Currently, out of the 15 COC Conference schools, Neosho R-5 School District is the only one that does not offer seventh grade track and field.
That all changed Monday night, as the Neosho R-5 School Board approved the proposal for the seventh grade track and field during its regular session, held at 7 p.m. at Neosho Middle School.
“The start-up cost will be a little bit, but not a lot,” said Dr. Richard Page, superintendent of the school district. “This will have 30, 40, maybe even 50 seventh graders and the cost is minimal, as far as the expenditure side. So it is really a benefit for our kids to be given that opportunity and now it fits us on the same level as the other schools that compete.”
According to board packet information, “The cost would consist of basically two areas: stipend and uniforms. The stipend cost would be two assistant junior high coaches at a current cost of 7 percent ($2,345) each, for a total of $4,690. There would be two coaches required due to the high number of kids in track and field and supervision requirements. The cost of uniforms would be an expense every four to five years. To start, new tops, bottoms, and sweats would be needed at an approximate cost of $2,800. This is an approximation for 60 students at the high end of
uniform/sweat cost. There would be no cost for travel or entry fees due to the fact that all meets are in conjunction with the eighth grade. The total cost of this program to start up would be approximately $7,490.”
In other business, the board voted to maintain the current salary schedule for certified staff.
“We are doing all that we can and I think that we are doing more than some and I think that is good,” Page said. “I think that the important part is that we needed to make sure that they did see some increase.”
Page stated that will amount to an average increase of 1.5 percent, although some teachers will not move a step and will receive the same salary as this past year.
The steps are $600 each.
“Total cost to the district is $260,000 for certified staff, about another $120,000 for classified staff and then another $66,000 for just the retirement contribution,” he said.
This is a total of $446,000.
The board also heard about the recent vote on the Wildcat logo and the results.
“We did not change it. We had three votes, one from student body, one from our community and one from teachers and staff,” Page said. “They got to vote on which logo that they wanted to keep.
Now it did not change our mascot, we are staying with the Wildcat and the logo is actually not changing either. The vote came back with the original logo, so our Wildcats is still our Wildcat.”
Also, the board approved for the cheerleaders to attend the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.
“It is good for us and good for the kids,” said Page.
During a 6 p.m. meeting, the board heard about the TDD, the transportation development district.
“No action on any of that tonight, it was a report given by a couple of the people working with the TDD and it was just kind of to inform the board with the newest changes, where they are in the process and kind of the timeline they are looking for,” Page said. “The board will probably need to get together before any kind of hearing about this committee to kind of show and determine their commitment and how much they want to commit toward the project. It is kind of back in the board’s hands on how much commitment they want to make, now that they have heard more of the updated information. My understanding is that the overall cost of the TDD has dropped considerably approximately $1 million.”
A TDD is a transportation development district, it is a political subdivision that would be created for infrastructure improvements around U.S. 60, Waldo Hatler Memorial Drive, and Hale McGinty Drive.
Neosho, Mo. —
