The Cullman City School Board received a clean audit report during Monday night’s meeting.

Jason Harpe, Certified Public Accountant at Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC, presented the report to the board during the meeting and spoke about some of the audit’s processes and procedures.

He said a big focus for his firm is making sure the system has the proper internal controls to prevent accounting mistakes — particularly with payroll.

“We really put an emphasis on that because that’s very important,” he said. “You’ve got to have good checks and balances, you’ve got to have controls in place to detect, correct and prevent errors.”

Harpe said the firm also issues an opinion on each year’s audit, and this opinion was unmodified, which means the system’s financial reports were presented properly and comply with all standards.

Cullman City Schools Superintendent Susan Patterson also provided an update on the beginning of the school year, and said teachers and staff members were appreciative of the staggered start of the year that had half of the student population attend on Thursday and the other half attend Friday.

She said splitting the population in half allowed for an easier time explaining the new COVID-19 procedures that are in place for the year.

“That was a big help in trying to redo the way we do school and trying to relay those procedures to our students,” she said.

Monday was the first day with all of the students attending at the same time, and aside from the usual traffic hiccups that are present during the beginning of the year, things are mostly going smoothly, Patterson said.

“I will say how much I appreciate our teachers and administrators and everyone working together,” she said. “It’s always hard to start school anyways, but under these circumstances, they have just been extraordinary coming together.”

Patterson are still a few kinks to work out for virtual school, particularly in the elementary schools where students and teachers are not used to online school, but she credited the system’s technology department for their hard work in recent days to get things working.

“Our technology department has been working day and night,” she said.

In other business, the board:

Approved July 2020 payroll of $2,156,507.47, invoices paid of $315,499.72, financial statements and bank reconciliations.

Gave permission to surplus/salvage the following from Head Start: Two metal tables, four filing cabinets, five wooden steps, a smartboard and a Dell 1510X projector.

Approved Head Start Expenditures/Downloads for July 2020.

Approved revised Board Policy 4.14 Title IX Sex Based Discrimination and Prohibited Conduct. Brought back from Policy Review Committee.

Approved revised Cullman City Schools 2020-2021 School Calendar- start date changed from Aug. 19 to Aug. 20.

Proposed approval of Cullman City Schools 2020-2021 Salary Schedules. These will be sent out to Policy Review Committee and brought back for consideration.

Approved the Substitute Nurse List for 2020-2021.

Proposed approval of Human Resources, Payroll, Finance Specialist job description.

Gave permission to award bid to Forestwood Farm, Inc. as the lowest responsible bidder meeting specifications for the 2020-2021 Child Nutrition Program produce service.

Gave permission to award bid to Mayfield Dairy Farms, Inc. as the lowest responsible bidder meeting specifications for the 2020-2021 Child Nutrition Program ice cream service.

Gave permission to award bid to Borden Dairy as the lowest responsible bidder meeting specifications for the 2020-2021 Child Nutrition Program milk service.

Proposed revised Board Policy 5.15 Sexual Harassment. This item will be sent to the Policy Review Committee.

Proposed revised Board Policy 6.9 Title IX. This item will be sent to the Policy Review Committee.

Proposed new Board Policy 6.11 Student Sexual Harassment. This item will be sent to the Policy Review Committee.

Approved budget revision for Head Start FY2020 Budget- requesting non-federal share waiver.

Gave permission to enter agreement with Bridges Behavior Therapy and Consulting to provide Behavior Analytic services from Sept. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.

Gave permission to contract with Brooks’ Place to provide services to CCS long term alternative school from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021 (Local funds).

Gave permission to contract with Brooks’ Place to provide mental health services from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.

Gave permission to contract with ENT Specialists of Alabama, PC to conduct individual evaluations from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021 (Special Ed/General Fund).

Gave permission to enter agreement with The Learning Tree, Inc. to provide consultation services from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.

Approved the interagency agreement between the Cullman City Board of Education and Wellstone, Inc. to provide mental health treatment services for CCS students from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.

Gave permission to contract with Dr. Boozer to provide individualized evaluations from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021 (Special Ed/General Fund).

Approved a memorandum of agreement between The Woolley Institute for Spoken-Language Education and the Cullman City Board of Education for certified LSL Auditory-Verbal therapy from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.

Gave permission to contract with Daphne Landers to provide individual evaluations for special education from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021 (General Fund).

Gave permission to contract with Tammy Sargent to provide psychometrist services for special education from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021 (General Fund).

Gave permission to contract with Jeri Entrekin to provide virtual special education services from Aug. 11, 2020 to May 31, 2021 (CARES Funds).

Gave permission to contract with Arleen Solis-Loya to provide translation and/or interpreting services for the 2020-2021 school year as needed (local funds).

Gave permission to contract with Yenny Laney to provide translating and/or interpreting services for the 2020-2021 school year as needed (local funds).

Gave permission to contract with Juan Nava to provide translating and/or interpreting services for the 2020-2021 school year as needed (local funds).

Gave permission to contract with Stacie Owen for homebound instruction from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021 (General Fund).

Gave permission to contract with Sara McCutcheon for homebound instruction from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021 (General Fund).

Gave permission to contract with Danielle Taylor to provide homebound instruction from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.

Gave permission to contract with Sue Melvin to provide homebound instruction from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.

Gave permission to contract with Kelly Thrasher to provide homebound instruction from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021 (General Fund).

Gave permission to contract with Avery Barnett to perform duties for Head Start including cleaning/disinfecting during the 2020-2021 school year (not to exceed 15 hours per week) (Head Start Funds).

Approved the Cullman City Head Start Partnership Agreement with the Cullman County Public Library.

Gave permission for Cullman City Head Start to contract with DocuSign, Inc. to provide eSignature support from Aug. 31, 2020 to Aug. 31, 2021.

Approved the following personnel items:

Retirement

Lois Lay, from bookkeeper/payroll at Central Office, effective Jan. 1, 2021.

Resignation

Bettina Weldon Gibbs, from temporary speech language pathologist at EES and additional location, effective Aug. 10.

Employments

Anna Denman, temporary speech language pathologist (to fill a leave of absence) at EES and additional location TBD for the 2020-2021 school year only.

Brittiny Whitbeck, temporary sixth grade teacher at EES (for the 2020-2021 school year only) beginning Aug. 10.

Dori Ann Beach, special education instructional assistant at WES beginning Aug. 25.

Shannon Erwin, CNP worker for Cullman City Schools beginning Aug. 25.

Jessica Stuckey, CNP worker for Cullman City Schools beginning Aug. 25.

Mary Madison Self, CNP worker for Cullman City Schools beginning Aug. 25.

Vickie Wood, CNP worker for Cullman City Schools beginning Aug. 25.

Candace Knowles, CNP worker for Cullman City Schools beginning Aug. 25.

Olivia Noblett, Extended Day Program assistant teacher at WES beginning Aug. 20.

Administrative supplement

Jennifer Shuggart, RN, Administrative Supplement for the 2020-2021 school year for administrative duties beyond her regular responsibilities as Lead Nurse due to the COVID-19 pandemic.