After a bit of a bumpy ride, North Pike finally got a smooth road ahead.
Superintendent Dennis Penton told board members Thursday that repaving had been completed on the portion of the main campus’s ring road that runs in fromnt of the new upper elementary school.
“It’s nice and smooth,” Penton said. “The company did a great job. If there’s a silver lining to being out of school, it’s that we were able to finish that road.”
After spending months advertising for bids and not receiving any, then begging the Pike County Board of Supervisors to help pave the road, North Pike got the assistance in February of new county road manager Wendell Alexander to solicit bids.
After that, North Pike awarded an $84,300 contract to Warren and Warren Asphalt Paving in March.
While school officials know that schools, closed since mid-March, will not open again before this school year ends, the next school year is up in the air.
“The guidance about when we can start school keeps changing,” Penton told board members. “We’re waiting on the powers that be, and they don’t have any information, either. We will keep parents as informed as we can.”
South Pike officials on Thursday said they are aiming to open to students as scheduled on Aug. 6, but will be flexible as needed.
In other business, the North Pike board:
• Enacted a grading, promotion and retention policy for this school year which allows students to improve their grades by turning in missing assignments and work packets. Students who do not turn in those assignments and did not have passing grades before schools were closed will be considered by a faculty evaluation team.
• Enacted a payment deferment policy on 16th Section land leases, which will expire when state emergency orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic are lifted. The policy does not apply to leaseholders whose payments were delinquent before the emergency orders were issued.
• Gave Penton permission to determine essential personnel as needed.
• Approved a summer learning and enrichment program, contingent on the availability of state funding.
• Noted $1.8 million gained from timber sales in the past nine years.
• Accepted the lone bid received for a hunting and fishing lease on a tract of 16th Section land.
• Decided to seek quotes for liquid propane gas supply.
• Set the district budget hearing for 5 p.m. on June 25.
