Alva Review-Courier -

The Freedom Public School Board met Thursday, Sept. 29, for a special meeting to vote on important matters of business. A small crowd was in attendance as well, to discuss the appeal of Craig Hamil's ban from school property.

All current school board members were present, except for Concha Herrera and Lynn Bolar, who both recently resigned. The board approved the purchase of 30 new metal lockers for the school locker rooms from Jorgenson Lockers, a company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The lockers cost $10,330 total.

After this approval, the board voted to convene in executive session to interview a possible new board member, Russell Reed. Reed was the only one to apply for the open board member position.

The executive session concluded and the board voted to appoint Russel Reed to fill the vacant board member spot, and Reed was sworn in before taking a seat with the board members to discuss and vote on further matters.

Darrell Patterson, of 4-State Floor and Supply, spoke to the board members via teleconference to discuss the possible repairs to the gym floor. The company bid $9,200 to repair the floor, temporarily fix the roof spots that were leaking above the floor, and re-sink the floor nails. The main ruined spots of the floor would be fixed only, and the floor would be safe for the students. This was an important issue due to the upcoming basketball season. The floor could possibly be repaired over fall break. The board approved the bid of $9,200.

The board also discussed getting the roof fixed, but voted to take no action on this issue until they were able to talk to more roofers and receive bids.

A vote to approve a school board resolution was passed to appoint Superintendent Frieda Burgess as the administrator for the School Advantage Purchasing Card, with designee Patricia Dauphin, in place of former Superintendent Danny McCuiston.

Craig Hamil's ban was discussed, starting with the reading of a letter that recounted the events leading to Hamil's ban. The letter stated that Hamil was banned because he upset a student at a school event that he participated in as an unofficial volunteer and the board did not believe that he upheld the ethics of the school during the event. The letter further stated that Hamil was a possible liability for the school since he is not an official school volunteer.

Hamil attended the meeting and told the board that he had not filed an appeal yet. The board then voted to take no action on Craig Hamil's appeal at that time.