School board to reconsider idea of elevator improvement

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

Members of the Nevada R-5 Board of Education met Wednesday in the Nevada Regional Technical Center, 900 W. Ashland, to view the facility and its equipment. Sean Smith, NRTC director, gave a presentation on the facility and the programs it offers.

Smith said there were 602 unduplicated students taking courses at the facility. Since students can take more than one program they can be counted more than once, and using that criteria the figure is 639 students. Students come from seven schools, Nevada and six other schools.

Building trades students will not build a house this year. Instead they will work on an addition to Benton Elementary. The addition will consist of two multi-purpose rooms wiht exterior finish designed to match the brick of the existing building.

Superintendent Craig Noah told the board the results of the Annual Performance Reports had been released and that the Nevada R-5 School District had met all 14 requirements which means the district has again earned a "Distinction in Performance" award. Noah credited the district's staff and patrons for the honor.

"This will be a great honor for the district, and it is a direct result of our quality staff, administration and students," Noah said. "Without the guidance of the Board of Education and the support from our parents, this achievement would not have been possible."

Assistant Superintendent Christie Peterson presented the board with the results of the ACT, American College Testing, and Nevada students once again did very well on the test. Peterson noted that the percentage of Nevada students taking the test was lower than the Missouri average but speculated the fact Nevada is an A Plus school resulted in lower participation in the ACT.

The A Plus Program is a school-improvement initiative established by the Outstanding Schools Act of 1993. It opens new doors to higher education by offering students scholarships to go on to college or a vocational-technical school.

Dr. Warren Lovinger said he would like to see greater participation in ACT by Nevada students but said it would have to be incrementally instituted.

"We need to set goals over a period of years to increase participation in ACT, even if the district has to pay for it," Lovinger said.

The board discussed the two bids received on the proposed elevator addition to the high school. After a wide-ranging discussion involving all, the members decided to reject the bids and seek alternatives including replacing the current chair lift. One of the benefits an elevator would have over the chair lift would be to carry heavy or bulky objects to the second floor.

"I'm not in favor of either elevator option," Chris Ellis said. "When this first was discussed, the cost was lower."

"I agree with Chris on the expense," Jan Benbrook said. "Transporting heavy objects would be a plus but it's not the reason we were getting the elevator."

Lovinger said that more and more people were using wheelchairs and powerchairs and an elevator would more practical for those people. In addition, he warned that advocates would look critically at any facility that did not comply fully with ADA (American with Disabilities Act) requirements and often used subjective standards to determine whether a facility did comply.

"ADA advocates will look for things they don't feel meet their desires," Lovinger said. "They'll sue, and guess who has to bear the costs to defend the suit?"

The board approved a 99-year lease with the city of Nevada for the Lyons and Bushwhacker stadiums. The school will take over maintenance of the facilities and they will still be available for use by city residents who register with the school.

The board set the filing dates for the April 3 school board election. The first day of filing is Dec. 12, 2006, at 8 a.m.; and filing ends Jan. 16, 2007. Joy Hawks' and Scott Kennedy's terms expire in April, 2007.