The Newton County Board of Education has given School Superintendent J.O. Amis a satisfactory evaluation.
During its March board meeting on Monday in the Newton County Middle School library, the board members emerged from a 20-minute executive session to give the report to Amis, who is serving the final year of his elected term. While the report was satisfactory, board members did have several areas of improvement that they would like to see addressed.
Board President Glenda Barrett said the board would like to see the school district develop a partnerships within the community to help prepare their students better to contribute to the workforce. Specifically, board members wanted to see a partnership with local industry and possibly East Central Community College to develop the Peavey building into a place that serves the needs of the community and the needs of local businesses and industry.
“Several places have already done something like this,” said board member Jason Cain. “They probably already have a plan, but it’s something that we’d like to see happen here.”
One of the other goals for the board members was for the superintendent to complete and implement the three-year, five-year and 10-year plans for the school district.
In other business, the school board accepted nearly $3,000 in donations for baseball, over $1,000 for tennis and $130 for supplies.
The school board approved its consent agenda, which included approval of 16th section items, field trips, fixed asset summary and the deletion of fixed assets except for a 1998 Ford pickup.
The school district approved contracts for principals and central office employees. Amis said there were no changes this year in those roles. The board also hired Diane Douglas as a substitute teacher.
The board adopted section J of its school board policies with the exception of one, which was not completed as of the board meeting. The final policy will be approved at the April meeting. Amis said these policy revisions were to make sure that the handbook and policies match.
The board will also have its school walkthrough on April 5.
