ABERDEEN – The Aberdeen School Board addressed an ongoing discussion of building improvements across the school district Oct. 15 by taking action to approve a letter of intent to borrow as much as $750,000, advertise the letter in the Monroe Journal and use funds as soon as they’re available.
“The letter of intent will be published in the paper for two weeks and during those two weeks, if anyone wants to object, they will have to put it in writing. If we have no one object to that, then there will be another resolution saying no one objected to it, and it published in the paper and you have to sign off on that,” said district financial officer Latasha Campbell.
She said requests for proposals will then be sent to banks to have the opportunity to bid. Capital improvements projects costing more than $50,000 require an architect, and district superintendent Jeff Clay is hopeful there will be a recommendation for an architect by the November school board meeting.
During its previous meeting, district chief operations officer Willie Brandon said the top priorities were re-roofing at the elementary end of Belle-Shivers Middle School and the Aberdeen Elementary School cafeteria; fire alarm systems, as well as security, at the entryways of all campuses; air conditioning at Belle-Shivers’ cafeteria; entry accessibility and restroom renovations at the Aberdeen Resource Center; and lower level corridor lighting at Aberdeen High School.
In other business, district chief academic officer Temeka Shannon gave an update on the Fiscal Year 2019 federal programs budget. The Aberdeen School District’s total allocation is $847,688, with $824,541 from Title I, Title II and Title IV funds. There will be $23,147 allocated for Title V funds.
“Federal programs mandate you take one percent of your federal funds off the top for parental involvement at each school site. Each school will receive $2,700 for parental involvement,” Shannon said.
Title funds provide financial assistance for schools with high percentages of low-income families.
The school board approved board policy revisions, including changes pertaining to the drug and alcohol testing for school bus drivers, sexual harassment and drug-free schools and workplace policies.
In recapping the Monroe County Chamber of Commerce’s Industry Insider event, which gave educators countywide the opportunity to tour local industries, Clay said it was a success.
“I’ve gotten good feedback as far as the day. In talking to the chamber, we’d like it to continue,” he said. “Hopefully we can expand it and send six groups out to six different places of employment.”