“Those are rites of passage,” a concerned parent who wished to remain anonymous told the Neelyville School Board Thursday. Her child was banned from prom and other events because of a positive marijuana test she argues violated his Fourth Amendment rights.
She alleged the school’s handling of the situation deprived the student of key formative experiences. The parent asserted the current laws for random, suspicionless drug testing only apply to students participating in extracurricular activities.
Her child was not involved in any sports or clubs but was randomly tested anyway. She contended this violated his Fourth Amendment rights.
In a separate phone interview, the parent described repeated attempts to contact school administrators to have the student re-tested in advance of prom. Ultimately, her child was not permitted to attend.
The parent presented the situation to the school board and asked them to revisit the district’s drug testing policy to prevent this from happening in the future. The board assented and promised to re-examine the policy for compliance with the law.
When contacted after the meeting, Superintendent Heather Black said she could not comment on a confidential student matter.
In other business, the board discussed the impact of the passage of Senate Bill 727 and its increased minimum salary requirements.
“Ultimately the burden falls on the school,” Black explained.
Member Paul Petty said the increase in salary forces consolidation if smaller districts cannot pay for the raise. The bill mandates the minimum salary be $40,000 statewide. The current starting salary for Neelyville is $34,072.
“Some of the smaller districts, it’s going to put the whammy on them,” member Jack Stull stated.
Black said the increased financial strain will likely push the board to seek a tax levy to afford the new salaries.
For facilities and maintenance, board members discussed the results of the recent bleacher inspection. The inspection company recommended new safety straps for the basketball goal and widening the aisles. Widening of the aisles would cost $7,000 each.
The board voted to hire the company to fix the straps but chose to wait for more information on the aisles.
Member Marco Gavino suggested the district have the fire department inspect the aisles for ease of egress to avoid liability.
The board shifted the date of the surplus auction to June 7 and removed a Kubota diesel zero-turn mower from the list of items.
For the ongoing bus purchase effort, members voted to accept a $143,872 bid for a Blue Bird bus from Central States Bus Sales.
The board discussed the possibility of repairing the scoreboards and building new bathrooms for the baseball field. Members decided to seek more information and quotes from service technicians for the scoreboards.
Regarding the expense of building new bathrooms, the board agreed it was premature to seek bids given the increased financial obligation of raised teacher salaries.
The board voted unanimously on all issues. Jill McGruder was not in attendance. The next meeting will held June 25.