The Blytheville school Board elected its officers, Monday night, during the regular monthly meeting.
All officers of the board remained the same.
Tracey Ritchey was named president, Erin Carrington remained vice president and Barbara Wells continues as secretary. The board also discussed the bidding process for the new gym.
Board members asked if they would have any input on who contract manager Baldwin and Shell hires after the bidding process for the gym was over.
“Is Baldwin and Shell aware of, I can’t speak for everybody, but of my desire to keep that money in Mississippi County with a local contractor,” Carrington said.
“Absolutely and as a matter of fact that’s primary. Every time they list it in the paper we’re going to list it in our district website. Baldwin and Shell is going to list it on their district website. They listed it on the contractor’s board,” Richard Atwill, Superintendent said.
Carrington stated that she wanted to make sure that the school gets a reputable company and would love for it to be in Blytheville.
However, Atwill stated that the board will not influence Baldwin and Shell’s final decision for who works on the building unless there is an objection to the contractor that the construction manager selects.
The board asked Atwill to contact Baldwin and Shell so that the firm could have a representative at the next board meeting to answer any questions the board has.
The school board election was held earlier in the month and there were no changes in the school board members. Billy Fair made a motion to keep the officers the same as last year, and the board voted 5-2 to pass the motion with Desmond Hammett and Barbara Wells as the dissenters.
“The decision why I voted not to keep the officers the same is because we need a change in our president. There is some stuff that is continuing to go the same old way that it has been for years and we have some other board members that are there that recently came to our board that have some new ideas and it’s better for the district,” Wells said.
“I think sometimes we have to address and face different issues. Sometimes different leadership can bring different qualities or components to it, but it’s no big issue there. I think we can work collectively as a board,” Hammett said.
Presentations were given by Jerry Vaughn, Kim Star and Jackie Smith, the performance coaches for the high school, middle school and elementary, respectively. Vaughn discussed some of the things that the Arkansas Leadership Academy has been able to do for Blytheville School District in its respective grades.
Cordie Gardner also gave a presentation about Project LAUNCH, a program dedicated to helping teenage mothers. LAUNCH has partnered with the school on several occasions in order to provide a better environment for student mothers.
The school also approved the purchase of two buses — one is a 77 passenger bus and the other is a 47 passenger bus that has an additional four seats for wheelchair passengers.
gwilliams@blythevillecourier.com