Bernie approves budget, meets new principal

Noreen Hyslop photo Charles Marcum is the new Bernie High School principal and joined Bernie board members in his first meeting this week. He replaces Scott Mercer who has accepted a position with St. Genevieve schools. Marcum is a Kansas native but comes to Bernie from the Mountain View School District.

Ritchie, in examining the proposed budget that calls for total expenditures for the 2009-10 school year to be $4,807,225, told board members, "I cannot tell you how pleased I am with this budget."

She continued, "The blessing that we have at Bernie Schools is that at the end of last year, we were sitting at 30 percent contingency, and you're going to be able to ride out a couple of years of lean times if the district needs to do so."

Crediting the staff at Bernie, Ritchie went on to say, "A primary reason for the shape we're in is that we have good people who treat district money as if it were their own and because you have good balances to absorb any deficits that you may experience."

"I think we're in great shape," Richite concluded, "and very much financially secure."

In his first time at the helm of a Bernie School Board meeting, Supt. John Boyd concurred with Ritchie with regard to the budget proposal and after reviewing its contents, board members agreed with a unanimous vote of the budget's approval.

Boyd took a moment as the Monday night meeting began to introduce Charles Marcum, Bernie's new high school principal, who will be replacing Scott Mercer in that role. Marcum, a Kansas native, comes to Bernie from Mountain View, where he most recently held the position of elementary physical education instructor. Marcum attended Kansas State for his undergraduate degree and later the University of Central Missouri where he did his graduate coursework. Marcum and his wife, Amy, have a blended family of five children, ranging in age from seven to almost 33. Two of his children will attend Bernie Schools in the fall.

On to board business, Boyd told members that during the upcoming Stoddard County Superintendent's meeting, the option of rotating the Stoddard County Basketball Tournament would be discussed. The host rotation option comes with the nearing completion of Dexter's Bearcat Event Center.

"I just wish to make you as board members aware that this will be discussed."

Former Bernie Supt. Robin Ritchie, who sat in on this week's meeting as a final courtesy to the district, emphasized to board members that with the exception of the Stoddard County Tournament, such tournaments are hosted on a rotating basis among county schools, but at the same time she explained that the issue with hosting a sizable tournament is limited seating capacity.

"It's not really Bloomfield's tournament," she told the group. "It's a county tournament. We rotate all the others."

Boyd promised to update the board on the discussion during the next regular meeting of the board on June 30.

The subject of raising the price of student and staff lunches was on this month's board agenda, with the superintendent's suggestion to raise the district's current student lunch price by 25 cents and the current staff lunch price by 40 cents. Both Ritchie and Boyd pointed out to the board the most recent school year ended with a deficit of $17,459 in the district's lunch program.

While concern was addressed by Board Member Keith Snider regarding the monetary pressure placed on parents during the current economic times, all members agreed in the end to endorse the suggested price hikes, having been reminded by Elementary Principal Tommie Ellenburg that every family has an opportunity to apply for free or reduced meals for their children and that the information regarding lunch status is kept strictly confidential.

"I as a principal do not even have access to that information," Ellenburg told the board. "That information is not known to the staff and so parents may rest assured that there is no distinction with regard to their child's meal status."

Boyd also introduced a copy of the district's classified staff salary schedule, drawn up for the 2009-10 school year and previously approved by the board. While the district has worked off of the schedule in years past, Boyd noted that the current schedule does not account for raises to classified personnel who have worked for so many years in the district that they no longer receive an annual raise on the "step" process. Boyd encouraged board members to consider a policy by which the classified staff might be assured some level of pay raise annually once they exceed the 30-year step assigned on the current policy. The board will consider the change at a later date.

Board members unanimously approved recommended changes to the official Bernie School Board Policy manual. Those recommendations come from both the superintendent and Missouri Consultants for Education, LLC out of Glencoe, the legal firm that represents Bernie Schools. The approved changes range from wording within the district's stand on parental and advocate notification with regard to observing in the classroom, to reporting procedures regarding sexual harassment issues. Such changes come up for board approval periodically for clarification purposes, usually as advised by the legal team headed by Tom Mickes, whose group represents several Stoddard County schools.

A recommendation from Boyd to add a kindergarten teacher to the 2009-10 faculty drew minimal discussion before meeting with unanimous board approval. Boyd told the board that the district is anticipating an enrollment figure of 48 in kindergarten for the upcoming year, considerably greater than the district's average class size. Ellenburg told board members that newly provided stimulus funds would secure the salary for a third teacher.

"Those funds may be utilized," Ellenburg said, "as long as the class size is 25 students or less."

The board will act to hire an additional certified teacher to fill the kindergarten spot at a later date.

In other action, Bernie board members:

* approved of the district's CSIP Plan.

* approved the district's federal and fiscal management programs.

* approved the transfer of 2009 Guaranteed Tax Base and 2009 Transportation funds to the capital projects fund.

* reviewed the district's financial statement, paid bills and replenished routine petty cash.

In executive session, board members were notified of the reappointment of Debbie Freed to fill the elementary secretarial position vacated upon the retirement of 30-year veteran secretary Doris Turner, who was honored by the board this week. They also secured Denise McCord as a new bus driver for the school district.

In a special meeting of the board Wednesday night, board members accepted the residnation of high school business teacher, Carla Boulton and voted to hire Sharon Guy to fill that position for the 2009-10 school year.