A chunk of land which belongs to the McComb School Districtmay soon be a hotbed of activity of oil exploration.
School trustees on Tuesday accepted a bid from E.B. Germanyand Son Oil Company for a lease on nearly 600 acres of school-owned16th Section land off Martin Road. The School District will receivea payment of $22,400 plus an initial one-sixth royalty interestin oil production in the McComb Field.
The board opted to advertise the land for lease several monthsago after there was "some renewed interest" in oil productionin the area, Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper said.
Germany Oil of Dallas is planning to re-open the McComb Field,recovering oil still in the ground with enhanced technology.
McComb attorney Norman Gillis and Todd Middleton, who willmanage the filed, represented the oil company at the bid openingTuesday.
"I thank you for riding this thing out," Gillis said."I think it's going to be a great advantage for everyone,especially the kids in the district."
School Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper said, "We'rereal happy. We all had to compromise, but we felt like we neededto get as much for the school district and kids as possible."
The board unanimously accepted the sole bid from Germany. Coopersaid he doesn't know how soon work in the field may start.
In another matter, architect Bruce Wood of Jackson told trusteesthat estimates for adding classrooms at Otken and Kennedy elementaryschools are much higher than the targeted budget of $1,011,000.Wood presented several construction options to the board, butall were $200,000-$400,000 more than trustees had planned to spend.
The board wants to add eight classrooms at Otken and four atKennedy to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio beginning next schoolyear. Preliminary plans also call for a 4,000-square-foot multipurposeroom, which could serve as four additional classrooms, more parkingspace and a front entrance at Kennedy.
Trustees asked Wood to rework the plans and eliminate someof the "non-instructional" improvements in an effortto get closer to the $1,011,000 budget. He'll present thenew plans to the board in January.
Cooper said the delay will mean waiting until the second semesterof next year to begin reducing the elementary class sizes.
In other business, the board:
Heard a presentation from Dr. Billy Ray Stokes of theCivitan Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.Stokes will head up a research project to identify available servicesfor pre-schoolers.
Stokes cited various research which concludes that when childrenare involved with some-type of pre-school learning program frombirth to age 4, they become better students with higher IQs.
"Our goal is to try to figure out as a community how tomake sure this group is being served before they get to Otken,"Cooper said.
The McComb project will be similar to studies Stokes has donefor Meridian-Lauderdale County schools and Alabama schools. "Itis based on making sure the community identifies and can providepre-school services to children from impoverished backgrounds,"Stokes said. He added that a coalition of local doctors, teachersand childcare providers will form to address the local problemsidentified.
The project will begin in January and last six months. "We'renot planning to serve this group, but we want to try to make surethey're being served," Cooper said.
The $32,000 one-time funding for the study will come from theschool district's existing health-related grants, includingBellSouth, the Phil Hardin Foundation and from the Departmentof Education, Cooper said.
Honored Denman Junior High School principal Ruby Husbandas administrator of the year. Joining Husband at the meeting wereseveral Denman teachers and staff members. They praised her work,calling her "one of the greatest people ever" and "thebest thing that's ever happened to Denman."
Trustees presented Husband with a plaque and a poinsettia.
Approved an interlocal agreement for resurfacing thehigh school track. The agreement, however, is nil because theMcComb Board of Selectmen voted against sharing the $45,000 costof repairing the track. The school board later agreed to advertisefor bids to get the work done.
Approved transfer of three students from the North PikeSchool District. They are the children of a McComb School Districtemployee. The also approved letting a North Pike homestudy studenttake three classes at McComb High School.
