Back-to-school plan approved by DCS board

Detailed steps for opening Demopolis City Schools Aug. 20 took up most of a lengthy Board of Education meeting Monday, but Supt. Kyle Kallhoff stressed that the proposal probably would be altered.

“I’m seeking approval for a plan that will change,” he told board members.

“The priority is going to be safety” for students whose parents choose to send them back to on-campus instruction.

Those opting for online schooling must register as soon as possible so that the school system can arrange for teachers.

Kallhoff said he will distribute the entire 12-section plan to as many people in the community as possible so there will be complete transparency and honesty during the transition.

“We used a lot of different agencies to develop this plan,” he told the board. He complemented the task force of parents, teachers and administrators who worked on developing the proposal.

The success of the school year depends a great deal on parents who will have to adapt to the changes, stressed Kallhoff. Parents will not be allowed to enter schools, must observe times for children to be dropped off, serve as their child’s primary facilitator for online instruction and make sure students stay home if they show any signs of illness.

Some highlights of the plan include:

• Any student that starts on campus may switch to online instruction within one week, but any online students must remain through the end of the first semester.
• Online students must have reliable internet access. The school system will provide Chrome Books for those who need them; cell phones and tablets cannot be used.
• All meals will be eaten in the classroom.
• Class changes and dismissal times will be staggered.
• Temperatures will be taken when students arrive on campus and often during the day.
• Each campus has an isolation room, should a child show symptoms of COVID-19.
• Parents must pick up a child within one hour of being notified a child is ill. “We’ve got to get them off campus,” Kallhoff explained.
• Everyone will be required to wear masks on campus, no matter what directives come from the state.
• Students may bring their own water; water fountains will be turned off.
• Plexiglass separators have been ordered.
• At any athletic events, tickets will be limited to half the maximum for outdoor events and one-quarter for indoor sports.

The next steps for preparing for the fall are having parents enroll their children for online instruction and determining how to distribute meals to online and special education students.

Before Kallhoff presented the plan, Pam Clink, a DCS parent, presented a lengthy list of questions that she and other parents had about the opening of school. Many of the issues she presented were addressed in the plan, but several still had to be resolved.

“Almost every question you’ve asked we’ve been asking for about a month,” said Alex Braswell, board attorney. “It’s going to be a roller-coaster until we get it figured out.”

In other action, the board approved a contract with Cintas to clean the bathrooms at all four campuses weekly at a cost of $2,887 per week. Custodians will clean the bathrooms daily.

Physical Therapy Services will provide substitute nurses as needed. While funding for more school nurses has been proposed in Congress, “We can’t wait for that” to pay for nurses now, said Kallhoff.

Covington Flooring was the only bid to replace the Demopolis Middle School gymnasium floor. The bid was $87,769 to be paid for with ETF Advancement Fund. The bid was too high to consider alternate work, the superintendent said.

The board also voted to disposed of 86 outdated technology textbooks at DMS; suspend the special education math and science teacher incentives, halt the Leader in Me program for one year and suspend the student teacher program with the University of West Alabama in order to limit the number of people on campus.

Kallhoff also said at the September board meeting he will have a proposal for upgrades to the Demopolis High track.

The board approved conditional employment for the following:

• Jack Gantt as PE teacher at DMS
• Michael Duran, DHS history teacher
• Robin Dunn, DHS history teacher
• LaKeasha Perkins Wilson, DHS assistant lunchroom manager
• Labrina Dunklin, Westside Elementary lunchroom worker
• Will Ayers, PE para-professional at U.S. Jones Elementary
• Ashley Barnette, WES teacher

Resignations were accepted from Sherita Pickens, USJ teacher; Natasha Ladnier, WES pre-K special education, and Ana Martinez, bilingual interpreter.

Transfers approved were Teresa Lam, from USJ lunchroom assistant manager to WES lunchroom and Cleopatra Jones, from WES lunchroom to USJ lunchroom.

Miscellaneous personnel matters approved were:

• Modify FMLA return date of Roger Locke to Aug. 27
• Modify start date for nine-month secretaries from Aug. 7 to July 27 for additional wages at daily rate of pay
• Casey Morgan, from DMS lunchroom worker to assistant manager
• Cleshanah Barlow from USJ lunchroom worker to assistant manager
• Jack Gantt, supplement for Inter-School Bus Route
• Contract with Derrick McCormack for hardware/software technology support July 20-Dec. 17.