Meal increase at Taylor County schools tabled until next meeting

Pictured here, marching in the West Virginia Memorial Day Parade, is Pam Bennett with the Grafton Volunteer Fire Department K-9 Search and Rescue Unit. The Taylor County Board of Education waived the fee for the use of Camp Towles for the Unit’s scheduled training session in October.

PRUNTYTOWN – The agenda for the Tuesday, June 12 meeting of the Taylor County Board of Education listed an increase of .05 cents for student lunch and breakfasts, and a .10-cent increase for adult lunch and breakfasts in Taylor County Schools.

Board member, Melissa Knotts expressed concern that this increase is in order to recuperate the costs from delinquent lunch bills in the county.

Annette Hughart, Taylor County Board of Education Treasurer, explained that the increase is not to offset delinquent accounts, but to get closer to the costs of covering each meal. Hughart indicated that with the increase, it still does not come close to covering the cost of each meal.

At the request of board members, Hughart and Taylor County Superintendent of Schools, Bob Maynard, will gather information concerning any recent increases the board has implemented, and the costs of meals in comparable neighboring counties. With that information in hand, the board will make a decision at its Friday, June 15 meeting.

Pam Bennett with the Grafton Volunteer Fire Department K-9 Unit, has been granted permission to use Camp Towles for training. The request was granted at the April 24 meeting, but, on this agenda, is a request from the organization to waive, or lower, the fees for the use of the camp. It costs $175 per day to use the facility, and Bennett is scheduled to be at the facility from October 31, through November 4.

Taylor County Board of Education Vice-President, Richard Teagarden stated, “I think this is a great thing, but they love what they are doing. They should have requested the waiver when the request was first made to use the site. If we say yes to them, it is going to come back to bite us later.”

Teagarden was referring to the possibility of other requests to use the facility will come with the same request, and that each request would have to be dealt with on an individual basis.

“We do a lot of things on a one-on-one basis,” stated board president Nancy Ludwick. “They save lives. I’m in favor of waiving the fee because they do what they do. They are serving the community, they are serving everybody.”

“4-H is free, the Memorial Day Committee gets an insurance waiver for the use of Taylor County Middle School,” stated Maynard. “There are other instances where the fees have been waived.”

“I have no problems waiving it, it’s a service that is priceless,” stated board member Alan DePiano.

“I see Dick’s point,” stated Knotts. “It will probably open the doors for other requests, but that’s my job.”

DePiano then made a motion that the fee be waived, the motion was seconded by Ludwick.

The motion passed with Teagarden casting the only nay vote.

Taylor County Board of Education Director of Curriculum Instruction, Linda Casto, advised the board of the various professional development sessions planned for this summer. Casto requested that the board approve a monthly two-hour early dismissal each month for professional development, as an alternative to the five three-hour early dismissals each year. Board members informed Casto that they will take this into consideration. The request has been placed on the agenda for today’s meting at 5 p.m.

Board member, Julie Gregory reported that the Taylor County Public Library Board of Directors met recently. Gregory informed the board that the new roof on the facility has been installed, and that the library made over $600 during the Spring Book Sale.