SCHOOL: Board Votes To Make Masks Optional On Buses

The $21.5 million bond issue would support storm shelters at six schools and would not include a tax increase.

Sage Acorn of Veregy provided the update on the storm shelters. Anderson Elementary School will have the largest shelter at a little more than 12,000 square feet. It will have a lobby, gym/ shelter, restrooms, offices, storage and mechanical.

Board members discussed the amount of seating available in the gym.

Director of operations Will Gordon warned against being too specific in the bond language about what will be in the shelters. He said changes will inevitably come during the construction process, and the board would not want the public to think members had been dishonest.

Acorn said the shelter at Anderson Middle School will be a little more than 4,100 square feet and will look like a natural part of the building. It will have a vestibule leading to a classroom and a weight room. Board vice president Josh Banta asked how the size of the weight room would compare to the small gym weight room at the high school. Gordon said it would be between the small gym weight room and the larger weight room at the high school in size.

Acorn said the Noel Elementary School shelter will be a little more than 9,000 square feet and will include a vestibule to create a more aesthetic entrance to the school. Noel’s shelter will be a gym. Board Treasurer Chris Smith pointed out Noel Elementary already has a gym. Assistant Superintendent Joy Hardridge said both gyms will be used all day long, adding there is now a curtain hung in the middle of the gym so that two classes can use the gym at once.

The shelter at Pineville Primary School will be 7,000 square feet, Acorn said, and will be used for a special education office and classroom.

The shelter at Rocky Comfort Elementary School will be 3,600 square feet, Acorn said. It will be offset from the main building a bit, he said. It will have a multipurpose room.

The shelter at White Rock Elementary School will be 10,400 square feet, Acorn said. It will be a gym and classrooms.

During the meeting, media specialist Ken Schutten told the board there is a public meeting on the bond issue planned at 6:30 p.m. on March 22 at the performing arts center at the high school. He also said he is planning a web page to provide facts with renderings of what each school would be getting if the bond were approved.

Also, Hardridge told the board that, on Feb. 25, the Centers for Disease Control changed its guidelines on masks. Masks are no longer recommended indoors if in a medium- or low-risk county, she said. At this time, McDonald County is low-risk, she added. She said this also meant the board could vote to make masks optional on buses.

The board voted to make masks optional on buses.

In other business, the board:

• Renewed its contract with Opaa;

• Approved a report from the early childhood special education program;

• Approved the gifted and talented review; and

• Approved the 2022-2023 calendar.