The Moniteau County R-1 School District Board of Education met Feb. 18 to discuss resignations, new contracts and bond issue updates.
The meeting started off with the board accepting resignations from California Elementary School counselor Tawnya Clause, Rick Edwards, district activities director and coach; Doug Miller, California Middle School physical education teacher and coach; and CES assistant principal Aaron Shewmake. More than 60 years of service to California's school district and students are represented between the four outgoing staff members.
Superintendent Dwight Sanders then shared an update on the district's bond issue projects and the progress of construction of the extension at California Middle School. With the bad weather during the last few weeks, construction was forced to come to nearly a complete standstill. There will be a progress meeting with the architect and general contractor next week and again the first week of March, where specifics of the timeline for the project from here on will be discussed.
After that, the board will then get its Calendar Committee together to start developing the calendar for the 2021-22 school year based on the estimated project completion date.
Some changes have been made to the initial construction plan. The board approved a change order in the amount of $16,879.58 for the following changes: relocation of an HVAC chase in one of the main hallways to ensure better line of sight in the new addition to allow staff to better see students; an outside window in one of the renovated fifth-grade classrooms in the middle school to allow for natural light; and casework, counter tops and sinks in two of the fifth grade renovated classrooms.
The board then considered a recommendation from the Moniteau County Health Center asking the district to start having elementary students wear face masks, following the same format as the middle and high school. Though the board engaged in conversation around this recommendation, it took no action for change. Discussion was centered around the fact the district and county numbers have recently been at a low and the board felt like there was no need to take action at this time.
Finally, the board approved contracts for Austin Baker as California High School assistant track coach for the upcoming season and Seth Womack as CHS head football coach.
The Moniteau County R-1 School District Board of Education's next meeting is set for at 6 p.m. March 17 in the CHS media center.