Bobby Norwood Field @ District Three Stadium - Not Going To Happen!

The Rock Hill School Board told the administration during Monday's June Work Session to drop attempts of revising the naming policy to allow for selling naming rights after 4 board members said they were against the change because of potential problems which might occur. However, the board did approve 7-0 a fast track policy change to allow for cell phone use at the middle and high schools during lunch time and with special permission during classes. A final vote on the policy will occur at the June Business meeting in two weeks.

The board voted 7-0 to suspend policy which requires a 15 day notice for a public hearing on the school budget. The actual notice was 14.5 days in advance. During the public hearing for the budget, the administration went over the $8 million dollars in cuts, the potential lost revenue because of the new charter school, and the items started to increase revenue (academic and athletic fees). Even with those efforts, the budget is still between $700,000 and $1.9 million dollars short of being balanced. There are currently about 15 teaching positions which have not been filled. The administration was directed to not fill those positions (except for critical needs) allowing class size to increase and to take the rest from the reserve fund. There will be more discussion during the June Business meeting.

The administration reported on how hard it was to find additional cuts after taking out $8 million - however - those hard decisions must be made for next year when an additional $5 million in cuts must be made. There was some discussion that those decisions needed to be made by August or September. The administration would like to have a board retreat to discuss.

The administration expressed a desire to not have a work session in July and only have an executive session for the July business meeting. This will largely depend on pressing matters left after the June Business meeting.

You can view a "State of The District" presentation by clicking here.