South Pike Junior High School principal Warren Eyster nodded vigorously and pumped his fists in the air early in the school board’s meeting Thursday morning.
He was rightly proud of overseeing the school where two of the district’s three employees of the year come to work every day.
“Are you going to be able to get your head out the door?” Superintendent Dr. Donna Scott jokingly asked Eyster after the presentations were over.
“I don’t know,” he replied.
Eyster had just seen eighth-grade science teacher Candace Morris named teacher of the year and school secretary Leola Givens named the classified employee of the year, in the first year classified employees received such recognition from South Pike.
Osyka Elementary School principal Angela Lowery won the district’s administrator of the year award. Osyka has been the district’s highest-rated school for several years.
The other schools’ teachers of the year included Shelby Tobias of Eva Gordon Lower Elementary School; Allison Flippin of Eva Gordon Upper Elementary School; Charvantis Lee of Osyka Elementary School; LaTonja Lenard of South Pike High School; Dustin Dunn of the South Pike Career and Technical Center; and Jessie Caston of the alternative school.
The classified employees of the year from each school and department included Grace Taplin, Eva Gordon Lower; Raynold Magee, Eva Gordon Upper; Debbie Gill, Osyka; DeMontraney Lee, the high school; Kendra Fortenberry, Career and Technical Center; TeCarlos Turner, transportation department; Tammy Felder of the maintenance department; and Debra Payne of the child nutrition department.
In other business, the board:
• Approved minor updates to the district’s COVID-19 emergency plan.
• Approved advertising for sealed bids for depository services for up to three years.
• Approved the same salaries for administrators and department heads for next year. An effort to create new salary scales for those positions has not been completed.
• Approved a $5,000 salary supplement for high school assistant principal Montrell Moore, who is now also overseeing the alternative school. Former alternative school director Joe Leavy resigned in January.
• Paid $3,524 to the Walthall County School District as their part of shared 16th Section lands between the two districts.
• Accepted an anonymous donation of $5,000 to the athletic department, as well as $650 in donations to the high school from the Class of 2005 and board members Eva Andrews and Clara Conerly.
• Rehired administrators for the next year.
• Noted the impending retirements of teacher Mickey Morris and assistant teachers Judith Davis and Shirley Harrell.
• Accepted the resignations of teachers Katrina Sartin and Kiara Johnson-Gaines and high school secretary Tonya Vaughn Scott.
• Hired Sandra Young as high school secretary and approved Brinson Johnson and Damario Richards as clock operators for athletic events.
