SCHOOLS PREPARE FOR NEW YEAR

JACKSON -- The Jackson Board of Education approved purchases in preparation for the next school year during its board meeting Tuesday night.

The board voted unanimously to accept the low bid from Crown Equipment Co. to rent with option to purchase a John Deere F935 tractor mower and equipment over three years for $10,055.47. The rental plan includes various maintenance guarantees each year.

Also approved was a total of $142,001.25 to purchase furniture and equipment for various buildings within the school district for the 1998-99 school year. Most of the funding for these purchases was allocated in bond issues passed for construction of the new Math and Science Building and South Elementary School.

Board members voted to allow Fred Jones, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, to submit an application for a Technology Acquisition Grant to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Each Missouri school district is entitled to $2,000 per district plus $3 for each student for each school year through this noncompetitive grant to provide enhanced technology access for students.

In all, the school district would receive $65,204 to purchase 30 new computers in the Jackson Middle School computer lab. The 28 computers already operating in the computer lab would be upgraded and moved to South Elementary School.

The state would provide $14,819 of that amount, with a matching amount provided by the school district. In addition, the district is required to set aside 20 percent of its state funding, or $8,891, for teacher and staff training.

In non action items, the board heard a presentation from the Jackson Multipurpose Building Committee. The committee was organized by the city's Board of Aldermen in February 1997 to study the feasibility of constructing a multipurpose building to serve the community.

Committee chair Dale Rauh asked board members to review their long-term goals for the district so that the design and usage of the multipurpose building would not duplicate any development plans for the district. He also asked the board to determine how the school district could best incorporate suggested areas of the center -- including a gymnasium, performing arts center, and aquatic area -- into its annual activities.

"We're now at a point where we're beginning to look at the content of the building," said Rauh. "We want to work together in optimizing the resources in our community, and obviously one of the oldest and most cherished organizations in our community is our school district."