Interim Superintendent Provides Update to Lovelady School Board

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

LOVELADY – While school may be out for the summer, the business of running a school district continues.

After former Lovelady ISD Superintendent Dr. Micah Dyer resigned to accept the superintendent’s position in Cuero ISD, the Lovelady Board of Trustees selected John Reynolds to lead the district on an interim basis.

Reynolds has nearly five decades of service in public education in a variety of roles and had previously served as the Lovelady ISD superintendent before he moved to the Region VI Education Service Center.

In his second stint in Lovelady, Reynolds has been assisting the board in its search to find a permanent superintendent for the district and has facilitated several called meetings to narrow the field of applicants.

On Monday, June 19, however, the Lovelady ISD board held its regularly scheduled meeting and Reynolds provided the trustees with an overview of his observations, thus far.

After the meeting was called to order by the interim superintendent, the first item of business was the approval of consent agenda items.

Once the board members had a chance to look over the minutes from the previous meeting, the bills accrued by the district and the district’s revenues and expenditures, a motion was made, seconded and the consent agenda items were approved.

The next item addressed pertained to the high school gym floor. Reynolds said he had been in contact with a vendor about sanding the floor down to the original material and having it re-finished. He cautioned, however, if the board wanted to proceed with that course of action, a decision would be needed very soon.

Several minutes of discussion were held about the cost of the project and what exactly it would entail. As the discussion continued, it was pointed out the bleachers also needed repair/renovation and if the floor was resurfaced this summer and the bleachers were renovated after the 2017-2018 school year, there was no guarantee the floor would not be damaged during the course of the bleacher project.

The floor, Reynolds said, was still in fairly good shape and could withstand a few more seasons of action. As a result, the board decided to postpone the floor re-surfacing until a later date.

Following the floor discussion, the next agenda item brought forward pertained to the appointment of someone other than the board secretary to keep minutes during the open portion of board meetings.

With very little discussion, Personnel Director Cindi Burleson was selected to keep the minutes in open session while Board Secretary Chris Starnes will continue to keep the minutes when the board is in executive session.

In other matters brought before the trustees:

• The first reading of TASB Policy Update 108 was held.
• Reynolds provided the board with the status on various maintenance projects underway during the summer months.
• A dialogue was held about the district’s current financial status which indicated the school system was fiscally sound but because of monies owed to it by the state, Reynolds cautioned an issue with the district’s cash flow might arise.
• It was recommended that guidelines and procedures be established for the various booster clubs and fund raising activities held in the district.

 

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].