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Huntingdon Schools Approve LED Lighting Project

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HUNTINGDON (April 21) — All campuses of the Huntingdon Special School District will be converted to light-emitting diode (LED) lighting following the unanimous vote of the Huntingdon Board of Education. The $559,875 project is ‘self-funded’ through energy savings over the 12 year term.

Jim Crone of TRANE in Memphis made a presentation to the Board in March and guaranteed the school system’s savings on utilities will exceed the cost of the project. The cost is $559,875 and the program savings is estimated at $581,815. The program’s interest rate is .5 percent.

The project includes interior and exterior lighting at the three school sites and the Board of Education office. A few exterior parking lots are excluded because the existing lighting is owned by Carroll County Electric and field lighting. The project must be approved by ESSI for funding.

Dr. Jonathan Kee, director of schools, complimented Rhonda Pritchard on her 35 years of teaching service. She is retiring and is now serving as a math teacher at Huntingdon Middle School.

The board acknowledged the employment of Brittany Lay as a Huntingdon Middle School teacher.

Trips were approved for HHS Volleyball to Cape Girardeau, on July 19-21, and Huntingdon Middle School and HHS bands to travel to St. Louis-Six Flags on May 21 and 22.

The Board had in-person HHS student presentations from Mustang Mentors, Future Farmers of America students, and SCOPE attendees.

Aden Hutcherson, Paridhi Patel and Wyatt Forbess spoke about attending SCOPE this year.

The Student Congress on Policies in Education (SCOPE) is an annual conference hosted by the Tennessee School Boards Association. It brings together 9th-12th grade students from across the state to discuss current topics in education.

The SCOPE event is for students to simulate being on the school board and to make decisions applicable to the students.

The 2022 topics were: (1) The school calendar shall be changed to a year-round schedule. (2) Students shall only be permitted to park on school property if they meet certain criteria. (3) Uniforms shall be worn by all students. (4) No student shall be permitted to leave campus during the lunch period.

FFA students plan to build an environmental garden at the intersection of Cox and Hale streets. It will be fed by an natural spring of water. Speaking for the FFA were Andrew Cotton, Sydney Vinson and Maggie Belle Logan.

Dr. Kee said the environmental garden will beautify what is generally a mud hole. The water was tested and contains no chlorine, so it is not city water, said Kee.

Mustang Mentors as high school students who work to build character among students throughout the HSSD system. Ben Livingston, Kaylan Belew, Campbell Cary and Aden Hutcherson spoke on the group’s behalf.

Members include Kaylan Belew, Nevaeh Carruthers, Campbell Cary, Aden Hutcherson, Abby Lewis, Ben Livingston, Aidan Ninness, Arlanna Oxford, Kayla Pulling, Blake Reeves, Matti-Claire Roberts, Leslie Sanderson, Lindsey Sanders, Jacob Sullivan, and Cade Wood.

State Senator John Stevens (R-Huntingdon) was scheduled to address the board, however, he was in Nashville working toward finishing the legislative session.

Stevens is an advocate for a proposed limited state-funded charter schools.