By Nathan Prewett, For the Tribune
LEEDS – The Leeds Board of Education voted to purchase a new school bus for a future route during a brief regular meeting on Tuesday, April 11.
Chief Financial Officer Ryan Miller gave his usual report on the finances. For the month of February the district received 57.08% of the general fund revenues and 93.27% of the local revenues, up 2.57% from February of 2022.
Expenditures and other fund uses in the general fund were 41.09% of the budget, under a target of 41.67%. Accounts payable were $467,013 and gross payroll expenditures were $1,236,524. The month was ended with an excess of revenues over expenditures in the general fund of $2,972,892.
The unreserved fund balance was $7,118,797.
Afterwards Superintendent John Moore spoke on the bus, saying that a new route will be added next year. Though he did not know the exact location of the route that will be added in the city, he said that it is an elementary route and that the reason was to alleviate some congestion on the current routes.
“We have two elementary routes that are close, that are very packed,” he said. “That we need to break apart and make three routes from two.”
The bus was purchased for $126,318.
During comments, Director of Elementary Education and Federal Programs reported that there were 144 students in the summer enrichment program. Board member Kathy Dutton noted that the program has become quite popular recently, leading to more students being enrolled.
Moore made several announcements, starting with the courtyard project at the high school. He reported that Birmingham Decorative Concrete Owner Brandon Meeks annually selects a school to provide projects for and that Leeds was chosen for one this year. Moore said that the project will make the courtyard more aesthetically pleasing.
Moore then spoke about completing the massive and ongoing stadium project at the middle school, saying that he met with an architect, who is working on plans to bring bathrooms, the concession stand and other parts of the structure up to date.
The plans will also include an open space from the locker room area to the football field to create more room for attendants.
Moore addressed an ongoing effort to make the district eligible for federal funding for free lunches to all students. He said that a school official will attend a meeting in Montgomery where more details may be gleaned to make the district possibly qualify.
The final note of discussion was addressing attendance at the schools, namely for employees. Moore said during the COVID pandemic employee attendance experienced a decrease along with students. Afterwards the board discussed potentially implementing an attendance incentive program, with this option to be explored in the future.
The next meeting will be held on May 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Leeds Board of Education Building on 1517 Hurst Avenue.
Nathan Prewett can be reached at nthomasp6@gmail.com.