Trustees want more road study By Dave Lewis with The Meteor

Madisonville school trustees decided Monday night to take a closer look at how best to spend over $1 million for road work needed to make school campuses safer and more negotiable for parents and bus drivers.

Most of the discussion at Monday's regular session concerned parking lots and drives after the district's long range planning committee received a $1,406,616.75 estimate to update all those facilities at the distict's four contiguous campuses.

Superintendent Karen Richter said plans are to complete the project in three phases and trustees focused on the first phase before deciding to re-evaluate priorities.

Initially, Phase I called for a driveway to the district freezer storage area since there is no paved access now. Also included was demolition and replacement of the parking lot at the high school gym and the addition of eight lights and poles. The drive in front of the high school would also be replaced.

If bids can be let within the next two months, this phase could be finished by summer.

Trustee Dennis McWhorter voiced concerns that the gym parking lot replacement had been estimated to cost $256,000. “A quarter of a million (dollars) is a lot of money for a parking lot we can use,” he said.

Trustee Liz Henson, after looking at all three phases, said she was concerned that safety aspects had taken a back seat to needs in the plan.

“I would rather spend $200,000 on traffic safety than a parking lot,” she said, noting that turn lanes are needed on Mustang Avenue and along Raney Road accessing the elementary and intermediate school campuses.

At the conclusion, trustees voted 5-0 to return the road work proposal to the planning committee, asking that it be prioritized for safety issues rather than need.

Prior to the business session, trustees recognized three student athletes for all-state accompishments.

Jonathan Richter was cited for being named to the first team academic all-state football team and David Delesandri earned academic all-state second team honors. Brothers Alonzo and Chris Whaley were recognized for being name to the all-state football team.

Steven Green also addressed the board, seeking a remedy for escalating rental costs to use school gym facilities. Green, who organized and oversees an adult basketball group, The Shot Callers, said the $300 for four hours, plus $50 per hour thereafter, had become a financial burden. He asked trustees to consider reducing the fee, or making provisions for a by-the-day rental. He also said Shot Callers may consider a $1,000 scholarship donation to the school in lieu of high rental fees.

Board President Ray Brown said no action could be taken at the time but that trustees would give the matter consideration.

In other business, school board members:

€ heard the superintendent's report, covering tax collections, accounts payable and financial reports, the 2007 trustee election, facilities report and long range planning report;

€ approved an extension of the district's bank depository agreement with Madisonville State Bank;

€ approved acceptance of a $500 donation from the MCISD PTO to help pay for portable video projectors;

€ took no action on a proposal to provide incentive pay for non-contractual personnel;

€ approved the adoption of all textbooks proposed by the district committee for the 2007-08 school year, and;

€ approved an interlocal agreement with East Texas Employee Benefits Council that would provided better insurance benefits at a lower cost for district employees.

Following an executive session to cover personnel matters, the board reconvened and accepted three resignations. Natalie Johnson, choir director, Geoffrey Atkinson, assistant band director and Ron Frech, high school math teacher, resigned. The employment of all remaining contract personnel in the district was approved.