The Columbia school board had a hard time finding a solution on how to pay crossing guards but ultimately decided on two hours a day for $11 per hour.
Crossing guards were previously under the employment of the police department and were being paid for three hours of work per day at around $30 per day, despite only spending roughly an hour on the street. The employment recently transferred to the school district, which is legally unable to provide the same pay grade.
Superintendent Jason Harris began the discussion during its Oct. 11 meeting at Columbia Primary School with proposing the crossing guards work 30 minutes in the morning and the afternoon, but after a long discussion the board decided it was impractical because it would be hard to find people willing to only get paid for one hour a day. Rather the board settled on crossing guards working one hour in both the morning and the afternoon while making $11 an hour.
The board also approved a memorandum of understanding with the Pearl River Valley Opportunity Head Start program to potentially add another pre-K class to Columbia Primary School. The goal is to fill a full class of 20 next school year with the reinstated program. The district had previously cancelled the program but feels better about bringing it back because the memorandum requires PRVO to staff a certified teacher and a certified teacher assistant; whereas, the previous agreement did not, according to Superintendent Jason Harris.
“We weren’t satisfied with what Head Start was producing because the students weren’t prepared. We decided to pull out of the agreement then. There were a lot of different things that just weren’t going right,” Board of Trustees President Marie Sheppard added. “They approached Dr. Harris recently and were more willing to see things our way. We want the students to be prepared. This agreement is much better thought out than in years past.”
The board also approved the hiring of Allison Handshaw, Columbia High School special education teacher assistant; Jonathan Nolan, maintenance worker; Karen Vinson, secretary/bookkeeper for special services; and Mary Broom, Sherry Broom, Amber Brown, Connie Callahan, Michelle Dunaway, Michelle Fish, Porsha Owokunle, Shiya Reed, Arthur Thompson and Samantha Stauffer as substitute teachers, pending current background checks.
Columbia Elementary School Principal Robbie White honored four teachers during the meeting, beginning with third-grade teacher Taylor McCain, whose class had the high proficiency percentage in language arts; interventionist Ashley Montgomery, whose class had the highest proficiency percentage in math with seven students receiving a perfect score; Danielle Whittington, whose class had the highest growth rate in language arts; and Melissa Herring, whose class had the highest growth rate in math.
According to Columbia High School Athletic Director Loren Monk, the soccer season is set to begin Nov. 9 against Pearl River Central, and the girls team has 21 players and the boys team has 20. The seventh-grade football team went undefeated and the eighth-grade squad had just one loss. Also, the cheerleading team will be competing for state on Dec. 15. Columbia also is expecting to remain a 3A school after submitting a student base of 455.
Harris also announced Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum will be addressing the junior and senior classes at Columbia High School Nov. 6.
“It’s not often you get to have a major university president come and take the time out, so we’re very excited to have him,” he said.
