During the Mexico School District 59 Board of Education meeting Tuesday, Oct. 19 at the district office, Scouts presented the Elbert K. Fretwell Outstanding Educators Award to Kendra Allen and Austin McBride.

The board also gave recognition to Kayla Hildebrand and April Craven as employees of the month for the school district. The employee spotlight this month shined on Jimmy Adams, who will be retiring from Eugene Field Elementary at the end of October, and several teachers told memorable stories of his time and impact at the school. Adams shared with the crowd by video that he is looking forward to working on his old hot rod in retirement 

Chairman Larry Hart and Courtney Wegman, vice president, from L.J. Hart & Company walked the group through a presentation showing a number of options that have opened up in the market for creating savings with respect to the district’s outstanding bonds. Dr. Zach Templeton, who is serving as a consultant during the transition to a new superintendent, characterized the opportunity as the equivalent of being able to refinance your house when mortgage interest rates drop.

The best option presented overall will provide the district with savings upward of $1.3 million over the course of the bond and will allow them to postpone future bond issues, if they choose to.

Interim superintendent Melissa Chastain’s report on drop-out rates pointed to an increase over the last year, but that change was due in large part to changes and challenges brought on by the pandemic. These include a range of things like lower attendance, students taking jobs to help with family economic challenges, and families moving out of the district. Chastain said that the intervention team is focused and committed to working with students to help strengthen retention and graduation.

The team began meeting weekly last year focused on freshmen and sophomores, and after seeing dramatic success, it has grown to include junior and senior students, as well. A college observer visiting the high school complimented the high school admin, counselors, and CARE team as one of the best intervention programs they have seen.

 The last main item of the regular session was to move forward to fill the open board seat. They have scheduled a special public session to discuss the candidates on Monday, Oct. 25 (results weren’t available at press time). According to the policies, at that meeting the board can either appoint a new member or they can set an additional meeting at which to interview select candidates for the position.

Board members spoke well of Pascoe, who resigned from the board a few weeks ago, and praised his effort and accomplishments during his time on the board.