An 8-foot rearing pinto will be staged on the high school campus thanks to a gift from the class of 1969 and the approval of California's Board of Education.
Superintendent Dwight Sanders told the board at its Feb. 20 meeting the class wants to have the horse on display in time for the alumnus reunion in May.
While the offer was accepted, it was met with questions and concerns from the board. One major concern raised was possible vandalism the statue could potentially encounter.
"We wouldn't want to go out and find kids climbing around on it and just horse-playing," Sanders said.
The unintended pun was followed by another concern - where to put the pinto.
The hope for the statue, according to the donors, was to display it at the high school and to have it "easily visible from Highway 50." The board will contact the Missouri Department of Transportation about potentially placing the 150-pound steed near the existing marquis in front of the high school.
The board also accepted a technology infrastructure bid from CRW consulting for E-rates. The district plans on hiring Provision Data Solutions to reconfigure data access points districtwide. This includes replacing switches in the infrastructure to make sure there are enough access points to handle the increasing traffic of cell phone devices in the district.
The district was found to be eligible for up to $214,000, of which E-rate funding will pay for 8 percent.
In other business, the board:
- Accepted the resignation of CHS Spanish/ESL instructor Eric Larimore, who is retiring from the school district but has expressed interest in returning for a part-time position.
- Approved a bid from Mid-Missouri Fence in Dixon to replace the outfield softball fence with a galvanized vinyl chain link fence for a bid of $14,030. The baseball/softball boosters offered to contribute $5,000 to the bid.