CC/E school board mulls camera installation

Students at Clay Central/Everly Elementary may find themselves on candid camera soon.

The school board on Feb. 28 discussed the installation of cameras in hallways and other locations. According to Superintendent Kevin Wood, the devices would help with behavior interventions and are already in use on the district's buses.

The camera system will be paid for by Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, which are federal dollars that were made available to schools during the pandemic. Wood called it "great timing" to install the cameras, but made one point clear.

"There will be no cameras in the classroom," he said.

In other business, the board received the annual audit report from Murray Stanley, of Schnurr & Co. He said the district's finances were "fantastic," and reported few areas of concern other than segregation of duties, which is a ding that all small schools receive.

"Overall, the year was really fantastic," Stanley said. "It was just a really good year for the district."

Stanley noted the district spent significantly more on capital projects than the year before thanks to big ticket items like roofing, a new playground and tuckpointing on the building.

"That's not something to be alarmed about," he said of the expenditure increase. "It just happened to be a case of where 2021 worked out compared to 2020, when we had some extra money in there."

• Safari negotiations continue

Wood noted in his report that negotiations with Safari Child Care & Preschool are still ongoing.

"We're at a good point right now to start finalizing things," he said.

The board in January fielded a proposal from Safari's owner, Dani Muller.

Muller shared her plan to open a daycare location in the Royal school for children ages 2 and up while also offering before- and after-school care. Muller said the daycare would have a maximum capacity of 57 children.

Safari's Milford location offers a full-service daycare center for children ages infant to 6 years old. According to previous discussion, she has met with her state certification representative to review the location and was instructed to meet with CC/E food service director Chuck Bell to discuss meals.

The board in January unanimously approved an initial agreement between Safari and CC/E pending a viable contract and mutually beneficial relationship. According to Wood, things are "on track" to bring Safari to Royal.