Manila School Board

Following the approval of the minutes and review of the financial report, Manila School Board went into a closed session for an expulsion hearing at the November meeting held Thursday night.

The meeting reopened with Superintendent Pam Castor making the recommendation to expel four high school students for the remainder of the semester for violation of the drug and alcohol policy. The board voted 7-0 in favor of the recommendation.

John Mixon, architect with Cromwell and Associates, and Travis Brooks, a planning manager for Cromwell, addressed the board with statistics on several possible sites for a new high school facility using site specific costs, traffic access, safety and visibility and compatibility.

The preliminary data included 17 sites around town and Mixon said the board could reduce it to four or five using their judgment on what they think the public opinion would be. Once the site number is reduced they can gather more specific costs and details.

Following a discussion Mixon suggested the board mark their top four choices and compare it to the top four selected by them from the statistical data. Ironically, the board's choices compared almost identically to the top four recommended by the survey.

Board President Jeremy Jackson thanked Mixon and Brooks for the information.

"You gave us an idea and data to start with," Jackson said.

Mrs. Castor informed the board the Manila Elementary School had been recognized as being in the top 10 percent in the state academically and will receive $37,214.28 from the state and the middle school was recognized in the top 20 percent in the state and will receive $13,760.04.

She praised principals and the staff for their hard work.

"We have a fantastic group of building administrators who motivate our students and staff," Jackson said. "We congratulate you."

Board member Danny Robbins also praised the Cross County Team who recently competed at state. Also recognized were the Robotics teams that will compete in Searcy; the Quiz Bowl team who will be competing at Ferndale, as well as two groups of cheerleaders, one going to New York for the Macy Thanksgiving Parade and one going to Orlando for the Disney Christmas Parade.