Oakwood School Board welcomes new member

Newly appointed school board member Terry Johnson. Photo by Melissa Missildine The Oakwood School Board welcomed Terry Johnson as its newest member at a special school board meeting last week. Johnson was asked to fill the spot left open after Derrick Lancaster resigned. Jonnson works at the county barn located in Oakwood. Board members Nathan Smith, Mack Botard, Larry Lipsey, and Winnie Hodges were also present at this special meeting.

The special school board meeting was called to adopt the 2009-2010 handbook and discuss the budget projections for the upcoming school year. The only changes made to the handbook were cosmetic. The board opted to have a separate handbook for student council and the national honor society and reworded the hair code for clarification. The handbooks themselves are much simpler this year as well. Rather than the expensive spiral bound books parents received last year, this one is simply stapled together. According to Superintendent Richard Scoggin, not only will this save money but, make it easier to remove the pages from the back that must be signed by parents and returned to school.

The budget proposal for the 2009-2010 school year includes money set aside for the basic supplies and payroll as well as a/c replacements, furniture, equipment, training seminars and conferences, science supplies and equipment, a sound system for the gym, and a sprinkler system for the football field.

The discussion continued from last month's meeting of the need for replacement vehicles to transport small groups of students when it is not cost effective to run a bus and the need to transport staff for training purposes. Scoggin brought in materials for the board to look over. The board is considering the purchase of one, or all, of the following.: a 2009 Ford Taurus, a 2009 Ford Expedition, and a 2009 Ford F150. Any of these vehicles purchased will be for staff use as well as student transport. The board is looking to call a vote on the vehicle situation at this month's regular school board meeting.

Scoggin reported that the high school had twelve students signing up for the dual credit program this year. In this program, students will get both high school and college credits at the same time. O.I.S.D. foots the bill for this program in the hopes of encouraging students to pursue a college degree after high school. Research has shown that students already on the college path, tend to stay the course after high school. Students signing up for this program will be doing so this week, with the help of counselor, Lori Olive.

Scoggin also reported that two of the three newly purchased school buses had been delivered. A third bus had not been delivered due to a problem with the a/c. Once that issue is resolved, that bus will be delivered as well.

Armed with their budget proposals, Scoggin asked the board to take them into careful consideration and encouraged them to call with any questions they might have so that they would be able to make an informed decision when called to vote at the next meeting.

At the end of the open session, Scoggin addressed the school board members, "I just want to thank you for your support. It's great to have a school board willing to work with you. With your support, we can put the best product we can on the table for these kids."