The Smyrna Board of Education said goodbye to a former board member on Oct. 21, while a current board member announced her plans to run for a third term on the school board.
After the end of last week’s board meeting at North Elementary School, Board President Chris Malec said she will run for re-election in May.
“There’s still so much work to do with the construction,” she said. “I think it’s important to continue with the continuity we’ve had.”
Board accepts Barkley’s resignation
Earlier in the evening, the school board formally accepted the resignation of former board member Ginger Barkley, who resigned on Oct. 14 before starting a secretarial position at Smyrna High School.
“I’d just like to thank you for the past two-and-a-half years,” Board President Chris Malec said to Barkley, who was in the audience at the meeting. “While it’s the high school’s privilege to have you working there, it’s our loss.”
“It’s certainly not what I envisioned three years ago, but family comes first,” Barkley said in response.
Barkley also thanked the board and said she learned a lot from the experience.
Due to Barkley’s resignation, the school board will appoint a fifth member to fill the vacant seat through June of 2010.
The school district is currently accepting applications for the open seat on the school board. Applications are available at the Smyrna School District Central Office at 82 Monrovia Ave. The deadline to submit an application is 4 p.m. on Nov. 2.
As part the next school board election in May of 2010, a special election will be held to fill the final two years of Barkley’s five-year term. Board President Chris Malec’s seat will also be up for election.
Board approves $83,000 in change orders
In other action, the school board approved a list of four change orders for the ongoing construction at Smyrna High School.
A $22,614 change order was approved for the Advantech contract at the high school.
The other three, which totaled $60,529, dealt with the general construction contract with Whiting-Turner. These change orders address a variety of site issues encountered in the construction at the high school.
Those three change orders brought the total cost of change orders on the Whiting-Turner contract to about $518,000, said district Finance Director Jerry Gallagher.
Bid awarded for irrigation improvements
The board also awarded a construction bid to for enhancements to the irrigation system for the sports fields at the high school.
