Published: June 03, 2009 03:32 pm      

Clark wants new band hall, other improvements at McAdams High

After being added to the Attala County School Board’s agenda Monday night, school board member Mack Willie Clark got his opportunity to say his piece about needed structural improvements at McAdams High School.

“The band hall at McAdams High School is a joke,” Clark said. “Its raggedy. Its filthy.”

Fellow school board member Rusty Dees looked at an architectural rendering and said that it would take $300,000 to build a band hall.

Clark, reading from a list, did not stop at the band hall.

He added that the MHS baseball field is also “a joke.”

I want McAdams to have the same things as Ethel,” Clark said.

School board president Linda Massey, who is also a EHS baseball supporter, said, “They can fundraiser just like we do.”

Clark added that the softball field needs grass and needs to be leveled off.

Superintendent Larry Stevens recommended that the board wait to get a budget for the upcoming school year and then, talk about building projects.

A motion to build a band hall for McAdams was voted on with Clark and Willie Perteet for and Dees, Massey and Mike Johnson against.

The next motion was made for Stevens to look into the cost of building a band hall and finding a funding source. All five voted for this motion.

Other items on Clark’s list included: leaking ceiling in the cafeteria, renovation of bathrooms at the ticket house on the football field, purchasing a new floor buffer and improvement of the biology lab.

In reference to the biology lab, Clark said both Ethel and McAdams need a renovation to equip students with the tools they need to pass the state biology test.

The board approved the following:

–Adjustment to the 2008 IDEA, Part B and Preschool Project

–FY10 Consolidated Federal Programs Application

–Reallocation of No. 2 to 2007 IDEA, Part B

–Consent agenda – school facility use, vo-tech school trip, removal of fixed assets, donation of computers to McAdams and to advertise for propane bids.

–Financial claims

–State and Local Disaster Assistance Agreement

– Payment to teachers at vo-tech for night classes.

–Resignations of Brenda Staszefski, Carrie Caufield, Amy McClellan and Carolyn Corey.

– L.A. Barksdale as a substitute custodial worker.

–Advertise for hunting and fishing bids on 16th Section lands.

–Timber thinning agreement with Sarah Shumaker, Virgel Summers, Lydell Ray and Johnny Riley.

–Released Kayla, Abbey and Boston McCrory for the district.

The next school board meeting will be June 29.