School board recognizes an act of kindness

The North County school board recognized a student for an act of kindness during a recent cross country competition in Cape Girardeau.

Sophomore Martha Peacock placed 10th in the JV contest at Notre Dame Regional High School but her big heart earned her a Raider Pride Award.

After she finished running, she stayed to watch a seventh grade Oak Ridge student finish the race. She said there wasn’t many people around and she decided to cheer the girl on.

The girl told Martha that she had a mild form of cerebral palsy and it was hard for her to run.

After Martha received her medal, she gave it to this seventh grader.

“She was way stronger than anyone else was,” Martha said Tuesday night after receiving a Raider Pride Award. “If anyone deserved a medal that day, she did.”

The child’s grandfather reported this act of kindness to North County officials. He said his grand-daughter is as proud of the medal as if she had won it herself. The girl wore the medal to school the next school day and the story touched many hearts there. She was thrilled that someone other than her coaches and family recognized the level of effort it took for her to complete the race.

Martha, the daughter of Kelly and Jon Peacock, still shrugs the act of kindness off as no big deal.

In other matters, Lori Crump presented the Maloney, Wright and Robbins audit report for the school year 2011-2012.

The board received a clean and favorable audit report. The audit report did list concerns about lack of segregation of duties and concerns that the board isn’t given a more detailed/itemized budgetary statement. At Crump’s request, she also spoke with the board and administrators in executive session.

Superintendent Dr. Yancy Poorman said an itemized statement could be more than 100 pages long. He said the auditor wanted the board to list all expenses as well as whether the district was using federal, state or local funds to pay.

Also during the meeting, the board heard a request to set up a bowling club for high school students. The request will be brought up at a later meeting. The club would not be a school sponsored club, rather it would be an outside club with North County students competing with students from other schools.

The board approved adding a Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at the high school.

The board approved a date change for the board meeting to Nov. 13 from Nov. 20; and the English Language Learner Plan, which is a state requirement. The board also approved a mid-year stipend with the amount to be determined at a later date.

Poorman congratulated the marching band on placing first in their division in the competition at Charleston this weekend. Barry McCord congratulated the varsity volleyball team for their success this season.

Assistant Superintendent Mike Henderson said the EPA’s high school baseball project is coming along with sod being laid this week. After the football season, excavation of the football field should begin with sodding in spring. The EPA has to put it back in as good of shape as it was before, he added, and district has to sign off on it..

Teresa Ressel is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 179 or at tressel@dailyjournalonline.com.