Summers County board approves hires, trip requests and donates a bus; discusses Hinton parking-lot bid

The Summers County Board of Education approved a range of routine business on June 9, including adding named hires and personnel actions, approving special-education providers and Concord University placements, authorizing several out-of-state student trips, and approving a pay-grade change for the child-nutrition coordinator.

Specifically, the board added the names of David Jones (6–12 science, Summers County Comprehensive High School), Timothy Wines and Jonah Pew (assistant high-school football coaches), and Deanna Betts (sixth-grade teacher) to positions previously listed on the agenda. The board also approved special-education providers (A to Z Speech, Amber Lily, Patricia Ward, and Douglas Crook) and Concord University placements for teacher placement services. The board approved a pay-grade change for Denise Bragg from G to H after she assumed additional child-nutrition duties.

Trustees approved student travel requests including several short overnight trips for athletics and FFA. One board member abstained from voting on an item because they will serve as a chaperone.

The board unanimously approved donating a 2014 diesel bus to the Summers County Emergency Services 911 Center at no cost. The bus will be rendered inoperable (motor disabled) and used for training, public-safety education and disaster-recovery exercises; board members clarified it will not be used for live rescue operations and is being given to Emergency Services/911 rather than ambulance transport.

Separately, board members reported a site visit to a vacant lot in the Hinton area (about 70 by 120 feet) that could be converted to roughly 20 parking spaces. Preliminary estimates discussed included a combined bid-plus-improvements figure possibly near $20,000 and grading/gravel under $10,000; the board noted an application deadline of July 3 and said it would revisit the matter at the June 30 meeting before placing a formal bid.