School board gets request for more tennis courts
Morgan County Tennis Association President Paula Osborne and Berkeley Springs High School tennis Coach Neil Heard requested additional tennis courts at the June 5 Morgan County School Board meeting.
They would like to host games at home and spend less time traveling. Heard said they spend three to four days a week on the road.
Players also have to sit and wait to practice due to the lack of courts and don’t get enough practice time. Heard said they practice Monday through Saturday for three to four hours a day.
The location they proposed for the tennis court construction is between Warm Springs Middle School and Warm Springs Intermediate School.
They could host tournaments and bring in money for the tennis program with more courts. They need four courts to have a home match. To host regional tournaments, six courts would be required.
One court would cost $12,000 to construct. With a fence, the cost would be $25,000, Heard said. They wouldn’t have to have lights.
“We would appreciate anything to be at home more,” Heard said.
Osborne said that grants were available to build tennis courts, but they needed matching funds. She was pretty sure it had to be a cash match, but would look into whether in-kind matches could be substituted.
Osborne and Heard also reported on the tennis program’s success. Heard said he had 32 kids that came out for tennis this year.
Osborne said the Morgan County Tennis Association taught an after-school program at Warm Springs Inter-mediate School that had six students involved. One is also planned for Warm Springs Middle School. They also taught teachers how to teach tennis.
Gymnasium building
The school board is proceeding with interviews and the selection process of an architect for the Berkeley Springs High School Building C (gymnasium building) renovations NEEDS project. They are also getting more cost estimates for the work, said School Treasurer Nancy White.
No decision has been made yet about how to fund the required $1.176 million local match for the renovations.
Facilities
The school board voted to award the bid for floor covering projects at Berkeley Springs High School and Warm Springs Middle School to Shenandoah Floors for a total of $60,018.25. The work includes the high school main building first floor hallway, main entryways and stair treads and the middle school band room, main office and designated classrooms.
The board also approved extending the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) preventative maintenance contract with Southern Air for three years at a base rate of $124,840. When not servicing HVAC equipment, the technician can assist with other maintenance needs.
Step 7 plan
The school board also okayed the rest of the Step 7 plan for the 2012-2013 school year. The total Step 7 allocation is $446,513.
Some $111,628 of the funding was approved at an April meeting for a reading specialist and alternative education teacher for Warm Springs Middle School.
The remainder of the Step 7 allocation—$334,885—funds the textbooks to technology program, the Pass program, James Rumsey Technical Institute, Morgan County Achieves, the summer enrichment program, school allocations, work-based learning and the AVID program.
Policy development
The board did a first reading for policies on computer technology and networks, student network/staff network and internet acceptable use and safety and electronic mail. The second reading and approval of this policy was scheduled for last night’s meeting.
A number of revised policies were also set for a first reading at last night’s meeting. Policies included discipline, suspension and expulsion, bullying, student hazing, anti-harassment, tobacco use, summer school, alternative education, use of county facilities, substance abuse prevention, diet modification and immunization.
The policies were being changed to align with state policies and regulations.
Out of State Travel
Paw Paw Elementary second and third graders were approved for a field trip to Hanover, Maryland to Medieval Times on May 10. The funding source was PTO and class funds.
Warm Springs Middle School students were also approved for a May 18 trip to Hershey Park.
A trip to Spain by Berkeley Springs High School students in teacher Neil Heard’s Spanish class from June 18 to July 2 was okayed, contingent upon students and teacher/parent chaperones that were going on the trip sign a waiver beforehand.
Other
The school board approved paying $2,164 for their fiscal year 2013 membership dues to the West Virginia School Board Association.
