By David A. Farrell, Item Staff Writer
The Picayune Item
CARRIERE —
In something rarely seen, the Pearl River County school board on Monday was unable to conduct business for lack of a quorum.
Only two school board members — board president Jeff Jones and vice president Jeremy Weir — were present, but it takes three to make a quorum on the five-member board, and without a quorum, the board can’t conduct business, actually can’t even convene.
Absent were board members Michelle Boyd, Twila Crabtree and Rodney Dyess.
Supt. Alan Lumpkin said that Boyd and Crabtree said they could not attend because of “family emergencies,” and Dyess was absent because he was out of town on a business trip.
Technical personnel tried to connect Dyess with the board via Skype, which would have given the board a third member and a quorum, but that failed because of a bad connection at the airport where Dyess was at.
A quorum is defined as the minimum number of officers and members of a committee or organization, usually a majority, who must be present for the valid transaction of business.
Lumpkin said that the meeting will be rescheduled, probably before the end of this week. He said he would publicly announce the date of the meeting immediately when the new meeting date is set.
The board faced a 27-item agenda.
The meeting usually convenes at 6:30 p.m. in the Pearl River Central cafeteria, in Carriere, but at 6:53 p.m., Lumpkin announced that the regular board meeting would not be held because of lack of a quorum, but he said that presentations planned by the faculty would be given anyway.
In addition, the board’s conference table was piled high with gifts to the board from faculty and students in commemoration of School Board Appreciation Week, Feb. 17 to 23.
Recognized during presentations were Teachers of the Year from each school and overall District Teacher of the Year: Gennifer Crosby, Lower Elementary Teacher of the Year; Rochelle Holston, Upper Elementary; Karen Boutwell, Middle School; Quincy Patrick, high school; and Steve Posey, Alternative School. Boutwell was named overall District Teacher of the Year, and her name will be submitted in state competition for State Teacher of the Year honors.
Administrator of the year was Joseph Vol White, Upper Elementary assistant principal.
In other presentations, Darlene Hall, Upper Elementary principal, gave an overview of activities at her school during the current year, and Sharman Lumpkin, a teacher of gifted students at the Upper Elementary, gave a presentation describing a trip to a gifted conference in Colorado that she and another PRC teacher recently attended.
