Quitman ISD board retains same officers

By Larry Tucker
editor@wood.cm
Posted 5/20/21

The Quitman ISD school board handled an abbreviated agenda Monday night in just 22 minutes.

After 2021 QHS valedictorian Kaitlynn Barnett and salutatorian Lucy Brannon led the pledges, the board …

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Quitman ISD board retains same officers

Posted

The Quitman ISD school board handled an abbreviated agenda Monday night in just 22 minutes.

After 2021 QHS valedictorian Kaitlynn Barnett and salutatorian Lucy Brannon led the pledges, the board quickly went to work.

Justice of the Peace, and former Quitman educator, Tony Gilbreath swore in newly-elected board members Jeremy Smith, Michael Hipp and Royce Patterson. All three were incumbents going into the election. 

That was followed by the election of new officers, all of which remained the same: Smith as president, Doug Cameron as vice president and Patterson as board secretary.

The board approved the purchase of a digital core curriculum from EdGenuity for $29,000.

New QHS Principal Justin Cowart said, “Currently we use a program called Plato and it hasn’t changed a whole lot over the past three or four years. The program we want to go to is more interactive and has a live teacher on screen. The teacher shows class work and actually work out math problems on the board. It is a lot more active and specific to the needs of our students.”

The board approved the purchase of a fourth and fifth grade reading curriculum. Elementary Principal Brittany Eldred presented the program to the board. “We have been using the program all year and the growth has been tremendous. It is definitely working and we are going to be doing summer school for all of the struggling readers as well,” Eldred said. The curriculum will be purchased for $24,845.

The substitute teacher program will become an online endeavor. The board approved the purchase of the program from Frontline Education for an annual fee of $13,230 with a one-time implementation fee of $7,280 to bring the first year fee to $20,510. Teachers will be able to go the site informing of their absence while also setting up the program for substitutes to respond. The system keeps an accurate record of dates, hours and other information substitutes will need for the classroom.