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The absence of two board members, Cory Johnson and Carol Palmer, and the need to swear-in two members, Carole Owens and Wendy McVicker, left the Snowflake Unified School District (SUSD) Governing Board without a sufficient quorum to start the meeting on Jan. 10.
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SUSD Superintendent Hollis Merrell stepped in and opened the meeting, inviting Navajo County Superintendent of Schools Jalyn Gerlich to begin the swearing in ceremony, in which Owens and McVickers took the oath of office.
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Once a quorum was established, the meeting began with the nominations for president and vice president of the board. Board Member Shea Flake nominated Owens to be the president again, with McVickers seconding the motion and all voting in favor. Then McVickers nominated Johnson to be the vice president, with Flake seconding the motion and the vote was again unanimous.
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During the call to the public, three people addressed the board with matters unrelated to the agenda.
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Carlynn Patton, a third grade teacher at Highland Primary, shared with the board her struggles to help care for her father, who was diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome in September and needs constant care in order to survive, asking if there was some help for her as she had exhausted all of her leave time.
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“I understand that the district no longer has a sick leave policy,” said Patton. “I know you cannot discuss or take action right now but I hope you would also consider a leave donation policy to contribute to a certain person as they are going through long term medical care.”
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Merrell said he would follow up with Patton on her personal question, noting also that the board could review the general topic of leave donation further at a work session.
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Jack Babb briefly shared that the Silver Creek Future Farmers of America (FFA) Booster and Alumni was now conducting monthly meetings and working to get their charter in place so they can further help with fundraisers for the Snowflake FFA students.
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“We want to do good things for the school and are looking at different grants for the agricultural programs in the school,” said Babb. “We would invite anyone who is interested to come and join us.”
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Merrell said he didn’t have a lot to report other than “we are off and running in this next semester and have solidified our testing schedule.”
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Merrell did give an update on the fiber optics project with ERATE that will put a fiber optics connection between all of the schools in the district. The project has been funded through ERATE with SUSD required to pay 10 percent of the project. Mark Ollerton, business manager for SUSD, estimated the total cost for the district will be around $16,000 to $17,000.
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The Snowflake Junior High School and Snowflake High School game worker proposal was unanimously approved. As Merrell stated, “It is always a challenge to find people to take tickets and do the various jobs at these activities. Our athletic directors have proposed that we have a set fee instead of an hourly wage. I am supportive of this recommendation as it would make it easier in a lot of ways and would give a consistent amount of pay for the game workers.”
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In other business, the board:
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* Approved the request for marching band uniforms at a cost of $413 per uniform with 50 uniforms being ordered for a total cost of $20,665.
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* Approved new employees Patricia Bryant, SJHS self-contained paraprofessional; Julie Chapman, SHS resource paraprofessional; Taylor Lopez, Highland Primary Title One paraprofessional; Ilene Stauch, Highland Primary resource paraprofessional.
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* Accepted the resignations of Ashlyn Owens, Highland Primary paraprofessional; Nicole Alexander, Snowflake Intermediate School paraprofessional; and Becky Morelan, SJHS paraprofessional.
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* Approved Gerold Perkins as a volunteer for the position of SHS wrestling coach.
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A work session for the board will be at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12, in SUSD Conference Room, located at 682 School Bus Lane in Snowflake to begin review of the upcoming budget. The next meeting of the board will be held at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 14, at the same location.
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