By Haley Mitchell Godwin

The Crenshaw County Public Schools regular board meeting was held June 13 at 5:30 p.m. All board members were present. After the prayer and pledge, the agenda for the night’s meeting and minutes from the last regular board meeting and two previous special called board meetings were approved. 

Superintendent Dodd Hawthorne gave the financial report for April and reported that the general fund has 4.66 months of operating reserves, up from last month. The cash balance for April was $5,468,234.83, and the CD balance was $950,000.00. The sales tax collections year to date are $318,855 and the Ad Valorem year to date total was $48,819.00. Detailed financial reports are available at www.crenshaw-schools.org under finance.

Showcased during the meeting were the Career Academy HOSA students who won state titles and will be going to the HOSA International Leadership Conference and competition next week at the Gaylord Opry Hotel in Nashville, TN. The students, along with their instructor Tabitha Bryan Gary, and chaperones will depart on the 22nd to arrive in time for registration. Competitions will begin the following day. Michell Crowe, Foundations Health Science teacher and HOSA adviser will also be along for the trip. 

Avery Williams, rising Junior from Highland Home, will compete in medical reading. In this division, Williams placed third in the state. Tabitha Bryan Gary, Health Sciences teacher, discussed the medical reading competition. 

“Each year students receive five books to read that pertain to the medical field. The reading list comes in the summer and after students have read the books, they take a written test. Last year Avery actually placed fifth in the state, which was absolutely great,” Gary said. 

The books that Williams read and tested on this year contained information about varied aspects of the medical field including advancement in forensic science, bedside manner and the emotional well-being of nursing patients. Williams favorite book was The Poisoner’s Handbook which detailed the advancements in forensic science that occurred between the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, and the world wars. 

Marianne Reeves, rising sophomore from Highland Home, brought home first place this year after competing in the state competition’s interview skills division. Tabitha Bryan Gary explained the interview skills competition. 

“This is a great experience for Marianne. She will submit her resume to the judges and go through the interview process, just as if interviewing for an actual job. She will be asked a variety of questions and we have no idea what they will ask, but we do prepare students. Michell Crowe has worked many hours with all of these students and she, along with others have come to Marianne to ask her many different questions that could be asked during an interview. Marianne is the champion in this division here in Alabama and we are very proud of her,” Gary said. 

Reeves detailed her experience with the state competition. 

“I was asked what I was going to pursue as far as my career and why I think I will be a good fit. I told them geriatric nursing because I feel I will be a good candidate for the field due to the experience I have with things my grandmother suffers from. I look forward to being able to help people in the geriatric community,” Reeves said. 

Sandra Hall and Regan Burrage, rising sophomores at Highland Home, placed third in state in Health Career Display where they featured “Forensic Nursing.” They will also move on to compete internationally in Nashville next week. 

The informational items on the agenda were as follows: next regular board meeting on Monday, July 18 at 5:30 p.m, Crenshaw County Employee Salary Schedule for 2022 with a proposed 4% raise, and updated travel mileage rate effective July 1, 2022. 

Several new hires were approved, including a new band director at Highland Home.  Three CMP workers were replaced at Brantley and two at Highland Home. One additional CMP worker was hired at both Brantley and Highland home. Specifics of the personnel recommendations were detailed on Exhibit A which was passed out to the board members 

Policy 5.22.1 weighted credit was approved, presented in exhibit B to the board, which changes the weighted credit for advanced core classes to be more in line with that of other school systems as to not have inflated grades and averages. 

Wording of the personal leave policy was changed through the approval of policy 6.43. The policy ensures that each time there is an increase in substitute teacher pay the policy does not have to be revised. Details of policy 6.43 were included in exhibit C. 

Policy 5.43 Truancy, outlined in exhibit D, adds a step to the truancy policy where students and parents would go before the truancy committee at the central office before being referred to the court system. 

The last superintendent recommendation passed was the FY 2022 budget amendment that provides a way to purchase an additional AED unit for each school and will pathe the way for all Crenshaw County Schools to become certified heart safe schools. 

Board member Dr. Charles Tompkins Stated that he had received a call about safety measures in Crenshaw County Schools. Tompkins requested that before school starts an update on campus safety be issued. 

The board members then discussed some of the safety measures in place at CCS including school resource officers on each campus and automatic locking doors. Hawthorne has spoken with Elliot Jones, Crenshaw County EMA director, and plans to sit down with local law enforcement for a tabletop exercise. 

“I want to  make sure we have every t crossed and i dotted so that we have a workable plan in place. We want to make sure that our plan is a working plan, not just a plan on paper.  We do have significant things in place that help to deter and prevent malicious things from happening.  The school system is mandated by law to do two lockdown drills every year and we ask our teachers to keep the doors locked,” Hawthorne said. 

An increase in summer camp registration compared to last year was reported and camp is going well. 

Before the meeting was adjourned, Hawthorne briefly discussed open positions. 

“One last thing I want to mention is that, as of right now,we have two elementary teacher positions open at Luverne and the principal position open at Brantley. We may have to hire an instructional aide here and there but that is what we are looking at right now as far as staffing of our schools,” Hawthorne said. 

The meeting was adjourned.