Tanner Elementary students will have a cooler time at recess this fall, as the school has been approved to use a grant for new shade structures on its playground.

The nearly $15,000 grant from the Alabama Department of Public Health and Alabama Cancer Coalition will provide for two umbrella-style shade structures on the Tanner Elementary School playground. Beth Bates, the Tanner Elementary counselor who applied for the grant, said the shades measure 18 square feet each and are made of a fabric that will block some of the ultraviolet rays from the sun.

“I think it’ll really change the look of our facilities,” Bates said. “It’ll make it look a lot nicer, but it’ll also provide some relief from the heat and the sun in August, and again in the spring.”

The Limestone County Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the shade structures for Tanner. Bates said the original deadline for installation of the structures was the end of this month, but given delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, installation will likely occur later this summer.

Other business

In other business at the Tuesday board meeting, board members approved the following:

• Use of the Clements High baseball and softball fields by Clements recreational (booster) team for practice and games from June 10–July 2;

• Use of the Ardmore High softball fields by Southern Vortex 14U for practice from June 8 through July 2021, pending guidelines for timelines and social distancing from the Alabama State Department of Education superintendent;

• Use of the Piney Chapel Elementary outdoor fields by Southern Vortex 12U for softball practice from June 8 through July 2021, pending guidelines for timelines and social distancing from the ALSDE superintendent;

• Gifted program students in grades 6–8 traveling to McDowell Environmental Center in Nauvoo from Nov. 30–Dec. 2, pending travel restrictions by ALSDE;

• Gifted program students in grades 6–8 traveling Jan. 11–16, 2021, to Disney World in Orlando for leadership development activities, pending travel restrictions by ALSDE;

• Ardmore High cross country team traveling July 12–15 to Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville for team-building activities;

• Elkmont High incoming FFA officers traveling June 22–24 to Smith Lake in Cullman for FFA Officer Retreat;

• Personnel actions — 15 new positions, six resignations, 13 transfers, 27 new hires, 20 personnel contracts, four 21st Century Community Learning Center staff, nine supplements and special education restructuring;

• Special education department’s purchases of 22 Anywhere carts at a cost of $19,800, 480 Chromebooks with Google Chrome licenses at a cost of $127,641.60, 300 iPads at a cost of $88,200, 30 cartons of Brenthaven iPad cases at a cost of $10,485, 120 TeachTown Basic licenses at a cost of $28,680 and TeachTown Basic Training Webinar at a cost of $600, all from fiscal year 2018-2019 carry-over funds;

• Renewal of contract with Community Action Partnership of North Alabama for child nutrition program to provide reimbursable meals for Head Start;

• Purchase of scrub tops for all CNP employees at a cost of $19–$20 per top, not to exceed $10,000 total, paid for through CNP funds;

• Sugar Creek Elementary’s annual agreement with FranklinCovey for the Leader in Me membership at a cost of $5,000, paid through Title I funds;

• Renewal of SchoolinSites annual contract at a cost of $20,825;

• Renewal of Cognia (formerly AdvancED) membership at a cost of $19,200;

• Purchase of SPIRE for Dyslexia Intervention for grades K–12 at a cost of$17,636.95, paid for through state textbook funds;

• Annual subscription renewal of eBOARDsolutions Simbli Meetings Module at a cost of $9,100;

• Payment of annual Rave Panic Button fee in the amount of $3,465;

• Payment to SafeDefend for service plans and monitoring plan fees at total of $17,001.40 for seven locations — Ardmore High, Cedar Hill Elementary, Clements High, Elkmont High, Johnson Elementary, Piney Chapel Elementary and District Office Server/10 devices at district office;

• Career Technical Center’s purchase of kitchen cabinets for West Limestone High’s family and consumer sciences program at a cost of $12,700 and a cart with 30 Chromebooks for construction programs at a cost of $7,898, paid for through CTC Operations and Maintenance funds;

• Contract between Clements High and adidas America Inc, effective July 1;

• Purchase of full classroom pack to furnish new Creekside Pre-K No. 3 at a cost of $19,909.46, paid for through OSR Pre-K grant funds; and

• April 2020 bank reconciliation and financials.

Visit https://bit.ly/LCBOEagenda for the full agenda, including the complete list of personnel actions.