School board approves funding application

The Clovis Municipal Schools Board of Education met to approve six action items and consider one item in executive session Tuesday.

The board unanimously approved an application for IDEA-B funding, IDEA-B basic entitlement and preschool entitlement and sub-grant authorization for fiscal year 2015-2016.

“That’s basically the application that we fill out every year in order to get our money for special education,” said CMS Deputy Superintendent Cindy Martin. “This money also includes the money we get for gifted and talented students as well as students with disabilities.”

Member Terry Martin was not present for the following action items:

• The board unanimously approved revisions to the board policy regarding competitive food sales and vending machines at the schools. The policy follows U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional requirements for foods and beverages during the school day.

• The board unanimously approved the sale of six portable buildings located at Cameo Elementary, Highland Elementary, and James Bickley Elementary.

“We currently have 43 portable buildings of which 22 are empty, six are already located at the Ag farm,” said CMS Deputy Superintendent of Operations Carrie Bunce. “We are in the very near future — as we pursue building Parkview which has ten portable buildings — are going to have a large excess of portable buildings. So we are trying to be proactive in eliminating some of those now.”

• The board unanimously approved an information technology disaster recovery plan in order to prevent losing data in an emergency. Bunce said this was a requirement that was flagged on an audit.

• The board unanimously approved the cost for $45,750 for the second year of a three-year audit contract with Jaramillo Accounting Group, LLC. CMS Chief Financial Officer Shawna Russell said they anticipate starting the audit in less than two weeks.

• The board also unanimously approved the 2015-2016 salary schedules. Russell said there are no salary increases this year for employees other than those that are moving levels or degrees.

“With the exception of people that are reported on the training experience,” Russell said. “Those would be teachers, nurses, related service providers, counselors, those types of people. In order to report them we have to move them a step, and to move a step they have to have at least a dollar raise, so following best practice we gave a ten dollar raise per year.”

The members recessed for executive session to consider an “exceptional good cause” waiver for continued employment for an employee who finished course work but had not yet received a diploma for her master’s degree.

The members reconvened and unanimously approved the item.