Board moves ahead on school playground
Staff writer
Both playground bids presented by superintendent Ron Traxson to the school board at the May 9 meeting may have been turnkey, but there was one that seemed to catch the eye of school board members more.
While Traxson still has to discuss options with PTO, groundwork has been initiated in the project that will eventually cost the district about $250,000.
Playscape Recreation and Cunningham Recreation both delivered plans that would update outdated equipment along the east side of Peabody Elementary School.
Not only did the general consensus appear to be in favor of Playscape Recreation, according to Traxson it is also about $4,000 cheaper.
Board member Tiana Gaines voiced her opinion concerning the two bids, followed by head nods of several other board members in agreement.
“Playscape appears to have a lot more for kids to play on,” she said.
No action was officially taken by the board.
Treasurer Stephanie Winter presented a categorized breakdown of meal costs along with benefits of the district’s food service contract with OPAA Food Management before board members voted unanimously to renew the contract for the 2018-2019 school year.
Winter said breakfast and lunch meal costs have risen slightly due to a national increase, quoting breakfast at $2.51 per student and lunch at $3.76.
Traxson reminded the board of previous negotiations that kept the district from paying an increase after the first year of OPAA’s contract. Traxson said this year has led to many improvements and it is still a cheaper option than if the district was responsible for the food program in lieu of outsourcing the job.
“Even with the increases, we’re still paying less than when we were running our own program, and kids are still getting options and a good meal,” he said. “The food service director Melissa Smith is a worker. She does a phenomenal job.”
“They’ve done a great job making sure we are in compliance with state” added Winter.
The board voted unanimously to hire Michelle Foster as middle and high school mathematics teacher, and Kody Tegtmeier for strength and leadership, along with summer weight program supervisor, after an executive session concerning non-elected personnel spanning the better part of an hour.
Last modified May 16, 2018