NEW SUPERINTENDENT TAKES OVER IN JACKSON

JACKSON -- New superintendent of schools Dr. Ron Anderson attended his first Jackson Board of Education meeting Tuesday in his new position.

Anderson officially started his new job Monday, replacing Dr. Howard Jones, who retired. He will spend his first week visiting with staff and students at each school in the district and making community contact with civic and business organizations.

"I'm just getting familiar to some degree with all the programs and facilities," said Anderson during the meeting. "The community and staff seem to be very friendly and are helping my family to settle in."

Anderson said little during the meeting. Many of the agenda items were routine end-of-the-year items. June 30 is the end of the fiscal year.

Board members approved a $4,500 bid from AAC Irrigation to install an underground watering system on the high school football field. Also approved was a $59,492.86 bid from Krohnabrager Construction to build a new driveway entrance at the middle school.

The middle school project will be the third redesign for that building's driveway since the building was built. Assistant superintendent Dr. Terry Gibbons said the newest design was developed because heavy traffic build-up on the highway around the school poses a safety hazard to students.

The design lengthens the distance between the school's entrance and exit to reduce traffic build-up. Gibbons said contractors should complete the project before the school year begins.

"The last thing they will do is take out the existing driveway, just in case something happens and they are unable to complete the job in time," Gibbons said.

In other business, board members appointed assistant superintendent Fred Jones as the authorized representatives for state and federal programs for the 1999-2000 school year.

Jones also was authorized to submit applications for four state-funded programs for the coming school year. Three of the programs -- Parents-As-Teachers, an early childhood enrichment program; Technology Acquisition Program, which provides funding for purchase of technological equipment; and the VIDEO program, which supplies video rental tax monies to supplement educational programs -- all are continuing programs in the district.

The fourth program, the federal Class Size Reduction Program, was funded in May and will be new to the school district. The program is projected to provide federal funding for seven years to help school districts reduce class sizes in first, second and third grade classrooms.

"Our class sizes are not real high at this point. We're running around 19 to 20 in those grades," said Jones. "The goal is to get that to 18 or less per class in those grade levels."