Demopolis BOE appointing committee to investigate tuition for non-residents
The option of charging tuition for students living outside the Demopolis City Schools territory will be investigated by a committee being formed by Supt. Kyle Kallhoff.
The superintendent announced his decision at the Board of Education meeting Monday.
“I would like to begin exploring the possibility of charging a reasonable tuition for non-resident students,” he told the board. “This is for students who wish to attend our schools but do not live in the city of Demopolis.”
The committee would look into what other public school systems charge and the cost of private schools in the area and determine a fair amount for out-of-area students.
“We offer several services for which we do not receive adequate funding,” he continued. One of those services is school nurses. The system barely has enough funding for three nurses at the four campuses, he explained. “Of their daily medical attention to students, 62 are not residents of Demopolis.”
While Kallhoff said the school system doesn’t want to neglect any students, “We want to make sure we are fiscally responsible for the resources we have.”
He is looking to have the committee in place by next week and said that he would like a member of the board to serve on it.
The board unanimously approved a revision to Policy 5.10.1, adding foster care children to the school system admission policy for homeless, migratory, immigrant and limited English proficiency students.
The board also approved the following changes to system personnel:
- Hiring of Kacey Barrett as a Special Education teacher upon completion of her bachelor’s degree in May.
- Hiring of Claire Bell as Special Education para-professional effect Feb. 21.
- Retirement of Cynthia Whitlock, DHS librarian, effective June 1.
- Approval of Amaal Bamani and James Davis as substitutes.
- Katrina Sprinkle to be the long-term substitute for Janie Basinger who is on medical leave until May 1.
- Brian Bradley to be assistant baseball coach at Demopolis Middle School.
- Donna Dodson to be long-term substitute for Addy Card who I on medical leave until March 24.
The board okayed out-of-state and/or overnight field trips for:
- S. Jones and DMS Math Teams to Tupelo, Miss., March 4
- Demopolis High FBLA to Birmingham April 6-7.
- DHS Beta Club to Six Flags over Georgia April 21.
Kallhoff said the second annual Young Authors Symposium will be held Tuesday, April 18, at 6 p.m. at DHS.
The board voted to accept the school schedule for the 2017-2018 year, which will have 176 days. Classes begin Aug. 14 and end May 24, 2018.
Kallhoff continued to honor outstanding students and staff at Demopolis schools. Student Jakobe Morris and teacher Gloria Mims from USJ and SGA president Roderick Anderson and teacher Amie Miller of DHS each received recognition and gift certificates.