School Board Appoints Trustee, Interim Principals
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Water Valley School Board members including Joseph Flippin (left) and Tonya Eubanks made several key appointments Monday night.
WATER VALLEY – The Water Valley School Board appointed Jeremy Warren to serve as Position One Trustee. The appointment came in a school board meeting Monday night to fill a vacancy after Jill Clark stepped down last month. Clark had served five years.
Warren will serve until a special election is held in November to elect a candidate to the position.
Board members Joseph Flippin, Tonya Eubanks, Kathryn York and Rodney Phillips also appointed Dr. Vickie Person to serve as interim principal at Water Valley High School and Lee Gray as interim principal at Davidson Elementary School. The appointments are for the remainder of the school year.
The appointment at the high school was made after Drew Pitcock was appointed to interim superintendent following the resignation of Jerry Williams. Pitcock has served as principal at the high school since 2015. The appointment at Davidson Elementary School was made after former principal James Watson was dismissed in October.
Drew Pitcock was appointed to serve as interim superintendent in December following the resignation of Jerry Williams.
Other action in Monday’s meeting included:
• Board members approved a recommendation from Pitcock to exempt the district from the 180 school day requirement. The exemption follows six days of missed school due to inclement weather earlier in January. The exemption will mean school will be in session for 174 days and students will not have to make up the missed days.
Pitcock reported the state testing calendar will be pushed back five days to accommodate for the missed days. He also told school board members that if there are additional days out of school due to an emergency or inclement weather, students will likely have to make up the days.
• Changed the check signing authority to remove the former superintendent and add Pitcock to sign school checks.
“We also are closing our accounts payable clearing account because we have had somebody counterfeit our checks,” Business Manager Randy Goodwin reported. “The bank has caught it. We are going to close that account and open a new accounts payable clearing account.”
Goodwin said the bank has received four counterfeit checks ranging from $3,500 to $4,700. He said the bogus checks had the school’s account number and routing number.
“They did not have our signature but they looked similar to our checks,” Goodwin added.
Goodwin also said he provided the bank with a list of outstanding check numbers on the account and Tyler Hill at BankFirst is checking each morning for additional counterfeit checks that could surface until the account is closed in the coming weeks.
• Received school improvement updates from Pitcock for Water Valley High School and Davidson Elementary School. The information was based on testing benchmarks.
• Approved a request to dispose of a school bus that caught fire late last year. Goodwin reported the school district has received payment from the insurance company. Goodwin told board members that a search is underway to find a used, replacement bus to purchase.
• Reviewed and revised school board policies.
