Board revisits changes for primary school

PINEVILLE, Mo. — The McDonald County School District board at its meeting June 11 again discussed changes at Pineville Primary School.

New members John Carlin, Bobby Parish and Dennis Bergin were sworn in. Frank Woods was elected president and Josh Banta was elected vice president. Bergen was elected treasurer and Kathie Mitchell was reelected as secretary.

Superintendent Mark Stanton said there was no recommendation on Pineville Primary yet. The School District is trying to get information through a survey, emails, visits, etc. Last month the board discussed moving kindergartners through second-graders at Pineville Primary to neighboring elementary schools and moving more pre-k students into Pineville Primary. Stanton said the preliminary results of the survey showed 133 respondents, while the information has been viewed 1,900 times.

A presentation preceding the survey explains the district is no longer considering moving students away from Pineville Primary. It’s considering moving a number of pre-K classes from other schools to Pineville Primary or Noel Primary School.

Woods said the public shouldn’t worry if they put their names on the survey someone is going to come looking for them. He said, with only 133 respondents out of 1,900 views, it’s hard to make a good decision.

Tiffany Lilly of the Transportation Department told the board the fleet received the Fleet Excellence Award on its recent inspection.

She also gave a report on the district’s mileage. She said mileage was much less than last year, due to school being out for the covid-19 pandemic. This year’s mileage was 672,250, and last year’s was 821,179. She added the buses drove 34,772 to deliver meals when school was out.

Angie Brewer, assistant superintendent, presented changes to the K-8 and high school handbooks. She said the one change to the K-8 handbook was instead of getting a letter after four absences, the building principal will contact parents, and then a letter will be sent out after nine absences.

She said one change to the high school handbook will be students’ phones will be required to be locked up during class.

In other business, the board accepted a bid from contractor Marion Company/CSG Construction Services Group for work on the new weight room.