COMMENTS:

Board Members answering roll call: Coleman, Harris, Stubblefield, Gooden, and Nelson. (Moore arrived during the Examples of Excellence.)

Cairo Elementary Dean of Students Regina Brown was responsible for "Examples of Excellence".

No one asked to address the BOE during the "Public/Private Hearings" section.

However, Superintendent Andrea Evers introduced a representative of the District's architectural firm (Mr. Hotze) to report on a proposed renovation of the two restrooms in the lobby area near the gymnasium in order to bring them "up to code" under the American Disabilities Act. This will be an extensive renovation costing in the neighborhood of $200,000.

A lengthy presentation was peppered with several questions and answers. The main points covered were:

• This is not a "cosmetic makeover". It will involved significant construction, hence the cost.

• The District is not in violation of ADA requirements, since it is "grandfathered in" due to the age of building. But, the District is not in compliance. This means that the District does not have to make the renovations at this time, but, if any repairs needed to be made to the restrooms in the future, the ADA issues would have to be addressed. (No example was given, but, let's say that the gas hot water heater at your house goes bad. When the plumber arrives to replace it, he/she will be required to follow the current plumbing code. In my personal experience, that was going to require changing the gas venting, running a new separate vent from the basement out through the roof instead of the existing system of sharing the furnace vent. This "bringing me up to code" was going to be a prohibitive cost, prodding me to switch over to an electric water heater.)

• The District is not obligated to make the renovations now, but...tick, tick, tick.

• In a bit of good news, if the District makes the gym lobby restrooms ADA compliant, it will not have to renovate the bathrooms in the remainder of the building.

The BOE voted "Approval of Consent Agenda" as one motion with no questions or discussion.

The BOE voted to enter Closed Session at 6:55 p.m. The BOE voted to exit Closed Session at 9:26 p.m. (Vernon Stubblefield left during closed session.)

The BOE voted to approve the items on the amended agenda under "Requiring Action/Decision By Board of Education" (including bidding the CJSHS bathroom remodeling project) with one exception:

• Tabled until August the decision on getting a new Drivers Education car. (It was noted during the earlier open session that the current vehicle - also used for transporting students to extracurricular activities - was still serviceable, although the years and miles are mounting.)

Under "(3)f", the BOE voted to take out a $500,000 15-month CD at Southern Bank.

Under Old Business:

• The BOE set June 18th as the date to conduct an evaluation of the Superintendent.

• They tabled the selection of a contract negotiations team until the April meeting due to the departure of Vernon Stubblefield.

• During her "Informational" spot on the agenda, Superintendent Evers had indicated that there was still no news on the District's outstanding grant applications. She is still hopeful.

• The topic of "School Resource Officer" was tabled until next month's meeting.

The BOE voted to adjourn at 9:35 p.m.

To read the unofficial minutes of the February 15th Regular BOE Meeting...