Gentry’s school board honors past members
GENTRY — The school board in Gentry honored two past school board members at its Oct. 24 meeting in the Pioneer Activities Center. Honored with plaques were Randall Bolinger for service on the board from 2011 to 2022 and John Skaggs for his service on the board from 2020 to 2022.
Members of the junior Gentry cheerleading squad also demonstrated a routine for the board in the PAC building.
The board approved the hiring of Maria Carmen Cedillo and Alexa Marin as English for speakers of other languages paraprofessionals, Chero Young and Terri Knox as custodians, and Luther “Luke” Warren as a bus driver.
The hiring of Mandi Taylor as an intermediate school fourthgrade teacher was approved.
The resignation of Wendy Jackson as a bus route driver was accepted. She will continue to serve as a substitute driver. The retirement of Regina Morris from special education in December was also approved.
The board approved the termination of Leah Queen’s contract as an intermediate school physical education teacher.
It was announced that custodians had now been hired to replace those with SG360, a commercial janitorial service hired at the March 28 meeting to
clean one school since the district was short four custodians at the time.
According to the April 6 issue of the Eagle Observer, “with four openings on the janitorial staff and few applicants, the school board approved contracting custodial services for the middle school this school year with SG360, a commercial janitorial service specializing in cleaning schools.
“According to Jason Barrett (at the March meeting), transportation and maintenance director for the district, when including the cost of cleaning supplies, contracting the service may cost slightly less than hiring custodians and purchasing the cleaning supplies.
“By contracting for just one school campus, the school district will not be terminating other district custodians but trying out the service and filling the gap in the need for school cleaning services,” Barrett said at the March 28 meeting.
In the March meeting, “Barrett said the contract for custodians to clean the middle school would be $7,413.48 per month or $97,413 per year. He said the school district is currently spending $99,000 on cleaning in the middle school with its own custodians.”
The district is now ending its contract with SG360 and returning to using its own janitorial staff, according to Terrie DePaola, the district’s superintendent.
The board gave its approval to allow the baseball team permission to purchase black jerseys with maroon stripes and lettering for away games with money raised by the team. The baseball team will continue to use its white uniforms, as well.
DePaola reported that the school district had approximately $1.3 million in operational funds but was awaiting tax payments.
DePaola spoke to misinformation circulating on social media sites regarding the location and building of a new high school. She said the school district was consulting with academic facilities planner Aliza Jones regarding plans to build a new high school in the future but that no definite location had been chosen and no plans had yet been approved. She said the square footage in the current high school was being reviewed in regard to qualifying for state assistance in building a new facility.
She also reported to the board that discussion was beginning in regard to renovating Pioneer Stadium. She said eight lanes were required for the school to host track events — the current track, which is in need of repair, only has seven lanes. She also mentioned a need for a new press box, adding that the district is currently just looking at options.
While no action was taken, DePaola reported progress being made on a vaping policy for the district. She said the district’s personnel policy committee was currently studying the policies of other school districts.
Jason Barrett, the school district’s transportation and facilities director, said that FLINTCO had been hired as the construction manager for the HVAC project at the high school and middle school. He said FLINTCO was looking at the quickest way to expedite the project. He said getting the district the best time and the best prices were the goals.
One pre-kindergarten student transfer out of the district was approved.
The next regular board meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 14, in the PAC.