Discussion to trade the Crawford County R-1 School District’s John Deere tractor for two pieces of equipment continued on July 16 after the board looked at possible exchange options.

The board voted on June 18 to surplus two tractors. During discussion, the board planned to trade in the district’s John Deere 3038E tractor for a side-by-side and a four-wheeler. Board Member Stephen Waldron was against trading for a four-wheeler because he felt it was unsafe for the students to use and was an unnecessary trade if they were already looking at getting a side-by-side.

During the July 16 meeting, Waldron asked if the board would consider trading for the 2026 Polaris Ranger SP 570 utility vehicle (UV), as they had planned, but purchase accessories for the UV instead of buying the 2026 Polaris Sportsman 450 ATV.

“Theoretically, like from one place to the other in the campus, you can carry coolers on the side-by-side. You can’t on a four-wheeler without more accessories,” Waldron said. “The way I’m looking at it is, we have what, $4,000 roughly, of accessories that we have to get theoretically for the (UV) and not owe anything at all.”

If they got both the side-by-side and four-wheeler, after the trade allowance of $15,000, they are still left with an overage of $2,298 to cover, but Waldron’s suggestion would mean that the district would not incur any additional costs.

A motion to trade in the district’s John Deere 3038E tractor for a trade allowance of $15,000 to purchase a 2026 Polaris Ranger SP 570 utility vehicle and accessories up to the total trade-in value was accepted with a 6-0 vote.

Superintendent Brian Witt gave a back-to-school overview.

Enrollment opened on July 1, and the first day of school is Aug. 25.

Bourbon High School grade-level registration is from 1-3 p.m. on the following days: seniors are invited on Aug. 14, juniors on Aug. 19 and sophomores on Aug. 20. Freshman Warhawk Day is at 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Aug. 20.

The district open house is also on Aug. 20 from 4-8 p.m., and the Back-to-School bash is 4:30-6:30 p.m. on Sept. 3.

A motion to accept the 2026-27 bus routes was approved with a 6-0 vote.

Enrollment information, supply lists, transportation details and other resources are available at www.warhawks.us/district1/back-to-school.

Witt also discussed the proposed Alternative Methods of Instruction (AMI) Plan that will be submitted to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

“The first five days are built in, and we’re just going to go ahead and have a regular snow day like we normally would, and then the next five days we would utilize AMI, and then 11th, 12th and 13th are built in on Mondays on the calendar and then anything after the 14th, we would just have to then make up,” Witt said.

A motion to accept the AMI Plan was approved with a 6-0 vote.

The Crawford County R-1 School Foundation Scholarship Fund (Fund 4223), with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, has not been used in a while, so the board wants to reorganize it and utilize the funds that have been sitting in it.

A motion to authorize Witt to serve as the primary contact and representative for the scholarship fund and to take the necessary steps to clarify the status and administration of the fund was approved with a 6-0 vote.

Gaggle is a service the district uses to monitor student and staff accounts.

Witt said that the service scans websites, stops them and alerts depending on what it is.

“Like sometimes I’ll just get an email….Other times it’ll stop. It’ll pull the access. Whoever has it, they won’t have access to it anymore, and they’ll send it and say you need to investigate it,” Witt said. “And I’ve literally gotten phone calls depending on the situation.”

A motion to accept the Gaggle Services Agreement for the amount of $5,390 for the 2026-27 school year was accepted with a 6-0 vote.

In other business, Witt announced that the 2026-27 Bourbon High School Concert Band was selected to perform at the 2027 Missouri Music Educators Association State Conference.

“This is a prestigious honor with only 10 bands being selected from across Missouri,” Witt said. “This recognition reflects the dedication of our students, the leadership of our band director and the steady support of our families and our community for the program.”