Hulbert School Board approves new maternity policy

Aug. 15—On Monday, Aug. 14, the Hulbert Public Schools Board of Education met to discuss the approval of a new maternity policy, as well as repairs to roofs.

The board discussed a contract with DK Haney Roofing Inc. to provide services to repair the ag and wrestling buildings.

Hulbert Superintendent Jolyn Choate said she was in favor of the repairs for the ag building, since the insurance money the school has received already covers the ag building, but not the wrestling facility. Choate said the upper elementary's repairs have been delayed, but after the upper elementary roof is completed, the crew will move on to the lower elementary.

"In case they got finished with those things before the next board meeting,I wanted to have another job for them to do, and it is the ag building that was the next thing, if you did a hierarchy of needs," said Choate.

Services for the ag building were approved, but services for the wrestling building will be revisited at a later meeting.

The board approved the sanctioning of the ag, softball, baseball, football, and basketball booster clubs, as well as the expected expenses and income from fundraisers for the 2024 school year.

Choate said the board will see an application with each extracurricular's fundraisers to show what expenses and income the group has throughout the year.

"It's just so the board has a good idea about what it is they're doing with their money," said Choate.

The board approved the 2023-'24 negotiated agreement, as well as the extra duty stipend and assignments for the 2024 school year.

The support personal salary schedule was approved for the upcoming school year, which will provide a raise of $1,500 for each employee. Since the school year has not started yet, Choate said employees will receive their first check in August, unless they are 12-month employees; in that instance, they have already received the first raise.

The transferring of funds in the amount of $998.97 from the activity account to the miscellaneous account was approved. Choate said when the Class of 2023 went on a Senior Trip to Dallas, a shooting took place in that state. While the incident did not occur even in the same county where Hulbert students were based, a misunderstanding did take place.

"They happened to be at a movie theater and someone said, 'Someone is firing a gun,' 'Someone is shooting,' and it caused chaos. They left. My kids, my sponsors, my principal they evacuated [from the movie theater]," said Choate.

Since the event was traumatic for the group, Choate said the trip ended early and everyone was brought back home.

"Now we found out hours later that there was no gun, there was nothing, but it still doesn't matter: You've lived through it like there was," said Choate.

The group was supposed to participate in another event the following day, so the sponsors worked to get a refund for both the movie and the other activity. One of the activities was refunded before the school year was out, and was divided among the senior class in the form of gift cards. Since the next refund came back during this school year, the money was placed in the account for the senior Class of 2030.

"Instead of it just benefiting the sixth grade, if we put it into the miscellaneous account, it will benefit all of the students because it's a student account," said Choate.

Multiple policies were approved for changes to be made to the Hulbert School Board policies.

Four of the policies discussed related to the maternity leave policy.

"The state passed a law that says you have to give a person that has been employed for a year or served 1,250 hours inside of that year, [then] if they have a baby, they get [six weeks of] maternity leave," said Choate.

One of the policies involved the school's transportation, which will now allow for Hulbert school buses to travel outside of their boundaries and into other districts. The last two policies dealt with adding verbiage that will allow the continuation of school board meetings to offer the chance for attendees to sign up to speak at meetings.

After the board reconvened from the executive session, several positions were approved including Melissa Lamons as the school nurse, Donna Kilpatrick, Lindsay Scott, and Whitney Mannon as paraprofessionals, Sandra Malicoat and Corean Cearley custodians, as well as several contracts for summer work and certified and non-certified positions.

What's next

The Hulbert School Board of Education will meet again Sept. 11, at 5:30 p.m. at the school's auditorium.