Malvern Board discusses salaries, HVAC project
The Malvern School Board held its monthly meeting Monday evening in the board room at the district’s administrative office building across from the high school gym. A video slideshow honoring the district’s Students of the Month was presented before board President Travis Worthington called the meeting to order.
After approving the minutes from last month’s board meeting and the financial report, the board quickly moved through several items of business on the agenda.
A proposed classified salary increase of 3.315 percent, to be effective at the start of the 2022/23 school year, was approved, as well as the corresponding salary schedules for next school year. Certified salary increases were approved last month and made possible with state equalization funds. The affirmative vote will ensure classified staff also receive a comparable bump in pay through the district, according to district officials.
The board then discussed a proposal to pay the registration, travel and lodging expenses for 41 Malvern School District students who recently qualified to compete in the National Beta Club Convention taking place this summer in Nashville, Tennessee, along with three chaperones accompanying them.
Board Member Deborah Smith asked a few questions related to if the event is a budgeted item and how the district has with dealt similar requests, and Superintendent Brian Golden and other attendees responded that the district has paid for other inter-state travel and events for EAST, FFA, and Quiz Bowl.
The board eventually voted to pay expenses for all the students and teachers associated with the event, with one vote against the proposal cast by Smith, and one board member, Melanie Rock, abstaining from the vote because her child is one of the qualifying students.
The board then voted to accept the lowest bid they had received for proposed work to be done to the HVAC system at the elementary buildings. Golden said the project had previous been approved and would be completed over the summer with ESSR funds the district received.
“This would replace all HVAC systems, all fresh air systems, and put a new computer internet access to all units,” Golden said, adding that the current system is antiquated and would greatly benefit from updates that would tie the systems together, making it easier for staff to maintain the entire system and saving the district future expense.
Chief of Staff Jace Roberts spoke about the new and updated ASBA Policies, saying the district had looked at the certified policies last month. Roberts referenced the certified and student policies, saying he had emailed the information to the board members previously and was happy to answer any questions they had.
One board member asked if Roberts thought any future state legislation would impact the updated policies, and Roberts said he did not expect any changes because it is not a legislative year. The policies received a unanimous vote for adoption.
The board then voted to renew the Chartwell’s food service contract for the 202223 school year.
“This is year five, I know it seems like just yesterday we renewed it again, but this is actually the last year of this contract session,” Roberts said. The members all voted in the affirmative.
The next item of business was a motion to approve the School Choice Capacity Resolution for the 2022-23 school year. This is the normal resolution that states the rules and regulations to be followed by the district and families who participate in the program. The members voted unanimously to approve the resolution.
Golden said the football program is currently working through scheduling issues because several schools Malvern previously played have been switched to different
conferences, which has made Malvern look outside the immediate area for new opponents.
Golden said Malvern lost gaming relationships with several teams like Harmony Grove and Bauxite to other conferences, and they lost Robinson to a higher classification. Genoa Central went to an eight-man team, which caused Malvern to take that game off the schedule this year.
He said Malvern picked up Mena and Waldron in conference reassignments and found a new opponent in Hernando High School, located about 30 minutes south of Memphis. Related travel and expenses will have to be considered, going forward, until and unless Malvern finds opponents closer to home. Clark stated the homecoming game for next year has been moved later in the year to Oct. 21 to accommodate the new schedule with Hernando.
Golden began the administrative report/additional projects update by saying he needs to go back and work through some details in the budget before he is ready to submit. He said they need a couple more weeks will have to itemized and look at some things further.
Golden mentioned the HVAC project again, stating once they get the HVAC systems done at the elementary campus this summer, they plan on completing similar work at Wilson Intermediate School in the summer of 2023. He added that once the projects are completed, workers will have a streamlined operation with one access point, and workers will receive better notice about problems in the system because the units will communicate those issues with the system.
After a brief executive session, the board members returned to an open session to discuss the remaining items on the agenda. Golden read through a list of employees who have tendered their resignations, most of which will be effective at the end of the 2021-22 school year.
Golden mentioned three district employees will be retiring at the end of the 202122 school year: Sharon Cox, MES library staff; Angela Henderson, MES classroom teacher; and Devona Howerton, WIS classroom aide.
Two new hires were also mentioned who will be joining the district at the start of the 2022-23 school year: Lori Phillips, MMS classroom teacher; and Michelle Whitley, SPED classroom teacher.
New business rounded out the meeting. Golden mentioned the AAEA/ASBA Joint Conference taking place May 3 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in North Little Rock. Golden asked for input on the recent NSBA conference attended by some of the board members. Board member Jesse Clark said he attended and was very impressed with many aspects of the program and other districts’ method of operation
“They were teaching both English and Spanish from pre-kindergarten all the way through high school. They were doing like half a day of English, half a day of Spanish, and by the time they got out of school, they were proficient in Spanish,” Clark said.
Clark mentioned another district that strives to teach all student how to read before leaving first grade, saying how important it is to catch kids early because the longer they go without that skill, the harder it is for them to catch up to where they need to be.
One final note was the Southern Leadership Conference, which will take place July 24-26 in New Orleans. Registration for the event has begun but will close soon, so any MSD employees interested in attending should contact the school.
The next Malvern School Board meeting will occur Monday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the board room, or Central Office, located in the administrative office building.