Board approves more than $520,000 for Pope turn lane
The monthly meeting of the Jackson-Madison County School Board wasn’t the quickest meeting of the year so far, but at a grand total of seven minutes, it’s on the short list of quickest meetings in JMCSS history.
The Board approved the guaranteed maximum price for Phase 1 of offsite improvements for Pope School.
Phase 1 is the turn lane in front of the school on Ashport Road.
The original budget for the school that was set at $48 million in 2022 included $500,000 set aside for offsite improvements.
Phase 1 came in at a little more than $520,000.
“The budgeted $500,000 will obviously go toward that, and the remaining amount will be funded from the contingency fund that [the Board] approved last year,” said Dale Thomas, the attorney for JMCSS.
The Board also approved a new organizational structure in the Central Office.
“Before, there were two deputy superintendents and most everything was put into two areas – academics and operations,” said Melissa Spurgeon, a member of King’s leadership team, explaining things for the Board. “But with organizational efficiency in mind, there’s been a change in the organizational structure.”
Instead of two deputy superintendents – Ricky Catlett and Vivan Williams, there is now a leadership team of four I place – Catlett, Williams, Spurgeon and HR Director Andrea Hicks-Watkins.
Williams is now in charge of service for the students, meaning anything having to do with the academics side of things or helping the kids directly.
Catlett is in charge of support, which includes things like transportation.
Spurgeon is in charge of special projects and communications. Things that students are a part of that aren’t academics fall under this like athletics and arts.
Hicks-Watkins is over business and finance, which means she has oversight over anything that has its own budget like the nutrition program.
Attendance report: Eight of the Board members were present for the meeting. Harvey Walden was absent.
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
