculum and professional-development purchases approved included a resubscription to Lexia Learning Systems for $11,050 to extend literacy software across grade levels; a writing program and associated professional development (PD) with a $6,000 PD contract and a program materials purchase recorded in the packet at $16,897.25; and a proposed purchase from the 95% Group for phonics materials for K–6 listed at $58,172.10. Tammy, the elementary principal, said the purchases aim to address gaps in writing instruction and to provide phonics continuity across K–6.
The board also approved a $5,937.33 student insurance policy and separately added the optional catastrophic coverage (approx. $656). A $6,273.47 repair payment to Central Arkansas Truck and Trailer for a bus repair was approved, as was a $7,934 payment to an outside law firm that conducted an independent investigation.
Multiple personnel actions were approved by recorded voice votes: hires for coaching and teaching positions (including Carla Bolden as head girls basketball coach, Valerie Benton for high-school business and assistant coach, Laura Jett as ELA/dyslexia interventionist, Logan Welch for high-school social studies and an associated bus route, John Bell for middle-school business, Sarah Morris for elementary music), a substitute bus driver hire (Johnny McKinney), and a granted waiver for custodian Angela Jordan’s background check. The board accepted resignations from Rosemary Benjamin, Melissa Cason, J.R. Dennis, Chris Hauser, Cassie Henderson and Catherine Shipman.
Where the transcript did not record a final roll-call tally for a motion to purchase a new school bus, staff presented three quotes (a used Collins at roughly $103,000, a preferred Bluebird Ford-chassis option around $115,000 and an Endura model); the board discussed warranties and chassis coverage but no final vote on bus purchase is recorded in the transcript.
The meeting adjourned after the board completed the agenda.
