February 13, 2015 | Pleasant Grove School Board met on February 13, 2015 at 5:30 pm discuss various agenda items – but most important was the potential bond election item.
Bond Election
Pleasant Grove School Board voted unanimously to hold a bond election on May 9, 2015, stated Kathleen Young, the President of Pleasant Grove School Board.
After the school board called the bond election, the school cannot spend money to promote a Yes vote. That is where the Political Action Committee comes in.
The political action committee is now in charge. The Political Action committee is a campaign committee. The committee members go out to raise money to get the signage, brochures, and websites to get all the information out to the voting public.
The committee also is in charge of getting the word out to get voters of the community know that we are having an election, where to vote, and early voting days.
Joan Carter and Danielle Patterson are chairwomen of the Political Action Committee.
“The difference from last year to this year is everything. Many potential voters said they did not know about the election. They did not know where to vote. Some people just did not want to get out to vote on Saturday. This time people will not be able to say that we did not know we had an election. We will have people walking the streets and putting up signs in the community,” stated Patterson.
The language on the ballot will not include a particular location. “If the election were to pass, the money would go to building a school on the Bringle Lake Property,” stated Young.
Further, the school board has not picked a design yet. “The architects proposed several options at the community meeting, but these designs were only preliminary that the architects knew would fit the property. At this point, the board has not decided which design. After that, we would have to figure out the particulars we would want,” stated Young.
To review the specifics of the bond election, please see our article – http://txktoday.com/news/second-community-meeting-discusses-new-site-pleaseant-grove-elementary-school/
Other Agenda Items
The board meeting started off with an awards presentation to students and businesses in the community.
“Although that was a huge focus last night, we voted in favor of other agenda items that advanced improvement in our Career and Technology Education (CTE) programs and our special education programs. The board approved the purchase of CTE equipment in the amount of $14,249.21. The equipment will be used to set up a separate WiFi network with WiFi wireless access points exclusively for CTE classrooms to better serve iPad usage,” stated Young.
Also, Rick Patrick made a presentation to the board describing the bandwidth problem at the schools. “We need more and don’t have enough right now. We are working to improve that. Rick Patrick just showed the bandwidth usage and why we have a need. He will have prices at the next meeting,” stated Young.
The board also approved the purchase of SuccessEd software. The first year implementation will be $20,479.45 and second year and forward cost is $9,479.45.
“This software will provide PG’s special education program a full web-based software access for unlimited number of users to IEP (individualized education program) meeting forms, supplements, reports, automated instructional arrangement/speech count calculations, compliance calendars, printing of schedule of services and state testing accommodations. Will also provide 504* and ESL (English as a Second Language) record management tools,” stated Young.
*504 – requires school district to provide public education to each qualified student with a disability who is in the school districts jurisdiction. Educational services are designed to meet student’s individual educational needs as adequately as the needs of a non-disabled students are met.
