Trustees officially cancel election

by Dolores Hamilton
The Iowa Park school board officially cancelled its election Thursday night. The three trustees whose terms were due to expire in May had all filed for re-election. None of them drew a challenger, and were automatically elected to serve another term.

The returning trustees are Jeff Nolen, Place 1; Kari Collins, Place 2; and Guy Traylor, Place 3.

Proposed updates to the Cheerleader Constitution for 2009 - 10, presented by Iowa Park High School Principal Richard Young, were approved by the board. “These are pretty stiff rules,” Young said. “But our cheerleaders represent the school and should be held to high standards.”

The first draft of the extracurricular drug testing policy was given to the trustees.

Assistant Superintendent Steve Moody asked them to study the draft during the summer and then vote on its adoption before the beginning of school next year.

Board member Jeff Nolen was appointed to serve on a committee with a city councilman and two other citizens to set guidelines for possibly using banners around the walking track at Lake Gordon to recognize school accomplishments and promote Hawk spirit.

After meeting in closed session, board members renewed contracts of the following paraprofessionals:

Kidwell Elementary - Hope Allen, Cynthia Billingsley Jamie Fulton, Debra Honeycutt, Martha Hutchings, Michael Kimbro, Christy McClain, Anita McShan, Melissa Moss, Holley Sanders, Christy Skinner, and Linda Taylor.

Bradford Elementary - Cindy Bartow, Janna Cunningham, Renea Dickens, Heather Dickerson, Jamie Fulton, Barbara Hunter, Barbara (Barbie) Johnston, Gayle Lyles, and Clifton McFadden.

Iowa Park High School - Julie Dozier,Tammy Hoover,Vicky Merrell, Geri Merrick, Donna Williams, and Karen McDaniel.

In other action the trustees approved an application for a staff development waiver from the Texas Education Agency to allow the district to train staff on educational strategies designed to improve student performance in lieu of three days of student instruction.

During the superintendent’s report, preliminary results of the local TAKS reading tests for grades three, five and eight were given. Superintendent Jerry Baird told board members about an opportunity for board training on April 21. Trustees set June 2 as the date for their next strategic planning session.

During the open forum portion of the meeting, three students from the middle school asked the trustees to consider a more lenient dress code for students. They were told that their request would be taken under consideration.