Cullman County Schools Board member Shane Rusk holds a bottle of the hand sanitizer the system purchased for the school year prior to Thursday evening's socially distanced board meeting.

Some Cullman County teachers may be pulling double duty in the coming school year after the Cullman County School Board approved a stipend for those who want to teach in class and in the system’s virtual academy — if that becomes necessary. The extra duty will be voluntary.

During Thursday night’s board meeting, Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette said the stipends would provide extra pay to teachers who want to choose to work extra hours outside of the classroom to teach students who are attending school virtually, rather than hire another teacher to teach the virtual students.

The stipends will likely be necessary if there aren’t a high number of students who decide to attend school virtually, but if the number of students opting for the virtual academy is high enough at a school, the system could designate a teacher unit for the virtual academy, he said.

As an example, he said a school with 10 teachers in a grade that had a large number of students opt for the virtual academy could have nine of those teachers at school every day while one of those teachers teaches virtually.

“That would be a perfect situation, but they may be so scattered out that we won’t be able to do that,” he said.  

Families have until Tuesday to sign up for the virtual academy, and Barnette said there have been 360 students — around 3.8 percent of the student population — who have signed up for the virtual academy as of Thursday evening

The system sent out a survey a few weeks ago to gauge the interest in the virtual academy, and the early signup numbers follow closely with the results that indicated around 4 percent of students would opt for virtual learning. 

“That’s about what we anticipated,” he said.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the following contract/salary changes:
• David M. Stokes, upgrade to Master’s, state recognized date- June 2.
• Daniel Robert Weaver, upgrade to Master’s, state recognized date- June 11.
• Approved the following contract extensions for summer 2020:
• Amanda Swann, summer work assisting the principal at Good Hope Elementary, effective July 1, $22 per hour paid by local school funds.
• Jacklyn Keller, summer testing incoming Part-C Early Intervention referrals and other referrals as needed, effective summer 2020, regular hourly rate paid by Special Education funds.
• Approved 2020-2021 Non-Faculty Coaches.
• Approved 2020-2021 Afterschool Programs and Personnel (personnel paid by local school funds): Cold Springs Elementary K-8, (Personnel $20 an hour and substitutes $15 an hour). Personnel: Irma Adox and Carrie Bookout; Substitutes: Judy Kay Isbell, Kellie Shelton, Karen McReath and Kim Bookout.
• Approved a request from Good Hope High School to pay the following for helping with summer workouts, paid by local school funds: Patrick McDonald- $700 (girls workouts), Patrick McDonald- $900 (boys workouts), Mitch Witcher- $150, Matthew McCulloch- $1,600, Phillip Keef- $1,600.
• Approved a request from West Point Middle School to pay Steven Sutter (non-faculty coach) $750 for coaching archery during the 2019-2020 school year, paid by local school funds.
• Approved a request from West Point High School to pay the following $500 each for summer 2020 field maintenance and mowing, paid by local school funds: Don Farley, S. Drew Bryson and Steven Harbison.
• Approved a request from West Point High School to pay Randy Jones $1,200 for 2020-2021 athletic director ($100 per month), paid by local school funds.
• Approved a request from the Child Nutrition Department to extend the summer feeding through Aug. 1.
• Approved a request from CNP for the following employees to work at their hourly rate including prior approved substitutes as needed for the Summer Feeding Program: Sherry Gammon, Cassidy Peek, Jennifer Naymon, Jodie Smith, Amanda Turner, Amy Collins, Susan Partridge, Maria Harris, Wendy Mann, Mary Harbison, Sonia Burgess, Lynn Malin, Cristina May, Kristy Daniel, Rhonda Bates, Ashley Millwood and Melanie Bailey.
• Approved May 2020 financial statements.
• Approved May 2020 bills and salaries in the amount of $8,191,612.07.
• Approved a request from the Transportation Director to accept the bid from Virgil B. Fowler Insurance Company for automobile/fleet insurance for the 2020-2021 school year.
• Approved a request from the Transportation Director to accept the bid from Insurance and Investments Consultants, Inc. for school day/athletic insurance for the 2020-2021 school year.
• Approved a request from the Transportation Director for permission to hire Phyllis Jo Harris, bus driver at Fairview/Parkside schools, for temporary office work in the Transportation Department at the Central Office paid at her hourly rate of pay effective July 15 until school starts, paid by transportation funds.
• Approved a request from the Maintenance Department’s bid: Bid #16-20, systemwide, Thompson Gas, $1.105/gallon. 
• Approved a request of the updated Nurses Salary Schedule for 2020/2021.