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The Demopolis Board of Education took time to honor its District-Wide Teachers of the Year while Interim Superintendent Dr. Bobby Hathcock recognized board members for January’s Board Appreciation Month.

“We want to take the time to celebrate all of our board members. Thank y’all for all that you do for us,

each and every day,” Hathcock said. “You have made some difficult decisions, and I think this board always makes the decisions that are best for the students, and thank you for that.”

He continued on to also recognize the district teachers of the year, who will advance on to represent the district in competition for awards from the State of Alabama. Recipients were Angelia Lee of U.S. Jones Elementary and Dylan Parten, a science teacher at Demopolis High School.

After the awards presentation, the meeting proceeded to action items on the agenda:

 

• The district financial reports for November and December were presented and approved by the board with no objections.
• Organizational hierarchy and housing for in-school disciplinary programs were approved to be altered to assure high school students and middle school students would not be intermingled into the same spaces.
• The board approved the Personnel Report, which outlined a handful of resignations, hires, and transfers. Resigning are Brandi Dannelly, Career Coach at DHS, and Mark Joseph Johnson, math Teacher at DHS. Jill Tutt, a teacher at DMS will be moved to the role of Career Coach at DHS. Andrea Johnson was named as Assistant Coach for boys soccer.
• Renaming the “Lead Nurse” position to “Health Services Coordinator” was approved.
• A 1st Reading of a new Adult Sex Offender Policy was accepted, which, once passed, will bring the system into compliance with State policy on the matter by having a formally written policy. This new policy could restrict access to the school grounds for some parents and other visitors if they are registered sex offenders. The policy sets out procedural guidelines for such persons.
• The Board approved a second reading of additional wording to the Admittance and Enrollment Requirements for the school district.
• Also approved was a second reading of the Suicide Prevention Policy and Protocol. 
• A science and career tech textbook committee was approved.

 

Upon recommendation of Dr. Hathcock, the Board also consented to two trips for DHS: the BETA Convention and Career and Business Tech, both of which will take place in Montgomery during February.

Hathcock also presented the Interim Superintendent’s Report, stating that the schools are in the midst of practice testing for upcoming standardized tests, and all data is showing that they are “…right where we were last year, or better.” He also openly commended system Principals for keeping teachers motivated during January, 

Member Betsy Stephens then spoke to the Board regarding a report she received highlighting upcoming potential legislative changes at the state level, which would re-balance sales tax distributions from online sales to more closely match “brick and mortar” sales within the state. According to Stephens, schools receive around 4.5% of sales taxes from local stores, whereas only about 0.5% of sales taxes from online retailers go to schools.

An executive session was on the agenda, for a student hearing to be closed from the public. However, once it was determined that two participants were not present, the item was pushed to a future meeting.

The meeting was adjourned after determining that the next meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 18.