Terry Graham called the May 21 meeting of the Burlington School Board meeting to order with members present: Robert Hill and Aaron Smith. Allison Armbruster and T.J. Rockenbach were absent. Other school officials present were: Superintendent Dr. Stacey Croft, Principal Lane Pruett and Minutes Clerk Tamre McGinnis.

The board read and passed resolutions calling for a special election to be held in the school district to authorize issuance of general obligation bonds.

Superintendent Croft said the GO bonds are for $350,000 to purchase four buses. A separate GO Bond issue is for $520,000 to build a bus barn, which Burlington School does not have. That bond will also pay for a new Suburban, she said.

Matt Reichert, representative from Stephen H. McDonald & Associates, Inc., attended the meeting. The board voted to employ Stephen H. McDonald & Associates, Inc. as Financial Consultant to the School District.

After a near one-and-a-half hour executive session the board voted to reemploy non-certified personnel: Tamre McGinnis, Brenda Stricker, Neal Gordon, Max Boothby, E.J. Diel and David Cass.

The extra duty pay scale was also on the executive session list, but was tabled until a future meeting.

The board accepted the resignations of Zina McLeod and Austin Hawkins and future replacements. Hawkins coached boys basketball and is a para. Dr. Croft said they are already interviewing for a coach and teacher position. McLeod was a special education para.

Another approximately one hour executive session was held toward the end of the meeting that was approximately four hours and adjourned just after 1 a.m.

Following in open session, the board approved the addition of a wall in the north wing of the main building to create an additional room for the elementary. The superintendent will obtain quotes for the next board meeting. Dr. Croft said that room will be used by reading specialists and speech pathologists.

Other Burlington School Business

The board accepted Tom Cameron & Associates (TCA) quote of $5,100.00 to do Title programs and special education programs for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

The school will offer a summer library reading program for four weeks and also offer an extended school year summer program to a current student.

Dr. Croft and Mr. Pruett gave a review on the 2017 district profile report. They said Burlington’s dropout rate was zero.

Receiving board approval were encumbrances, change orders and warrants for 2018: General Fund encumbrances $40,680.32, change orders -$12,030.50 and warrants $514,150.12; Building Fund encumbrances $42,695.50 and warrants $71,115.88; and Child Nutrition warrants $6,247.67.

Items receiving board approval were the April activity report and the contract with Alcohol & Drug Testing Inc. for 2018-19 school year.

The board approved participation of Burlington Public School in the 2018-2019 school year e-rate program. Mica Andrews was designated as the e-rate contact for Burlington Public School for the 2018-19 school year.

After review, the board approved unused personal leave days for certified and non-certified personnel.

The board also approved temporary appropriations at 90 percent for the 2018-2019 General Fund of $4,832,196, Building Fund of $611,539 and Child Nutrition Fund of $100,442.

The contract for the audit from Charles Carroll auditing firm was approved for the 2017-18 fiscal year to be conducted during the 2018-19 fiscal year.

The school will again offer student insurance through Student Resources for the 2018-19 school year.

Pruett gave a short review on the 2017-2020 technology plan. Some updates to the plan will be made and presented to the board at a later date.

Dr. Croft gave an update on the Child Nutrition Program nutritional analysis that was done. She said they still have some areas that need improvement. The superintendent said they are still considering a food service program. She’ll continue to work on this matter and present to the board next meeting.

The school board ethics forms have been completed and are on file.

Dr. Croft reminded board members of the OSSBA/CCOSA annual conference on Aug. 24-26.

The superintendent gave a short report on the legislation regarding teacher pay raises, reminding that Burlington does not currently receive state funding. She said they will use the new pay scale.

Principal Pruett said that to finish the school year, Burlington had 113 elementary and 36 high school students for a total of 149. Ten seniors graduated with 12 8th graders promoted.