The Winslow Unified School District Governing Board met last week with a full agenda. One of the items discussed was the scheduling of meetings to further the process of hiring a new superintendent. Current superintendent Cyndie Mattox will be retiring from the position at the conclusion of the 2019-20 school year.
So far in the process, the governing board has hired a consultant from the Arizona School Board Association to assist them in devising interview questions and created an advisory committee to complete the search. The committee consists of teachers, administrators and community members chosen by the governing board.
Following a discussion and vote by the board and in the absence of clerk Allen Leonard, it was decided that the advisory committee will hold a closed meeting at 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24, in the board meeting room to review candidate applications and present their questions to each.
The following day on Tuesday, Feb. 25, the governing board will interview candidates and conclude with a community forum beginning at 5:30 p.m. The location is yet to be determined.
According to Governing Board President Sharon Greenwood, the community forum will give Winslow residents an opportunity to engage the superintendent candidates and ask their own questions.
The governing board also discussed districtwide start times for next school year. Mattox stated, “We don’t (want to) have our students, especially our kindergartners on the bus for 45 minutes or an hour each way. These changes will also allow for the older kids to be home when the younger kids get home, in case a parent can’t be there. We understand that we will need more bus drivers to make this happen.” No action was taken at this time.
Board member Marilee Ervien asked, “What will this do to the existing bus drivers and their hours?” Mattox responded, “It will make them shorter, but we have told them that we are offering other ways for them to make up those hours. We don’t want to cut their hours but we do want to make it more efficient for our students, who are our priority.”
Transportation Director Jack Hanno explained his concerns with the proposed changes. “The best case scenario, in order for us to do this right now, we would need at least five more drivers and what that will create is at least 17 drivers and 17 routes running every day and it will dramatically cut the hours of the drivers we have now. We are working to try to get these folks working doing other things but I have drivers that have told me that they are not interested in being custodians or something else. If we cut hours, they will quit.”
Greenwood guaranteed that the discussion is not over and will include the transportation department in any decision that will be made in the future.
In other business, the governing board:
* Changed school schedules to accommodate the upcoming testing season. Early release for elementary schools will be cancelled on April 15 and 22 and late start for Winslow Junior High and Winslow High School will be cancelled April 22. A late start will be created for WJHS and WHS April 1.
* Approved the hiring of Cheryl Bernard as a substitute bus driver; Luke Card, substitute bus driver; Faye Veleto, substitute teacher; Megan Lymer, softball coach; Gina Williams, softball coach; Anthony Reynoso, softball coach; Art Griffith, baseball coach; Christopher Garrett, baseball coach; Scott Corum, baseball coach; Drew Luzier, baseball coach; Stacey Berg, track coach; Wilburt Barton, track coach; and Andrew LeGate, track coach.
* Approved the following as volunteers for spring sports: Brian Wilcox, Brent Lymer and Richard Smith for softball; Dub Ward, Kirk Ramsey, Jordan Payne and Patrick Young for baseball; and Janeen Barton and Sal Hernandez for track.
* Approved donations in the amount of $132 to Washington Elementary School from Spirit and Pride; $1,575 to Washington Elementary from the Arizona Department of Corrections inmate fundraiser; $553 to Washington Elementary from Box Tops for Education; and $1,650 to WJHS from the DOC inmate fundraiser.
* Approved out-of-state travel for the WHS Honor Society to Valencia, Calif., on May 14 for their senior trip. The Honor Society will fund the trip.
* Approved out-of-state travel for four football coaches on Feb. 7 to Las Vegas, Nev., for a coaching clinic. The Football Club will fund the trip.
* Approved the 2020 Application for Impact Aid in a routine annual procedure.
* Ratified vouchers in a routine procedure allowing the board to submit vouchers to the Navajo County School Superintendent between board meetings.
The next meeting of the Winslow Unified School District Governing Board will be at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 20, in the board meeting room, located at 800 N. Apache Ave.
