Estes tells board PW Elementary scores among best

District’s employees to receive bonuses

Palestine-Wheatley School District Superintendent Jon Estes told board members Tuesday night that the district’s elementary campus is one of only a few in the state for which test scores improved last year.

During the district’s regular board meeting, Estes said, "Only 12% of schools raised test scores, which means that they were doing the job during the Covid year and last year, which was a very, very difficult time. Palestine-Wheatley Elementary School is one of the 12%. We are very proud of our school."

In other business, Estes reminded the board that in August, they approved retention bonuses to be paid through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds, but said bonuses cannot be given with this funding.

“We approved using ESSER money as a $500 retention bonus for those who returned from last school year," said Estes. "However, in November, we have been told that no ESSER money can be used for bonuses, but that it can be used for retention pay. We need to amend our action and remove the word bonus and replace it with pay. We also need to amend the minutes from the meeting on August 9. I recommend we do that tonight."

The board agreed to accept the recommendation and make the necessary changes to the minutes to change the wording.

In addition to the retention pay, Estes recommended the board approve $500 bonuses for the district’s employees.

"We have been fortunate and blessed enough to be able to give our employees a bonus for the last few years," said Estes. "I recommend that we give our employees a one-time, nonrecurring bonus of $500."

The board unanimously agreed in favor of bonuses.

According to Estes, a local company submitted the lowest bid for the dirt work at the new athletic fields.

"We bid out the remaining dirt work for the athletic fields and the lowest bid was about $650,000 from Triple G Excavating," said Estes. "We have worked with them and gotten a revised price of $514,000 that includes dirt work and the concrete. Some things will probably be deducted still, but if we approve the $514,000 and go down, we will be fine. I recommend that we approve that low bid of $514,000 so we can get started."

Estes told the board a scoreboard option had been selected for them to review, recommending they go with the more expensive option.

"These are not video scoreboards nor are they the nicest scoreboards you can get, but they are good, quality regular scoreboards," said Estes. "We received a price from Rainey Electronics. I am going to look for sponsors to help take off some of the price of the scoreboard. The difference between the options is about $3,500, but I think the second option looks better and is worth the extra $3,500. I recommend we approve the second option for a total of $62,062."

Board members approved the recommendations to purchase the scoreboard and to hire Triple G to do the dirt work.