Local News – Friday, January 21st, 2022

The Salem R-80 Board of Education met Thursday evening at the High School Library. At the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Lynne Reed said three candidates have filed for the two open positions on the R-80 School Board: Sandy Parker, Phillip Mercer and Calvin Malone. Incumbents Dustin Howard and Bernie Sirois elected not to run again. Reed said all the school districts discussed the 2022-2023 school calendar and came up with three different options, but no decisions were reached. Reed stated she would report on this at the next meeting. Reed said she met with food service staff in anticipation of the board discussing possibly letting out an RFP for food service to discuss what options would be available for current staff. All the principals gave reports on their school. Dr. Tori Snitker told the board the high school is revamping the alternative school program that affects about five kids, opening up their afternoons to let them pursue more career-oriented paths. The board did not set any dates for the CSIP program and will await a guidance letter from DESE before setting any definitive dates. The board approved the bid on replacing the gymnasium floor from Missouri Floor Company in Maryland Heights for $162,900. The bid includes a completion date by August 5th. The price increased over the last few weeks due to the increased costs of the subfloor and Assistant Athletic Director Clay Moody said the school would put out bids for a flooring sponsor for 10 years and possible for new mats to help offset the increased costs. The board heard from Tonya Voss from Opaa Food Management about putting out a request for proposals to do the food service work for R-80. Superintendent Reed said current food service workers could stay with the district or work for the food service company, whichever would be best for them. Reed said if the board would elect to contract out food services, she said the contract would begin May 31st to allow the company a soft opening with summer school before the next full school year. The board asked if the food service management companies would work with US Foods and Voss said that could be arranged. Reed said the soonest the board could vote on any RFP would be at the March board meeting. The board approved to put out the request for proposals for the food service. The board discussed at length the Safe Return In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan and finally decided to go with any student or staff testing positive for COVID-19 would have to be isolated. Those students who came in close contact with someone who tested positive would have their parents notified, and it would be the parent’s choice if the asymptomatic child returned to school or stayed home, and if they did go back, if would be up to the parent if the child should wear a mask. The board accepted the resignations of High School Junior Class Sponsor Robyn Taylor and Linda Gibbs in food service. The board heard from Pamela Haldiman from FEMA about a grant to create a public area/multipurpose building at the Upper Elementary School that would cost 2.7 million dollars. She said the board would need to apply for procurement documents and contract management to fill out, and then submit an application to FEMA for the grant which is a 75-25 match. It normally takes over a year for FEMA to review the grant application, and if approved, the board would have six months to prepare the documents to finish Phase 1 of the funding. Once that was approved, the school would have 30 months to bid and build the project in Phase 2. The government would pick up $2,025,000 of the building cost while the school would have to come up with $675,000. The board approved moving forward with the FEMA project. The board then went into closed session.