CELINA-After the consideration of extending current Clay County schools director Donnie Cherry’s contract dominated the final school board meeting of 2009, the topic will again be considered here next week at the January 14 regular session, according to a meeting notice published in the January 6, 2010 edition of the HORIZON.

After much discussion, three failed votes, and one motion that died after a lack of a second, the board adjourned with no action being taken on the matter.

One vote for an extension of two years did yield five “yes” votes–a majority of those board members present, but after some research, officials later decided six “yes” votes were needed to approve the extension.

Cherry was hired a year ago to finish the 2008-09 school year and for the current school year, basically an 18-month period.

Cherry told the HORIZON two weeks ago, after officials had studied the matter, it appears six “yes” votes will be needed for the measure to pass.

The possible contract extension for Cherry was the second order of business on the December board agenda, after the approval of the November meeting minutes.

Other action at the meeting included:

• approval of the IDEA-B Budget 10-01, Amendment #1; IDEA-B ARRA Budget 10-01, Amendment #1; and IDEA-B Carryover Budget 09-01, which were all associated with special education funding,

• approval of the use of the Celina K-8 gym and a portion of the cafeteria for the 2010 Jr. Pro basketball season,

• approval of an application for an EECDBG grant for energy conservation to be used to replace light fixtures at Celina K-8 with more energy efficient ones, and

• amendment of school board policy 6.314 Corporal Punishment on a second reading to remove lines 20 and 21 to eliminate any possible gender bias.

The meeting adjourned after school principals reported on recent activities at their schools and Cherry reported on the new “Race to the Top” initiative being pursued by the State Department of Education, where if the state is chosen to participate, Clay County could receive a portion of the money to be used.