ASHLAND — Ashland City Schools’ board of education unanimously approved the $358,800 construction of a new maintenance building at its meeting on Monday night.
Steve Paramore, the superintendent of Ashland City Schools, said the school sold some properties recently that will provide funding for the new building.
Ashland City Council approved the purchase of a Third Street building from the school district for $75,000 in June, according to previous Ashland Source reporting. The purchase agreement stated the city will not take over the Third Street structure until the school district’s new maintenance building is finished.
“[The new building] will be able to house everything that is housed at Third Street in a more modern setting,” Paramore said.
“The building is rather old… down at Third Street, so we were glad to part ways with that with the city, but they also were in agreement with a two-year time period to get this done. So, we’re moving rapidly here and that’s a great thing.”
Paramore said the new building will stand at 1407 Claremont Ave. It will store equipment like snow plows and lawnmowers.
He added that after the maintenance building’s construction, the district’s only outlying buildings will be Reagan and Edison.
“We don’t necessarily have a one-campus situation like some of our county’s schools have, but we’re pretty darn close, and several of our facilities are new,” Paramore said.
Paramore said the district doesn’t have a groundbreaking date for the project yet, but there will be a scope review with the architect on Tuesday.
The board also approved changes to the district’s handbooks as part of the superintendent’s consent calendar.
In the superintendent’s report, Paramore discussed new expectations parents will see in the handbooks for students’ behavior on buses. He said those additions were an executive decision from him.
The additions consist of behaviors that will prevent students from riding the buses. He cited use of profanity toward bus drivers as an example.
“We love our kids a lot, but I want them to understand that it is a life skill to ride transportation,” Paramore said. “When you get into your adult life, we have teachable moments in Ashland City Schools.
“If you are going to ride our transportation, you are going to conduct yourself the way that you should conduct yourself if you are in your own car if you are on public transportation outside of Ashland City Schools, and we are gonna make sure that our bus drivers feel as safe as possible when they are hauling 70 kids around.”
Students and parents must opt in to ride the bus at Ashland City Schools. The bus opt-in form is available at the administrative building on Claremont Avenue, online or on the school district’s app.
Josh Packard, the principal of Ashland High School, spoke specifically about additions to the high school’s handbook. The high school handbook will have a change to its policy on personal electronic devices.
“For a very long time we have had a policy where teachers have been able to manage those expectations individually in their classrooms,” Packard said. “Our teaching staff came to us last spring and said, ‘This has become an issue, and we would really like a consistent building policy on personal electronic devices.’”
Students will still be able to use personal electronic devices before and after school, at lunch and in-between classes. Students will also be able to use their devices during study halls, as long as they meet expectations for behavior and grade point average.
The main change, according to Packard, is about device use in class.
“We want their focus to be on their teachers and what they’re learning, and so their cell phones and personal electronic devices need to be out of sight during those academic classes,” Packard said.
Packard added the high school handbook will have new language about Chromebook use, because students at Ashland High School will each have their own Chromebooks this coming school year.
“You will see some language in there just about reminding students and parents what we expect with those Chromebooks,” Packard said. “It’s going to be essentially like a textbook, we’re going to get that back at the end of the year, follow all the appropriate school rules for technology use, et cetera.”
Paramore’s superintendent report also mentioned sign-up for free and reduced lunch for the upcoming school year. Parents can sign up using the school district’s app or online.
The board entered executive session at the end of the meeting to discuss compensation. Its next regular meeting will be Aug. 28 at 5:30 p.m.
