School board hears from different groups before monthly meeting

The Jackson-Madison County School Board’s work session ahead of Thursday’s February board meeting saw the board get updated on a number of items throughout the district.

Here are the highlights of those updates:

• JMCSS has everything in place and awaits official approval from the board to have opioid antagonists such as NARCAN on campus. The state board of education made a ruling that allows school system employees to administrate NARCAN in the event of an overdose on campus. District officials Ricky Catlett and Tim Gilmer have worked to get training in place for all JMCSS employees to administer the drug that can stop the effects of a drug overdose. JMCSS Attorney Dale Thomas said each school will have two sites where NARCAN will be kept, and the plan can be implemented once it gets board approval.
• County Finance Manager Karen Bell reported the district is in good shape financially as all of its fund balances are high. She said there is more than $20.8 million in the general fund. Other funds have high balances too. She also reported the district was approved on Feb. 3 for total costs of projects in the third round of ESSER funding, which totals at $4.5 million.
• Catlett, who is the assistant superintendent in charge of operations, gave a brief update on the Pope School construction planning with plans of giving a more detailed update from Henson Construction at the board meeting. He said members of the planning team for the school toured a school Henson recently built in Rutherford County that has the same design as the one for Pope to give them an idea of what Pope will look like. He added there’s an upcoming meeting next week regarding traffic studies around the school site for Ashport Road, Pleasant Plains Road and Old Humboldt Road.
• Crocker Construction has been approved as the sole bidder for the Hub City Central project that will be in two phases – the renovation of Oman Arena and the construction of the new football stadium for Jackson Central-Merry. Oman Arena’s renovation is budgeted for $12 million that will include a new roof and HVAC system. The stadium is budgeted for $9 million. Oman’s renovation will be done first because it has the tighter deadline. Since it’s being funded by ESSER money, it has to be completed by September of 2024, giving the project less than 16 months to be completed as it’s set to start in May. Catlett was asked about his feelings about having 15 months to complete the project. He said he’ll give a more informed answer on Thursday after a couple of meetings he has before then.
• Middle school baseball is returning to JMCSS this spring. Middle schools are having interest meetings in the next few days among parents and boys interested in playing, and they’re set to start the season the week after Spring Break (March 19). Like middle school softball in the fall, all games will be played at the West Tennessee Healthcare Sportsplex.

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news