BOE finds no solution to housing development

January 21, 2020January 23, 2020 Jan McDonald Alabama, Board of Education, Demopolis, kallhoff, Prestwick

Schools Supt. Kyle Kallhoff came away from a meeting with Prestwick Companies in Atlanta, Ga., with no solution to opposition of plans to develop a site adjacent to Demopolis High School.

“There is nothing we can do as a board at this time,” he told the members of the Board of Education Tuesday.

Kallhoff and Mayor John Laney met with Prestwick Jan. 9 in hopes of resolving the issue. Prestwick would like to build 56 income-based housing units behind the MedCenter with egress onto U.S. Hwy. 80 next to Jack’s.

Kallhoff said Prestwick has been working for six to eight months on an application to the state for tax breaks in developing the property. The application is due in February, and Prestwick will find out in June. If granted, construction could begin in the spring of 2021.

When asked, Prestwick said the property could be purchased for $675,000, with the stipulation that Demopolis would help find another site for the proposed development. “That is not in our capital plan,” said Kallhoff.

Zaniaya Sewell and Carson Kallhoff speak before the Board of Education.

Last October two DHS Band members, Rayshawn Benison and Natasia Daniels, died in a tragic drowning accident. At Tuesday’s meeting fellow band members Zaniaya Sewell and Carson Kallhoff requested the board allow plaques to be put up on the DHS stadium concession stands in memory of their bandmates and that the concession stands be renamed for the students.

January is Board Appreciation Month. Schools and the Central Office presented gifts to each of the five board members before the meeting.

In addition, the board recognized a Teacher of the Year from each campus. The honorees received flowers and a certificate. Recipients were Kristina Kallhoff, Westside Elementary; Stephanie Pittman, U.S. Jones Elementary; Kim Easley-Bell, Demopolis Middle, and Andrea Turberville, DHS.

Teachers of the Year and BOE members honored at Tuesday’s meeting.

Pittman and Turberville also have been chosen to apply for the Alabama Teacher of the Year for elementary and high school respectively.

In other action, the board approved out-of-state and/or overnight field trip requests for:

DHS DECA, Feb. 19-20, Birmingham
DHS HOSA, Feb. 20-21, Birmingham
DHS Anchor Club, March 7-8, Guntersville
DHS Track, March 2, 16, 23, and April 4, Meridian, Miss.; April 24-25, Mobile; April 29-May 2, Gulf Shores
U.S. Jones 5^th grade honor students, April 20-21, Atlanta, Ga.

In the personnel report, the board approved: