Limestone board discusses legal matter, OKs principal contracts, personnel

Published 2:00 am Friday, July 1, 2011

Limestone County school board members went into executive session during their regular monthly meeting Thursday to discuss what board member Bret McGill called “an issue likely to be litigated but not yet litigated.”

The board returned to open session and took no action on the matter, which subject of which they did not disclose. Under Alabama law, the board is allowed to discuss legal matters in private but any action must be held in public.

In other action Thursday, board members approved five principal contracts and approved a number of new personnel and personnel transfers during their regular monthly meeting Thursday. Before the end of the school year, the board pink-slipped all first- and second-year teachers and then rehired only those it needed. It also moved some tenured teachers to jobs in other schools and transferred other teachers and employees amid recent budget cuts.

Here is a synopsis of action:

• Approved four new positions, including a bus driver and bus driver aide for Blue Springs Elementary School, an itinerant special-education instructional assistant for Blue Springs Elementary and Clements High School, and a special-education inclusion assistant at Creekside Elementary School;

• Approved three-year contracts for Stan Davis at Elkmont High School, Mickey Glass at Career Technical Center, Harold Johns at Cedar Hill Elementary School, Billy Owens at Tanner High School and Donald Wilson at Clements High School. The board recently agreed to switch Davis and Glass at those two schools.

Also, board members agreed to hire new personnel for the 2011-12 school year at each of the following schools:

• Ardmore High School: Leigh Ann Brown as guidance counselor at Ardmore High School, Jerry Fulks as social science teacher at Ardmore, Sonia Hasting as library assistant, Tim Jones as special education inclusion assistant at Ardmore, Clint Legg as social science teacher at Ardmore, Clint Putman as science teacher at Ardmore, Janet Roop as science teacher at Ardmore and Andrew Smith as mathematics teacher at Ardmore;

• Blue Springs Elementary School:  Tammy Hammond as secretary/bookkeeper, Ramona Kephart as elementary teacher, Krista Manning as collaborative teacher and Kerrie Pepper as physical education teacher;

• Cedar Hill Elementary School: Tonya Dykes as CNP worker/assistant;

• Clements High School: Steve Britton as social science teacher, Kim Evans as guidance counselor assistant, Kim Evans as guidance counselor assistant, Pam Stafford as library assistant, Justin Thomas as special education inclusion assistant, and Katie Wilkerson as mathematics/language arts teacher;

• Creekside Elementary School: Colin Blakely as physical education teacher; Sharon Bunn as CNP worker/assistant, Melinda Haynes as special education inclusion assistant; Denise McManus as elementary teacher, Carolyn Owens at CNP worker/assistant, Laura Root as collaborative teacher; and Karen Skarp as elementary teacher;

• East Limestone High School: Bonnie Jacques as mathematics teacher, Lori Beth Johns as language arts teacher, Charles Pugh as collaborative teacher, Lisa Sanders as CNP worker/assistant, Traci Speer as guidance counselor and Sally Stanford as special education inclusion assistant;

• Elkmont High School: Kriston Cagle as elementary teacher, Garth Garris as social science and physical education teacher, Katherine Pankey as mathematics teacher, Ethan Whiteside as social science teacher and Kristina Young as itinerant speech language pathologist at Elkmont and Piney Chapel Elementary School; 

• Johnson Elementary School: Stephanie Smith as pre-kindergarten teacher and Shelia Travis as school nurse;

• Tanner High School: Sandra Malone as CNP worker/assistant and Dale Taylor as social science and drivers education teacher;

• West Limestone High School: Helen Thrasher as guidance counselor and Rickey Taylor as science teacher;

• Career Technical Center: Lanise Oligee as technical specialist

In other action, board members agreed to transfer the following personnel for the 2011-12 school year: Connie Colvett to special education inclusion assistant at Ardmore, Polly Crabtree to full-time CNP worker/assistant at Ardmore, Elayne Perkins to school nurse at Blue Springs, Kristin Bates to guidance counselor at Cedar Hill, Heather Crawford and Kristy Hogan to elementary teachers at Creekside, Teresa Wade to middle school math teacher at East Limestone, Beverly Gaston to elementary teacher at Elkmont, Nikki Magnusson to elementary teacher at Johnson, Lisa Beddingfield to full-time CNP worker/assistant at Owens; Tracy Tucker to middle school science teacher at Tanner, Rhonda Mitchell to CNP manager at West Limestone, and Donna Morris to 12-month guidance counselor and PASS coordinator at Career Tech Center;

Board members also took the following personnel action:

• Granted Sherry Baldwin’s request to retire as bus driver at Tanner;

• Granted Lloyd Birdwell’s request for extended leave of absence as custodian at Tanner;

• Granted leaves of absence to Lindsey Walton, elementary teacher at Creekside; Melanie Perry, gifted teacher at Career Tech Center; and Benny George as custodian at West Limestone;

• Agreed to hire Amy Troutman as a substitute for a language arts teacher at East Limestone for the 2011-12school year only.