New superintendent, BOE member attend their first board meeting
Presiding over his first meeting as Demopolis City Schools superintendent, Tony Willis welcomed the newest member of the board, Betsy Stephens, who fills the spot formerly held by Floy Mayberry.
After her installation, the board completed its agenda in record time. Three of the action items involved purchases: a point-of-sale keypad at Westside Elementary for $3,982; a Promethean ActivPanel for both WES and Demopolis Middle using $10,047 in state technology funds, and HVAC control system for $3,855 for WES.
The board approved the existing salary schedule for the beginning of the school term but may revisit the schedule for the start of the fiscal year in October.
Updated wording and removal of irrelevant codes received the board’s okay for the school system’s Code of Conduct. One of the changes involves expanding the cellphone policy to from grades 6-12 to grades 3-12. Further expansion to encompass K-12 will be examined.
In the superintendent report, Willis thanked the Marengo County Commission for realizing the needs of its school systems by increasing the sales tax by 1 percent. The tax is expected to bring in a little more than $1 million annually, which will be divided among the three systems according to the number of students in each one. Demopolis schools are expected to get 59.4 percent of the additional revenue which are earmarked for maintenance and operations.
Willis commended the Commission for its “vision and foresight and knowing that a community’s livelihood is such a direct link to the children in the school system.”
He continued, “This should give us a better opportunity for our kids” so that they feel like they are on an equal footing with others when they graduate.
Willis also thanked the Demopolis community for the welcome he has received. “I heard nothing but good, and I’m finding it all to be true.”
The board approved the Personnel Report.
Resignations:
- Elizabeth Claire Bell, WES classroom aide.
- Jackie Tripp, DMS math teacher.
- Miranda Maher, Pre-K teacher at WES
- Dianne McNeill, DMS history teacher.
Transfers:
- Dana Hill from gifted specialist to DMS math teacher.
- Casey Morgan from assistant lunchroom manager to manager at DMS\
- Allene Jones from DMS English teacher to Instructional Partner/Coach at DMS.
- Nicole Larkin from WES second grade teacher to math coach at WES.
Conditional employment:
- Issac Alston, USJ lunchroom worker.
- Jasmine Henderson, USJ lunchroom worker.
- Cassandra Edwards, USJ lunchroom manager
- Joann Smoot-Bryan, USJ math coach.
- Ola Agee, USJ teacher.
- Reshonda Lawson, USJ aide.
- Marquita Ezell, USJ reading coach.
- Lillian Jones, DHS lunchroom worker.
- Ashley Morgan, 9-month secretary at DHS.
- Julius Newton, DHS history teacher.
- Jeffrey Luke Hutcheson, DMS PE teacher
- Michael Anderson, DMS lunchroom worker.
- Margaret Garrison, DMS special education teacher.
- Effie Fields, DMS English Language Arts.
- Cari Merriweather, WES lunchroom worker
- Jessica Brooke Miller, WES teacher.
- Tammy Rainey, WES aide,
- Haley Higginbotham, WES aide,
- Zhana Todd, Pre-K auxiliary teacher at WES.
- Lana Little, WES teacher.