Union Public School Trustees were encouraged by the district’s financial and enrollment data, that showed the school’s rested on a solid foundation.
In the monthly Board of Trustees meeting Monday, Superintendent Tyler Hansford announced the district’s Average Daily Attendance, a count of all students present on a randomly selected day used to calculate how much funding the district receives from the state, had grown from 911 students in the 2017-18 school year to 912.11 this year. That growth, while small, was very positive for the district, he said.
“I just want to take a minute to commend this board and the previous board,” Hansford said.
In various meetings he attends with other school administrators from around the state, Hansford said he is encouraged to see UPSD is in better shape than many of even the largest school districts.
“Some of these folks are barely hanging in there with 10-, 15-percent of their budget in the general fund,” he said. “We’re way above that. It makes it a little bit easier to go to sleep at night knowing you won’t have to take out a loan to do payroll, and some districts don’t have that.”
Board President Chad Brasher echoed Hansford’s congratulations saying the board has been very good at separating needs from wants and making fiscally conservative decisions. However, he said Hansford and UPSD staff also deserved to share in the credit.
“Sometimes you have to be creative, and you are very good at that,” he said.
Although the district is financially sound and has a rising ADA, Hansford said some of the data is worrisome. After reviewing the district’s enrollment data, he said he found almost 20 percent of UPSD students had an Individualized Education Program, a tailored plan of instruction used for special education students.
“We’re going to have to add more units,” he said.
State guidelines recommend districts keep special education classes (SPED) to a ratio of about 10 students per teacher. UPSD is already well above that, he said, which could incite a directive from Mississippi Department of Education to add more SPED teachers.
“We can’t just go and add four more SPED units,” he said. “We just can’t.”
Not only would adding four additional special education classes be prohibitively expensive, the district would also need to find a place to house them, Hansford explained. Between the financial impact and finding room within the district’s already full-up buildings, he said he hoped to find an alternative route.
“We’re going to have to figure something out,” he said.
In other business, Hansford announced:
The projected graduation rate for May 2019 showed 88 percent of students would receive a diploma, a 5.4 percent rise from last year’s 82.6 percent;
UPSD was exploring cyber security options after a recent conference discussing how best to keep students from viewing or sharing inappropriate material at school.
“I’m fairly certain we have some kids doing things they’re not supposed to,” he said. “They’re so smart, and they have so much time on their hands to figure out how to do bad things.”
Hansford said he was looking at a digital filter to tag key words and alert staff if certain phrases were sent over the district’s computer network. However, he said he did not yet know what something like that would cost;
The district is slowly phasing in new LED lighting as their older lighting burns out. The switch, which is being done in house, is intended to reduce the district’s utility usage and save money.
UPSD’s contract with Nova Tech to provide copying and printing services is up for renewal in April. He said he had requested an addendum to extend the contract’s end date to June 30, the end of the district’s fiscal year. Additionally, he said new restrictions were placed on purchasing staples after an unnecessarily large, and expensive, order of staples was placed on behalf of the district.
