Sunday's Internet Edition, September 07, 2008.

Both topics came up during a Tuesday night board meeting at Roane County High School attended by members David McCutcheon, Russell Moore, Joe Painter, Randy Whited and Tom Young.

RCHS baseball coach Jeff Thompson was among those who showed up to support adding middle school baseball, softball and golf to the county athletic program for the upcoming school year. He said the move was needed for Roane to remain competitive with surrounding counties that have middle school programs.

Whited, the board president, apologized that the item was not on the agenda as had been discussed at the previous meeting. No action was taken, but Whited said the “consensus of the board is that we’d like to have it.” He said the matter would be on the agenda for the next meeting.

RCHS athletic director Don Williams asked the board for relief with transportation costs for sports teams. He said other counties require athletic departments to pay only a small percentage of gasoline costs because they are reimbursed up to 95 percent by the state.

David Kinison, assistant superintendent in charge of finance, said state reimbursement only includes gasoline costs for regular bus runs and that the money is received two years later.

Supt. of Schools Steve Goffreda mentioned that transportation director Woody Wilson, who was not at the meeting, was considering increasing the 20˘ per mile figure currently charged for extracurricular fuel costs to help offset higher gasoline prices.

Goffreda suggested that Williams meet with Wilson to work out a solution to the problem.

“Let’s get through this issue so the kids aren’t the ones suffering,” Whited said. “The last thing I want to see is the buses parked and kids not able to go.”

Also Tuesday, Goffreda reported that the county was applying for $300,000 in bond funding through the state School Building Authority. The money would be applied toward the total cost of an approximately $5 million project for improvements at Geary Elementary/Middle.

McCutcheon spoke about the slow pace of the Geary project, particularly in resolving property issues at the school site. He proposed getting a new attorney to represent the board in the matter before Whited asked Goffreda to have the current attorney, Tom Whittier, appear at the next board meeting on Tuesday, June 10 at 7 p.m.

The board also approved a new job description for paraprofessional sign language interpreters. Members plan to post the positions after their next meeting.

Current interpreters have not signed contracts for the next school year and school officials estimate that the expense incurred by creating new positions instead of contracting for the services would be cost effective.

The current interpreters, whose contracts expire June 8, reportedly want to increase their hourly rate to as much as $65 while also receiving benefits. By creating new positions, the board would no longer need to negotiate compensation because pay rates would be set by the state.

Board members also approved the following personnel items:

• Retirements: Roger Miller, director of social services and attendance and Ezra Parker, RCHS custodian, both effective June 30.

• Resignations: Gary King, head girls basketball coach and head volleyball coach and Renee King, assistant girls basketball coach and assistant volleyball coach, both at Walton Elementary/Middle.

• Transfer: Natalie Freshwater, head teacher/dean of discipline/academic coach (science), RCHS, to assistant principal/dean of discipline, also at RCHS, 200 days plus 10 days extended employment.

• Remove from administrative transfer and assign: Pamela Ruediger, secretary II, RCHS, 200 days plus 20 days extended employment.

• Remove from RIF and assign: Deborah Wright, secretary II, RCHS, 200 days plus 40 days extended employment.

• Employments: Rachelle Ochoa, teacher, gifted/Virtual School facilitator countywide, based at Spencer Middle; Stephanie Roberts, school health nurse, countywide; Tim Ashley, substitute teacher; Megan Linkinoggor, substitute teacher.

• Extra-curricular assignment: Jeannie Montgomery, inclusion/co-teaching school improvement summer institute planning specialist.

Board members also:

• Learned that the SBA had approved $93,104.44 for the county’s safety access plan. Facilities director Mike Offutt said the money would be used to install new electronic doors at the front and delivery entrances to all county schools this summer. The doors would operate after hours by a card issued to authorized personnel. Another $84,054 will be devoted to expanding the project in the next fiscal year.

• Asked Offutt to get an estimate for demolishing the former board finance office near Spencer Middle.

• Approved a list of volunteers for Geary, Reedy Elementary, Spencer Elementary and RCHS.

• Approved the following field trips: Spencer Middle sixth grade to Camden Park near Huntington May 29; Reedy sixth grade to the Columbus Zoo in Ohio May 19-20; Walton band and choir to Splashdown Country Waterpark in Jackson, Ohio, June 4; RCHS Travel W.Va. Club to Blackwater Falls, Smoke Hole Caverns and Dolly Sods May 23; RCHS wildlife class to Apple Grove fish hatchery in Mason County May 27; and RCHS physics class to Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio, May 23.

• Contracted for services from Bobbie Jo Weygard as an educational sign specialist.

• Voted to expel an RCHS student identified as J.A.M. and a Walton student identified as N.H.H., both for one year. They also approved a student transfer from Calhoun County to Roane.

• Heard a presentation from coordinator Theresa Parker on county students’ participation in the recent state social studies fair. She also noted that a new sound and lighting system had been installed in the SMS auditorium and would be used for a play this week.

• Met for 30 minutes of the nearly three-hour-long session behind closed doors to discuss an annual evaluation of Goffreda’s job performance. No discussion of the evaluation was made upon return to open session.