Working from a short agenda, the Pike County Board of Education completed its pre-Christmas business in fast fashion Monday night.

The board quickly moved through new business items and took personnel action.

The board approved a local travel rate adjustment of 50.5 cents per mile, which will be higher than the federal rate when the new rates go into effect, according to Dr. Mark Bazzell, school superintendent.

The request for Calvin Morris to attend JROTC School of Cadet Command Instructor Training Course at Fort Monroe, Va. Dec. 13-18 at no cost to the board was also approved.

In personnel action, the board approved Marla Johnson’s request for catastrophic leave from her position as teacher at Goshen High School beginning the first week of Feb. 2010.

The board approved the employment of Rhonda Flowers as Career Educational Technical Counselor at Troy-Pike Center for Technology.

Bobby Bray’s resignation from his position as bus driver was accepted, effective Dec. 10, and the re-employment of Sylvia Sipper as bus driver was approved.

An additional item brought before the board was the adoption of the textbook, “Understanding Statistics,” from the state approved textbook list. The adoption of the textbook was approved on Bazzell’s recommendation.

The board also approved the financial statement and bank reconcilement for the month of November 2009, the payment of payrolls for the month of December and bills and accounts for run dates of Nov. 30 and Dec 9 and the meeting calendar for 2010.

The antivirus software bids were rejected by the board.