Monday, the Poplarville School Board acknowledged the achievements of the district’s Transportation Employee of the Year and appointed a school board member to the Commission on the Administrative Consolidation of Lumberton School.
This past school year, Poplarville School District Transportation Director Ed Sternod was out for seven weeks after undergoing ankle replacement surgery. During his absence, transportation and maintenance administrative assistant and bookkeeper Angie Culpepper served as interim transportation director.
Normally, the honor of being named Transportation Employee of the Year is given to a bus driver, but Sternod said his drivers all agreed this year’s recognition should go to Culpepper.
“She did an excellent job keeping me informed,” Sternod said. “She’s awesome, tedious, neat and organized in her duties. We also have a wonderful group of bus drivers and our main goal is to make sure our students get to and from home safely.”
The recognition came as a surprise to Culpepper who has been an employee of the district for the past five years. She said she was honored.
“It was overwhelming at times, but with good teamwork we managed to get it all done efficiently,” Culpepper said. “Everybody just worked together.”
In another matter, the Board appointed Tommy Strahan to the Commission on the Administrative Consolidation of Lumberton School. Should Strahan be unable to attend commission meetings, Lisa Graves will serve as an alternate commission member.
During this year’s legislative session, the Mississippi Senate consolidated the Lumberton School District with the Poplarville and Lamar County School Districts, according to previous coverage.
The Legislature gave the district three years to finalize the consolidation, Poplarville Superintendent Carl Merritt said in previous coverage. Each district was required to form a commission to represent their interests at meetings.
Lumberton’s School District has 585 students.
The other two members of Poplarville’s commission include Merritt and Poplarville School District Finance Manager Samantha Sandifer.
The first meeting of the commission will be held on June 28 at 10 a.m. at William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Merritt told the Board.
“Our representatives need to be there to have a say in it,” he said.
In other action:
• The Board announced their budget hearing will be held on June 28 at 5 p.m. in the boardroom at Central Office located on Julia Street.
• The Board approved the purchase of a new school bus in the amount of $77,800.
The next school board meeting will be held on July 18 at 6 p.m. in the boardroom at Central Office located on Julia Street.